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Atmospheric‐pressure cold plasma (APCP) has emerged as a promising nonthermal technology for enhancing food safety, quality, and shelf life. This review evaluates the current applications of APCP in food processing, emphasizing its effectiveness in microbial inactivation, chemical and toxin removal, food functionality improvement, and packaging material enhancement. The mechanisms of microbial inactivation, particularly the role of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS), are discussed in relation to their effects on foodborne pathogens and spoilage organisms. APCP's ability to degrade contaminants like mycotoxins and pesticide residues, while preserving sensory and nutritional attributes, is highlighted. Additionally, APCP's capabilities to improve food functionality by modifying properties such as solubility and emulsification and enhance packaging films with better mechanical strength and antimicrobial capabilities are discussed. The review addresses various challenges associated with the APCP technique, such as limited penetration depth, potential sensory changes, and the need for standardization and scalability. The importance for optimization of plasma parameters and safety evaluations of APCP for successful commercialization is emphasized. Thus, this review provides key insights that can guide future research and support the broader adoption of APCP in the food industry. The figure depicts the role of atmospheric pressure cold plasma in enhancing food safety, quality, and shelf life. It highlights key applications such as microbial inactivation, residue removal, food functionality improvement, and packaging enhancement, while also depicting associated challenges and future prospects in non‐thermal food processing.

Rapidly evolving cold atmospheric pressure plasma (CAPP)–based technology has been actively used not only in bioresearch but also in biotechnology, food safety and processing, agriculture, and medicine. High variability in plasma device configurations and electrode layouts has accelerated non-thermal plasma applications in treatment of various biomaterials and surfaces of all sizes. Mode of cold plasma action is likely associated with synergistic effect of biologically active plasma components, such as UV radiation or reactive species. CAPP has been employed in inactivation of viruses, to combat resistant microorganisms (antibiotic resistant bacteria, spores, biofilms, fungi) and tumors, to degrade toxins, to modify surfaces and their properties, to increase microbial production of compounds, and to facilitate wound healing, blood coagulation, and teeth whitening. The mini-review provides a brief overview of non-thermal plasma sources and recent achievements in biological sciences. We have also included pros and cons of CAPP technologies as well as future directions in biosciences and their respective industrial fields.

Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy and allied photodynamic antimicrobial chemotherapy have shown remarkable activity against bacterial pathogens in both planktonic and biofilm forms. There has been little or no resistance development against antimicrobial photodynamic therapy. Furthermore, recent developments in therapies that involve antimicrobial photodynamic therapy in combination with photothermal hyperthermia therapy, magnetic hyperthermia therapy, antibiotic chemotherapy and cold atmospheric pressure plasma therapy have shown additive and synergistic enhancement of its efficacy. This paper reviews applications of antimicrobial photodynamic therapy and non-invasive combination therapies often used with it, including sonodynamic therapy and nanozyme enhanced photodynamic therapy. The antimicrobial and antibiofilm mechanisms are discussed. This review proposes that these technologies have a great potential to overcome the bacterial resistance associated with bacterial biofilm formation.

Aflatoxins, produced by Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus, can contaminate different foodstuffs, such as nuts. Cold atmospheric pressure plasma has the potential to be used for mycotoxin detoxification. In this study, the operating parameters of cold atmospheric pressure plasma were optimized to reduce the presence of aflatoxins on dehulled hazelnuts. First, the effect of different gases was tested (N2, 0.1% O2 and 1% O2, 21% O2), then power (400, 700, 1000, 1150 W) and exposure time (1, 2, 4, and 12 min) were optimized. In preliminary tests on aflatoxin standard solutions, this method allowed to obtain a complete detoxification using a high power for a few minutes. On hazelnuts, in similar conditions (1000 W, 12 min), a reduction in the concentration of total aflatoxins and AFB1 of over 70% was obtained. Aflatoxins B1 and G1 were more sensitive to plasma treatments compared to aflatoxins B2 and G2, respectively. Under plasma treatment, aflatoxin B1 was more sensitive compared to aflatoxin G1. At the highest power, and for the longest time, the maximum temperature increment was 28.9 °C. Cold atmospheric plasma has the potential to be a promising method for aflatoxin detoxification on food, because it is effective and it could help to maintain the organoleptic characteristics.

