COLD PLASMA SOURCE FOR TREATMENT OF FOOD AND FOOD PROCESSING EQUIPMENT TO ENHANCE FOOD SAFETY

Food safety is an incredibly important aspect of the food supply. The contamination of food and food processing equipment by food-borne pathogens such as Listeria and Salmonella (as well as many others) are a major concern resulting in lost food, illness including deaths, and significant economic loss. According to the USDA, every year approximately 48 million people become ill from foodborne pathogens resulting in costs of over $15.5B annually and thousands of deaths. Bacterial colonies called biofilms can build-up on equipment and food. These biofilms are extremely difficult to remove. Methods to kill pathogens are varied and depend upon the food type, harvesting, and processing. While some of these methods are effective, some food types (e.g. spinach) are difficult to treat, and some processes (e.g. steam cleaning) use significant amounts of water and power. In addition, some processes use harsh chemicals which can affect both the food quality and the food workers. Therefore, more effective, low cost, practical, and environmentally effective processes are desirable. One possible method uses Cold Atmospheric Pressure Plasma (CAP). A plasma is an ionized gas in which gas molecules such as oxygen and nitrogen (components of air) are stripped of their electrons resulting in positive ions. The ions of oxygen can be used to kill and physically remove bacteria on food and on food processing equipment without resulting to harsh chemicals. Plasma is used routinely in the semiconductor industry to fabricate microelectronics. More recently plasma has been used in agriculture. The area of Plasma Agriculture has grown in the last 20 years with numerous demonstrations of CAP treatment on a variety of food products. There are numerous types of sources which have been used to treat a wide variety of food products as well as pathogens responsible for human illnesses. In the agricultural field, CAP has been used to kill Listeria on meat surfaces, to kill Salmonella on fresh produce, and to inactivate biofilms and biofilm-forming bacteria. However, there are still issues to be resolved concerning CAP efficacy, effects on food quality, and integration into practical systems for cost-effective food processing. Our primary goal is to develop a new type of CAP that can be used in a variety of food processing settings for both treating food and cleaning food processing equipment.