Research Progress on the Application of Cold Plasma in Food Sterilization and Preservation

As a new non-thermal treatment technology, cold plasma has the characteristics of safety, high efficiency, non-toxic, etc. It has a very broad prospect in the fields of textile, environmental protection, medicine, and food industry. In recent years, the application of cold plasma technology in sterilization and preservation of agricultural product has been rising. This paper summarizes the classification of plasma, analyzed the mechanism and influencing factors of sterilization. Also, this paper analyzes the cold plasma in the removal of pesticide residues and packing materials in different application research progress, and discussed the advantages of low temperature plasma used for preservation of agricultural products as well as the existing problems. The outlook of cold plasma technology applied in food industry was also proposed. This review could provide reference for the research of cold plasma technology application on agricultural products.