Cold plasma (CP) is one of the novel non-thermal food processing technologies, which has the potential to extend the shelf-life of plant-based food products without adversely affecting the nutritional value and sensory characteristics. Besides microbial inactivation, this technology has been explored for food functionality, pesticide control, and allergen removals. Cold plasma technology presents positive results in applications related to food processing at a laboratory scale. This review discusses applications of CP technology and its effect on the constituents of plant-based food products including proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, and polar and non-polar secondary plant metabolites. As proven by the publications in the food field, the influence of CP on the food constituents and sensory quality of various food materials are mainly based on CP-related factors such as processing time, voltage level, power, frequency, type of gas, gas flow rate as well as the amount of sample, type, and content of food constituents. In addition to these, changes in the secondary plant metabolites depend on the action of CP on both cell membrane breakdown and increase/decrease in the scavenging compounds. This technology offers a good alternative to conventional methods by inactivating enzymes and increasing antioxidant levels. With a waterless and chemical-free property, this sustainable and energy-efficient technology presents several advantages in food applications. However, scaling up CP by ensuring uniform plasma treatment is a major challenge. Further investigation is required to provide information regarding the toxicity of plasma-treated food products.
Plasma Gases , Food , Antioxidants , Food Handling , Nutritive Value
Changes in rheological behavior and physical properties of avocado dressing and green juice samples processed by ultrasound (US) technology (120â µm, 24â kHz, up to 2â min, 20 °C) were investigated. The avocado dressing followed pseudoplastic flow behavior, which had good fit to the power law model, with R2 values >0.9664. The lowest K values 3.5110, 2.4426, and 2.3228 were determined for avocado dressing samples with no treatment at 5 °C, 15 °C, and 25 °C, respectively. At the shear rate of 0.1/s, viscosity of 2 min US-treated avocado dressing increased significantly from 19.1 to 55.5â Pa.s at 5 °C, 13.08 to 36.78â Pa.s at 15 °C, and 14.55 to 26.75â Pa.s at 25 °C. Flow instability occurred in green juice after reaching shear rate of 300/s due to narrow gap in concentric cylinder; however, constant viscosity between 10 and 300/s indicated that the sample was Newtonian. Increasing temperature from 5 °C to 25 °C decreased viscosity of US-treated green juice from 2.55 to 1.50â mPa.s at the shear rate of 100/s. Color of both samples did not change after US processing, but lightness increased in green juice which denoted lighter color compared to the sample without treatment. There was no difference in pH and total soluble solids of samples. Results represent that US technology may be a good alternative in producing green liquid foods with acceptable rheological properties and color.
The use of food additives in food production is inevitable in this modern world. Although only a safe amount of food additives is approved, their safety has always been questioned. To our knowledge, the effects of food additives on microbiota have not been investigated in a detailed manner in the literature so far. In this review, the effects of artificial sweeteners, sugar alcohols, emulsifiers, food colorants, flavor enhancers, thickeners, anticaking agents, and preservatives on microbiota were reviewed. Even though most of the results illustrated negative outcomes, few of them showed positive effects of food additives on the microbiota. Although it is difficult to obtain exact results due to differences in experimental animals and models, said the findings suggest that nonnutritive synthetic sweeteners may lead to glucose intolerance by affecting microbiota and a part of sugar alcohols show similar effects like probiotics.
