ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the technology of cold plasma for non-thermal processing of foods and milk products. In generation of cold plasma, most of the coupled electrical energy is channeled to electron component instead of heating entire gas stream so that the temperature of heavy particle remains near the room temperature. Plasmas are classified into two categories: thermal and non-thermal based on the mean temperatures of their heavy particles like ions and neutral species. In the thermal plasma, all the particles are in thermodynamic equilibrium, while a significant difference in kinetic energy caused by the temperature of electrons and the ambient gas particles is observed in non-thermal plasma (NTP). In contrast, NTP typically range from room temperature to a few times the room temperature. NTPs have attracted more attention due to their significant industrial advantage. NTP has been used in the food industry for sterilization of raw agricultural products, dry disinfection of food surfaces, granular and particulate foods and sprouted seeds.
