Influence of Plasma Characteristics on the Efficacy of Cold Atmospheric Plasma (CAP) for Inactivation of Biofilms Developed by Listeria Monocytogenes and Salmonella Typhimurium

© 2018 EUROSIS-ETI. The biofilm mode of growth of pathogenic bacteria such as Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella Typhimurium protects them from currently applied disinfection methods for food contact surfaces. As a result, viable cells remain on the surface and become a contamination source. To avoid contamination of food products, new inactivation methods such as Cold Atmospheric Plasma (CAP) can be used. However, knowledge concerning the influence of different plasma characteristics, such as those investigated in this study, i.e., the applied plasma electrode and the oxygen level of the gas flow, on the efficacy of CAP for biofilm inactivation is still required. In this research, two electrodes (Surface Barrier Discharge (SBD) and Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) electrode) and three oxygen levels (He + 0.0/0.5/1.0 (v/v) % O2) were tested. Based on the obtained results, the DBD electrode has the highest biofilm inactivation efficacy and the oxygen level of 0.0 (v/v) % results in the highest log-reductions. At these specific conditions, approximately 3.5-log reductions have been obtained (on general medium), which is promising for the application of CAP for biofilm inactivation.

ISBN:9789492859013

Jaar van publicatie:2018