Cold plasma for the inactivation of emerging bacterial pathogens on fruit and vegetable products.

Background: Besides traditional food borne hazards, safety of the food chain is facing new and unprecedented challenges, for emerging pathogens that have been underdiag-nosed and underreported so far. Among bacterial pathogens, some Arcobacter species are emerging as food hazard, causing illness to infants and adults related to the consumption of food products such as fresh vegetables. Among emerging non-thermal technologies, cold plasma (CP) decontamination effi-cacy has been tested towards many foodborne microbial species. The objective of this re-search was to test the inactivation effect of cold plasma on Arcobacter. Methods: CP was generated by a Surface Dielectric Barrier Discharge (SDBD) at the top of a closed chamber, connected to a high voltage generator (peak voltage of 6 kV and repetition frequency of 23 kHz, power density absorbed by the source: 425.35 ± 25.79 W, surface power density: 2.6 W/cm2). Treatments were carried out up to 30 min of exposure. The inactivation effect was tested on a variety of strains of Arcobacter butzleri. Selected strains were inoculated on fresh fruit and vegetables treated with CP up to 30 min. Quality of the fresh product was also tested after plasma exposure. Results: Results showed the inactivation was strain dependent. However, cold plasma showed a promising inactivation effect, comparable to the one obtained on E. coli. Quality parameters (pH, color, texture and bioactive compounds content) was only slightly affected. Conclusions: CP is a promising method for the non-thermal decontamination of fresh fruit and vegetables.