Cold Plasma–Based Hurdle Interventions: New Strategies for Improving Food Safety

Global food production sustainability and the demand for fresh and nutritious food necessitate the development of novel technologies to provide food with a long shelf life. Hurdle technologies combing several interventions can ensure microbial safety without inducing notable changes to food quality. Cold plasma, as a promising nonthermal technology, has increasingly attracted attention in food industry. Recently, cold plasma–based hurdles have been proposed as novel intervention strategies for microbial decontamination. This review summarizes currently existing cold plasma–based hurdle strategies, including thermal treatment and nonthermal techniques (e.g., organic acids, essential oils, ultrasound) that have been reported in the literature. In addition, we highlight some critical issues, including the microbial stress response, the processing parameters, and the effects on food quality, that need to be taken into account during the optimization and implementation of cold plasma–based hurdles. Cold plasma–based hurdles overcome certain limitations of individual cold plasma treatment to improve the inactivation efficacy and retain the maximum food quality attributes.