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Food Packaging Requirements for In-Package Cold Plasma Treatment
This study, for the first time, investigated the packaging requirements of in-package dielectric barrier discharge cold plasma treatment (DBD-CPT). The parameters determining packaging requirements include the internal oxygen concentration, headspace volume to sample volume ratio (HSR), direct or indirect treatment, and kind of packaging material. Grape tomato and mixed vegetables, composed of romaine lettuce, red cabbage, carrot with and without the inoculation with Salmonella, were subjected to DBD-CPT at 32.5 kV for 3 min. Increasing the oxygen concentration in the container from 5% to 90% did not influence Salmonella inactivation (p>0.05). Increasing the HSR of air packaging material from 54:1 to 522:1 increased Salmonella inhibition on grape tomato (p<0.05). Higher Salmonella inhibition was found in grape tomatoes in directly treated salads than in indirect-treated salads (p<0.05). The inactivation of indigenous mesophilic aerobic bacteria was exhibited higher when packaged with PE than with PET (p<0.05). Optimal package requirements were determined as HSR of 522:1, direct treatment, and uses of PE as packaging material for the microbial inactivation using in-package cold plasma treatment. DBD-CPT increased the water vapor permeability of all packaging materials (p<0.05), but did not change their tensile properties and transparency (p>0.05). Overall, DBD-CPT was found effective in decontaminating mixed vegetables, prepackaged with commercial packages, without affecting the tensile and optical properties of the packages. Furthermore, the HSR, the electrode-container distance and kind of packaging material were identified as the major packaging requirements affecting the microbial inactivation efficacy of in-packaged cold plasma treatment.
