Non-thermal Pasteurization of Liquid Foods Using Non-thermal Plasma

A new non thermal pasteurization technique non thermal plasma (NTP) was investigated. This study shows that NTP is capable of killing foodborne pathogens such as Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonellae in liquid foods such as orange juice and milk. Five logs reduction in the bacteria counts was achieved under the experimental conditions. The NTP treatments were brief, and did not have noticeable impact on the samples as evidenced by the analytical data of vitamin C in orange juice and oxidation value in milk. The energy consumption rate was calculated as 1～2 J/mL, which is much lower than that for thermal and other non thermal processes.