The cold atmospheric-pressure plasma (CAPP) has become one of the recent effective decontamination technologies, but CAPP interactions with biological material remain the subject of many studies. The CAPP generates numerous types of particles and radiations that synergistically affect cells and tissues differently depending on their structure. In this study, we investigated the effect of CAPP generated by diffuse coplanar surface barrier discharge on hyphae of Aspergillus flavus. Hyphae underwent massive structural changes after plasma treatment. Scanning electron microscopy showed drying hyphae that were forming creases on the hyphal surface. ATR-FTIR analysis demonstrated an increase of signal intensity for C=O and C-O stretching vibrations indicating chemical changes in molecular structures located on hyphal surface. The increase in membrane permeability was detected by the fluorescent dye, propidium iodide. Biomass dry weight determination and increase in permeability indicated leakage of cell content and subsequent death. Disintegration of nuclei and DNA degradation confirmed cell death after plasma treatment. Damage of plasma membrane was related to lipoperoxidation that was determined by higher levels of thiobarbituric acid reactive species after plasma treatment. The CAPP treatment led to rise of intracellular ROS levels detected by fluorescent microscopy using 2′,7′-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate. At the same time, antioxidant enzyme activities increased, and level of reduced glutathione decreased. The results in this study indicated that the CAPP treatment in A. flavus targeted both cell surface structures, cell wall, and plasma membrane, inflicting injury on hyphal cells which led to subsequent oxidative stress and finally cell death at higher CAPP doses.

Plasma is an electrically conducting medium that responds to electric and magnetic fields. It consists of large quantities of highly reactive species, such as ions, energetic electrons, exited atoms and molecules, ultraviolet photons, and metastable and active radicals. Non-thermal or cold plasmas are partially ionized gases whose electron temperatures usually exceed several tens of thousand degrees K, while the ions and neutrals have much lower temperatures. Due to the presence of reactive species at low temperature, the biological effects of non-thermal plasmas have been studied for application in the medical area with promising results. This review outlines the application of cold atmospheric pressure plasma (CAPP) in dentistry for the control of several pathogenic microorganisms, induction of anti-inflammatory, tissue repair effects and apoptosis of cancer cells, with low toxicity to healthy cells. Therefore, CAPP has potential to be applied in many areas of dentistry such as cariology, periodontology, endodontics and oral oncology.

Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by several filamentous fungi, which frequently contaminate our food, and can result in human diseases affecting vital systems such as the nervous and immune systems. They can also trigger various forms of cancer. Intensive food production is contributing to incorrect handling, transport and storage of the food, resulting in increased levels of mycotoxin contamination. Mycotoxins are structurally very diverse molecules necessitating versatile food decontamination approaches, which are grouped into physical, chemical and biological techniques. In this review, a new and promising approach involving the use of cold atmospheric pressure plasma is considered, which may overcome multiple weaknesses associated with the classical methods. In addition to its mycotoxin destruction efficiency, cold atmospheric pressure plasma is cost effective, ecologically neutral and has a negligible effect on the quality of food products following treatment in comparison to classical methods.

Climate change, environmental pollution and pathogen resistance to available chemical agents are part of the problems that the food industry has to face in order to ensure healthy food for people and livestock. One of the promising solutions to these problems is the use of cold atmospheric pressure plasma (CAPP). Plasma is suitable for efficient surface decontamination of seeds and food products, germination enhancement and obtaining higher yields in agricultural production. However, the plasma effects vary due to plasma source, treatment conditions and seed type. In our study, we tried to find the proper conditions for treatment of barley grains by diffuse coplanar surface barrier discharge, in which positive effects of CAPP, such as enhanced germination or decontamination effects, would be maximized and harmful effects, such as oxidation and genotoxic potential, minimized. Besides germination parameters, we evaluated DNA damage and activities of various germination and antioxidant enzymes in barley seedlings. Plasma exposure resulted in changes in germination parameters and enzyme activities. Longer exposures had also genotoxic effects. As such, our findings indicate that appropriate plasma exposure conditions need to be carefully optimized in order to preserve germination, oxidation balance and genome stability, should CAPP be used in agricultural practice.

