Use of Cold Atmospheric Plasma To Preserve the Quality of White Shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei)

Innovative Application of Cold Plasma Technology in Meat and Its Products

The growing demand for sustainable food production and the rising consumer preference for fresh, healthy, and safe food products have been driving the need for innovative methods for processing and preserving food. In the meat industry, this demand has led to the development of new interventions aimed at extending the shelf life of meats and its products while maintaining their quality and nutritional value. Cold plasma has recently emerged as a subject of great interest in the meat industry due to its potential to enhance the microbiological safety of meat and its products. This review discusses the latest research on the possible application of cold plasma in the meat processing industry, considering its effects on various quality attributes and its potential for meat preservation and enhancement. In this regard, many studies have reported substantial antimicrobial efficacy of cold plasma technology in beef, pork, lamb and chicken, and their products with negligible changes in their physicochemical attributes. Further, the application of cold plasma in meat processing has shown promising results as a potential novel curing agent for cured meat products. Understanding the mechanisms of action and the interactions between cold plasma and food ingredients is crucial for further exploring the potential of this technology in the meat industry, ultimately leading to the development of safe and high-quality meat products using cold plasma technology.

Plasma for aquaponics

Global environmental, social, and economic challenges call for innovative solutions to food production. Current food production systems require advances beyond traditional paradigms, acknowledging the complexity arising from sustainability and a present lack of awareness about technologies that may help limit, for example, loss of nutrients from soil. Aquaponics, a closed-loop system that combines aquaculture with hydroponics, is a step towards the more efficient management of scarce water, land, and nutrient resources. However, its large-scale use is currently limited by several significant challenges of maintaining desirable water chemistry and pH, managing infections in fish and plants, and increasing productivity efficiently, economically, and sustainably. This paper investigates the opportunities presented by plasma technologies in meeting these challenges, potentially opening new pathways for sustainability in food production.

Treatment of Fresh Meat, Fish and Products Thereof with Cold Atmospheric Plasma to Inactivate Microbial Pathogens and Extend Shelf Life

Assuring the safety of muscle foods and seafood is based on prerequisites and specific measures targeted against defined hazards. This concept is augmented by 'interventions', which are chemical or physical treatments, not genuinely part of the production process, but rather implemented in the framework of a safety assurance system. The present paper focuses on 'Cold Atmospheric pressure Plasma' (CAP) as an emerging non-thermal intervention for microbial decontamination. Over the past decade, a vast number of studies have explored the antimicrobial potential of different CAP systems against a plethora of different foodborne microorganisms. This contribution aims at providing a comprehensive reference and appraisal of the latest literature in the area, with a specific focus on the use of CAP for the treatment of fresh meat, fish and associated products to inactivate microbial pathogens and extend shelf life. Aspects such as changes to organoleptic and nutritional value alongside other matrix effects are considered, so as to provide the reader with a clear insight into the advantages and disadvantages of CAP-based decontamination strategies.

A Cold Plasma Technology for Ensuring the Microbiological Safety and Quality of Foods

Changing consumers’ taste for chemical and thermally processed food and preference for perceived healthier minimally processed alternatives is a challenge to food industry. At present, several technologies have found usefulness as choice methods for ensuring that processed food remains unaltered while guaranteeing maximum safety and protection of consumers. However, the effectiveness of most green technology is limited due to the formation of resistant spores by certain foodborne microorganisms and the production of toxins. Cold plasma, a recent technology, has shown commendable superiority at both spore inactivation and enzymes and toxin deactivation. However, the exact mechanism behind the efficiency of cold plasma has remained unclear. In order to further optimize and apply cold plasma treatment in food processing, it is crucial to understand these mechanisms and possible factors that might limit or enhance their effectiveness and outcomes. As a novel non-thermal technology, cold plasma has emerged as a means to ensure the microbiological safety of food. Furthermore, this review presents the different design configurations for cold plasma applications, analysis the mechanisms of microbial spore and biofilm inactivation, and examines the impact of cold plasma on food compositional, organoleptic, and nutritional quality.

Recent trends and technological development in plasma as an emerging and promising technology for food biosystems

The rising need for wholesome, fresh, safe and “minimally-processed” foods has led to pioneering research activities in the emerging non-thermal technology of food processing. Cold plasma is such an innovative and promising technology that offers several potential applications in the food industry. It uses the highly reactive, energetic and charged gas molecules and species to decontaminate the food and package surfaces and preserve the foods without causing thermal damage to the nutritional and quality attributes of food. Cold plasma technology showed promising results about the inactivation of pathogens in the food industry without affecting the food quality. It is highly effective for surface decontamination of fruits and vegetables, but extensive research is required before its commercial utilization. Recent patents are focused on the applications of cold plasma in food processing and preservation. However, further studies are strongly needed to scale up this technology for future commercialization and understand plasma physics for getting better results and expand the applications and benefits. This review summarizes the emerging trends of cold plasma along with its recent applications in the food industry to extend shelf life and improve the quality of food. It also gives an overview of plasma generation and principles including mechanism of action. Further, the patents based on cold plasma technology have also been highlighted comprehensively for the first time.

Innovative Preservation Methods Improving the Quality and Safety of Fish Products: Beneficial Effects and Limits

Fish products are highly perishable, requiring proper processing to maintain their quality and safety during the entire storage. Different from traditional methods used to extend the shelf-life of these products (smoking, salting, marinating, icing, chilling, freezing, drying, boiling, steaming, etc.), in recent years, some alternative methods have been proposed as innovative processing technologies able to guarantee the extension of their shelf-life while minimally affecting their organoleptic properties. The present review aims to describe the primary mechanisms of some of these innovative methods applied to preserve quality and safety of fish products; namely, non-thermal atmospheric plasma (NTAP), pulsed electric fields (PEF), pulsed light (PL), ultrasounds (US) and electrolyzed water (EW) are analysed, focusing on the main results of the studies published over the last 10 years. The limits and the benefits of each method are addressed in order to provide a global overview about these promising emerging technologies and to facilitate their greater use at industrial level. In general, all the innovative methods analysed in this review have shown a good effectiveness to control microbial growth in fish products maintaining their organoleptic, nutritional and sensory characteristics. Most of the technologies have also shown the great advantage to have a lower energy consumption and shorter production times. In contrast, not all the methods are in the same development stage; thus, we suggest further investigations to develop one (or more) hurdle-like non-thermal method able to meet both food production requirements and the modern consumers' demand.

Cold plasma for the preservation of aquatic food products: An overview

Cold plasma (CP) is an upcoming technology implemented for the preservation of highly perishable foods, especially aquatic food products (AFPs). The high moisture content, high-quality protein with all essential amino acids and unsaturated fatty acids makes AFP more susceptible to microbial spoilage and oxidation of lipids and proteins. Spoilage lowers the nutritive value and could generate toxic components, making it unsafe for consumption. In recent times, the rising demand for food products of aquatic origin with preserved quality and extended shelf-life has been recorded. In addition, minimally or nonthermally processed and preserved foods are gaining great attention. CP technology has demonstrated an excellent ability to inactivate microorganisms without promoting their resistance and triggering some deteriorative enzymes, which are typical factors responsible for the spoilage of AFP. Consequently, CP could be recommended as a minimal processing intervention for preserving the quality of AFP. This review focuses on different mechanisms of fish spoilage, that is, by microorganisms and oxidation, their inhibition via the application of CP, and the retention of quality and shelf-life extension of AFP.