Individual Presentation: The Current State of Cold Plasma Technology in Food Processing

Cold atmospheric pressure plasma (CAPP) is a novel non-thermal technology that has gained attention in food and agricultural applications. Plasma, the fourth state of matter, offers a good alternative to conventional disinfection methods due to the generation of a mixture of reactive species that are effective in the destruction of microorganisms. Plasma-activated water (PAW) is generated by exposing water to plasma in the presence of air at atmospheric pressure. The reactive oxygen and nitrogen species in PAW have been shown to inactivate microbes.The talk will cover an overview of cold plasma and plasma-activated water (PAW). Studies on the use of cold plasma and PAW for the inactivation of bacteria and bacterial biofilm on biotic and abiotic surfaces will be presented. The development and applications of a novel in-package cold atmospheric plasma technology will be presented. The talk will cover current challenges faced in defining dosimetry due to the variable nature of plasma and provide examples of potential solutions. The talk will conclude with directions for future research.