Plasma-activated water for disinfection and quality retention of sea bream fillets: Kinetic evaluation and process optimization

• Published in: Innovative food science & emerging technologies 2023-05, Vol.85, p.103334, Article 103334
• Main Authors: Chanioti, Sofia, Giannoglou, Marianna, Stergiou, Panagiota, Passaras, Dimitrios, Dimitrakellis, Panagiotis, Kokkoris, George, Gogolides, Evangelos, Katsaros, George
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Fish fillets; Microbiological load; Plasma-activated water; Quality; Shelf-life
• ISSN: 1466-8564; 1878-5522
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ifset.2023.103334

The efficacy of plasma-activated water (PAW) in the decontamination of sea bream fillets at various processing conditions including fish/immersion agent ratio (1/1–1/5) and immersion times (0–20 min), was evaluated. Deionized water (as control samples) and artificially produced water (artificial) with equal reactive species (H2O2, NO2−, and NO3−) concentrations to PAW were also used as immersion agents for comparison purposes. All the fillets were assessed in terms of their microbiological (total aerobic bacteria – TAB, yeasts/molds, hydrogen sulfide (H2S)-producing microorganisms, lactic acid bacteria – LAB, Pseudomonas spp., Brochotrix thermosphacta, and Enterobacteriaceae) and physicochemical (color, texture, lipid oxidation) characteristics. PAW-treated samples exhibited the highest microbial reduction; the loads of TAB, Pseudomonas spp., yeasts/molds, Enterobacteriaceae, H2S-producing bacteria and Brochotrix thermosphacta were reduced by approximately 1.58, 2.25, 3.95, 2.14, 1.96 and 1.48 logCFU/g, respectively compared to the fish initial natural microbiota (6.81, 6.25, 3.95, 5.14, 4.96 and 4.81 logCFU/g, respectively) at the most intense process conditions (fish/immersion agent ratio of 1/5 and immersion time of 20 min) (p