Exploration of high voltage atmospheric cold plasma as a practical tool for reducing food spoilage

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This research program aims to build on previous work establishing the potential for a dielectric barrier discharge high voltage atmospheric cold plasma (HVACP) to deliver significant improvement in food safety and extension of food shelf-life with much less energy and water requirements than existing treatments and washes leading to a more sustainable and environmentally friendly manufacturing process. In the next five-year funding period, we propose to engage in the three parallel research tracks with the goal of expanding the scientific understanding of high voltage atmospheric cold plasma (HVACP) and demonstrate its potential application as a practical intervention technology for improving food safety and quality. Track 1 will be an in-depth mechanistic study of the HVACP utilizing air as the fill gas at voltages above 50 kV on the gas plasma generation characteristics and the resulting reactive gas species (RGS) generation and the stability of these RGS during storage to potentially improve safety and extend shelf-life fresh foods. Track 2 will be an examination of RGS generation chemistry for modified gas blends (i.e., CO2, N2, O2, H2, Ne) under different HVACP voltages and treatment times. Previous work has demonstrated that changing gas composition along with voltage changes RGS which can achieve shelf-life extension with no quality change on sensitive foods such as leafy greens. Track 3 will be optimization of HVACP treatment to extend the shelf-life of fresh produce, such as tomatoes, and provide an evaluation of quality, safety, and toxicology of treated food. HVACP can be generated using only air and a small amount of electricity (100 W or less). Using air as the fill gas will generate approximately 5,000 ppm of reactive nitrogen and reactive oxygen species at 80 kV. For many fresh produce applications HVACP treatment with air is a low cost option and is beneficial for extending shelf-life and improving safety. However some products, such as leafy greens, can be impacted by the RGS generated in air and therefore utilization of HVACP treatment using gas blends is desirable to create more beneficial RGS profiles. By changing HVACP gas composition the number and type of RGS can be increased to over 30,000 ppm and create unique gas chemistries (`signatures'). The hypothesis is that these tailored HVACP gas chemistries can deliver non-thermal RGS treatments that can selectively target and destroy bacteria, yeast, molds, mycotoxins, chemical contaminants, enzymes, or viruses without damaging the fresh produce or producing toxic compounds. The successful completion of these three research tracks will achieve the overall goal of expanding scientific understanding of HVACP, and demonstration of its potential application as a practical intervention technology for improving food safety and quality will potentially lead to broader industry adoption and a revolutionary change to preservation methods of fresh fruit and vegetables.