Non-Thermal plasma system for decontamination of fruits, vegetables and spices: A review

Abstract

Cold plasma is used as a novel technology for food decontamination. The cold plasma process is claimed to offer a number of advantages over thermal technology for several fruits, vegetable. Non-thermal plasma technologies are relatively simple, inexpensive in design, short processing times, absence of toxicity and lack of residue formation. Cold plasma systems used for the food applications are atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ), microwave-powered cold plasma treatments (CPTs), dielectric barrier discharge (DBD), low pressure cold plasma (LPCP). Atmosphere plasma system is more efficient for decontamination of food which offers new opportunities to decontaminate biological materials, including fresh foods. In this paper, types of plasma systems, mechanism and effect of plasma sources on fruits, vegetables and spices are reviewed.