Reducing waste and improving quality in the food supply chain using cold plasma technology as a last decontamination hurdle on the food production line.

冷等离子体是一项令人兴奋的新技术，具有快速微生物表面去污的潜力。等离子体状态是通过对气体施加高电压，将其转化为反应性等离子体物种的混合物而产生的，这些等离子体物种可能具有高的氧化电位，因此具有相当大的食品净化潜力。准备好的农产品去污染是必要的，以去除土壤、异物和食品表面的细菌(潜在致病菌)，但众所周知，这很难实现。此外，到目前为止使用的不同去污技术(氯化、快速冷却等c…)在产品包装前应用于产品，这意味着在包装前的进一步处理可能会发生再污染。该项目建议使用一种新型的脉冲等离子体系统，在食品包装的封口点注入血浆物种，从而提供最终的净化障碍，直接在包装中进行，而不会有进一步的再污染风险。该项目的目标是证明这一概念，并证明各种食品(预制沙拉、预制水果、预制蔬菜)的保质期和安全性得到改善。

Cold plasma is an exciting new technology with a proven potential for rapid microbial decontamination of surfaces. A plasma state is generated by applying a high voltage to a gas, transforming it into a cocktail of reactive plasma species which may have high oxidation potential and therefore considerable food decontamination potential. Prepared produce decontamination is necessary to remove soil, foreign bodies and bacteria (potentially pathogenic) from the food surface but is notoriously difficult to achieve. Moreover, the different decontamination techniques used so far (chlorination, rapid chilling, et.c…) are applied on the product before it is packed meaning recontamination can occur from further handling prior to packing. This project proposes the use of a novel pulsed plasma system to inject plasma species in the food packaging at the point of sealing, thus providing a final decontamination hurdle directly in the pack without further recontamination risk. The objectives of the project are to prove this concept and demonstrate the improved shelf life and safety of a variety of food products (prepared salads, prepared fruit, prepared vegetables) .