(1) Plasma-activated liquids (PAL) have been extensively studied for their anti-cancer properties. Two treatment modalities can be applied to the cells, direct and indirect plasma treatments, which differ by the environment to which the cells are exposed. For direct plasma treatment, the cells covered by a liquid are present during the plasma treatment time (phase I, plasma ON) and the incubation time (phase II, plasma OFF), while for indirect plasma treatment, phase I is cell-free and cells are only exposed to PAL during phase II. The scope of this work was to study these two treatment modalities to bring new insights into the potential use of PAL for cancer treatment. (2) We used two models of head and neck cancer cells, CAL27 and FaDu, and three models of normal cells (1Br3, NHK, and RPE-hTERT). PBS was used as the liquid of interest, and the concentration of plasma-induced H2O2, NO2− and NO3−, as well as pH change, were measured. Cells were exposed to direct plasma treatment, indirect plasma treatment or reconstituted buffer (PBS adjusted with plasma-induced concentrations of H2O2, NO2−, NO3− and pH). Metabolic cell activity, cell viability, lipid peroxidation, intracellular ROS production and caspase 3/7 induction were quantified. (3) If we showed that direct plasma treatment is slightly more efficient than indirect plasma treatment and reconstituted buffer at inducing lipid peroxidation, intracellular increase of ROS and cancer cell death in tumor cells, our data also revealed that reconstituted buffer is equivalent to indirect plasma treatment. In contrast, normal cells are quite insensitive to these two last treatment modalities. However, they are extremely sensitive to direct plasma treatment. Indeed, we found that phase I and phase II act in synergy to trigger cell death in normal cells and are additive concerning tumor cell death. Our data also highlight the presence in plasma-treated PBS of yet unidentified short-lived reactive species that contribute to cell death. (4) In this study, we provide strong evidence that, in vitro, the concentration of RONS (H2O2, NO2− and NO3−) in combination with the acidic pH are the main drivers of plasma-induced PBS toxicity in tumor cells but not in normal cells, which makes ad hoc reconstituted solutions powerful anti-tumor treatments. In marked contrast, direct plasma treatment is deleterious for normal cells in vitro and should be avoided. Based on our results, we discuss the limitations to the use of PAL for cancer treatments.

Cold plasma therapy, a revolutionary approach to treating cancer cells, has attracted significant interest due to its capacity to trigger programmed cell death. This study was performed with the aim of investigating the apoptotic effects of A549 and LL/2 lung cancer cells exposed to cold atmospheric pressure plasma (CAP). Herein, the impact of direct helium (He) plasma therapy was evaluated on the programmed cell death of the cancer cell lines at different treatment times ranging from 30 to 180 s. Moreover, as a control to compare with the cancer cells, the normal HUVEC cells were cultured and their cell viability evaluated using the MTT method. The apoptosis was also evaluated in the specific cancer cells using flow cytometry and real-time PCR methods. The treatments were administered at 4, 6, and 8 kV of He-plasma jet. The viability of the cells and SOD activity were assessed at 24 h after the treatment. The results revealed that the observed levels of p53 and caspase-3 genes were in consistent with the results from the MTT assay. The apoptotic effects of He-plasma on A549 and LL/2 cells were induced from altered expressions of p53 and caspase-3 genes which mechanistically taken place via the mitochondrial pathway. Both A549 and LL/2 cancer cells exhibited a substantial rise in apoptosis rates at 4 and 6 kV, while, a noticeable decline was detected at 8 kV. In addition, H 2 O 2 and NO reactive species concentrations in A549 and LL/2 cancer cells treated by He-plasma were measured. It was found that in these cell lines, H 2 O 2 and NO concentrations were significantly high at 6 kV compared to the other discharge voltages. Also, the level of SOD activity in A549 and LL/2 cell lines was significantly reduced at 6 kV. The results imply that the plasma voltage and treatment time should be delicately controlled for selective lung cancer cell killing. This work provides good support for the pre-clinical and clinical treatments of lung cancer through exposure to cold helium plasma that can be used alongside conventional cancer treatments.