ABSTRACT
Recently, plasma-mediated treatments emerged as a novel green processing tool, possessing several advantages such as offering high efficiency in the sterilization of fresh commodities. Fresh produce, such as fruits and vegetables, are significant sources of various essential nutrients and health-promoting compounds. But the frequent occurrences of foodborne outbreaks related to fruits and vegetables are a health hazard and result in tons of agricultural waste. Therefore, it is crucial to develop and establish decay-control systems which not only control the biological hazards after harvesting but also maintain the quality attributes during processing and storage in order to prolong the shelf life of products. Many investigations reported that quality attributes are preserved to a satisfactory level or may even be enhanced under certain plasma processing conditions. In this chapter, we encounter several plasma generation systems and provide an overview of their effect on the physiological and quality aspects of fresh produce. We also briefly discuss the possible mechanisms of how plasma affects these quality parameters – this is beneficial for the further development and modification of plasma technology so that quality improvement and shelf-life extension can be attained. The current scenario of cold plasma technology in the food processing industry is also explained with safety regulations and future perspectives. However, an understanding of the effects of cold plasma on the quality characteristics of fresh commodities is not explored enough in the field. Therefore, there is a huge demand for future investigations to understand the complete mechanisms of different plasma techniques and their effects on the interactions among plasma and food constituents for the early implementation of technology in the food processing industry.
