Cold plasma modification of food macromolecules and effects on related products

Abstract

The food industry is in search of innovative processing technologies that are capable of providing food safety and improving quality with low processing costs and fast operations. As a new technique, cold plasma (CP) fulfills these requirements and thus gained significant attraction from researchers. Apart from general microbial inac-tivation purposes, CP can effectively modify the food macromolecules through reactions with reactive plasma species. In this context, this review focuses on the interactions between reactive plasma species and proteins, lipids, and polysaccharides. It also covers the changes in interfacial and mechanical properties of proteins and polysaccharides, effects on oleogels and xerogels, modifications in the allergenicity of proteins, and trans-free hydrogenation of oils. On the other hand, the concepts underlying the interactions between reactive plasma species and these macromolecules and the effects of processing parameters should be better understood, thus further studies should focus on these aspects.