Atmospheric cold plasma treatment of freeze-dried pet food products******

在低水分活度的食品中，包括冷冻干燥的宠物食品，沙门氏菌和其他细菌病原体可以长时间存活。这些微生物对低水活度条件下的热处理等抗菌剂处理表现出显著的抵抗力。常压冷等离子体(ACP)处理是一种新型的非热处理方法，具有减少食品中致病微生物的潜力。该项目的目的是了解ACP技术减少冷冻干燥宠物食品中沙门氏菌的潜力。此外，该项目将评估在ACP处理过程中，水活动对宠物食品颗粒上沙门氏菌数量减少的影响。我们还将对冷冻干燥宠物食品进行开放式环境处理和包装内ACP处理。为此，具有选定水活度值的平衡样品将与空气或内部含有特定浓度的氮气、氧气和二氧化碳的改善大气条件一起包装，然后进行ACP处理。处理后储存对沙门氏菌灭活的影响也将被确定。总体而言，这个项目将帮助我们对ACP技术的抗微生物效果进行初步研究，这对其未来的扩大至关重要。****

In low water activity food products, including freeze-dried pet foods, Salmonella and other bacterial pathogens can survive for extended periods. These microorganisms exhibit significant resistance to antimicrobial treatments such as thermal treatments in low water activity conditions. Atmospheric cold plasma (ACP) treatment is a novel non-thermal method, which has the potential to reduce pathogenic microorganisms on food products. The objective of this project is to understand the potential of ACP technology to reduce Salmonella on freeze-dried pet food products. Further, this project will evaluate the effect of water activity on the reduction of Salmonella population on pet food pellets during ACP treatment. We will also conduct both open environment and in-package ACP treatments for freeze-dried pet foods. For this, equilibrated samples with selected water activity values will be packaged with air or modified atmospheric conditions with specific concentrations of N2, O2 and CO2 inside, followed by ACP treatment. The effect of post-treatment storage on Salmonella inactivation will also be determined. Overall, this project will help us to conduct initial studies on antimicrobial efficacy of ACP technology which is essential for its future scale-up. ****