Decontamination of Aspergillus parasiticus in rice by dielectric barrier discharge cold plasma: Variable effects and mechanism of degradation

Zhu Shuo, Yan Zhongjun, Shanshan Shi, Ai Zhi, Chenghong Wang and Fei Shen
Additional contact information
Zhu Shuo: College of Food Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, Nanjing, P.R. China
Yan Zhongjun: Zhejiang Branch of China Grain Reserves Group Ltd. Company
Shanshan Shi: College of Food Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, Nanjing, P.R. China
Ai Zhi: College of Food Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, Nanjing, P.R. China
Chenghong Wang: College of Food Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, Nanjing, P.R. China
Fei Shen: College of Food Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, Nanjing, P.R. China

Czech Journal of Food Sciences, 2025, vol. 43, issue 3, 226-234

Abstract: Rice is prone to be contaminated with spoilage or toxigenic fungi during harvest, storage and processing, with Aspergillus species being the most frequent. It is crucial to develop effective sterilisation technologies for mycotoxin prevention and food safety. In this study, sterilised rice infected by Aspergillus parasiticus strain was treated by dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) cold plasma. Various parameters, including moisture content, oxygen content, treatment time and voltage were tested. Furthermore, sterilisation mechanism of Aspergillus parasiticus by cold plasma was also explored. Results indicated that decontamination effect could be significantly affected by moisture content, oxygen concentration, voltage and treatment time. A 99.89% degradation rate against Aspergillus parasiticus was achieved at 90 kV after 5 min. Cold plasma could reduce the initial concentration of 6.05 to 2.28 CFU.mL-1 within 240 s, and to thoroughly decontamination within 360 s. In addition, cold plasma treatment destroyed the integrity of Aspergillus parasiticus cell membrane, resulting in a reduction in mycelium biomass and dry weight, as well as a significant decrease in intracellular Ca2+Mg2+-adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) activity. These findings demonstrate the potential of cold plasma technology for environmentally friendly sterilisation of hazardous fungi in grain system.

Keywords: sterilisation; fungus; grain; food safety (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://cjfs.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/153/2024-CJFS.html (text/html)
http://cjfs.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/153/2024-CJFS.pdf (application/pdf)
free of charge

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:caa:jnlcjf:v:43:y:2025:i:3:id:153-2024-cjfs

DOI: 10.17221/153/2024-CJFS

Access Statistics for this article

Czech Journal of Food Sciences is currently edited by Ing. Zdeňka Náglová Ph.D.

More articles in Czech Journal of Food Sciences from Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Ivo Andrle ().