The anti-browning effect of cold plasma pretreatment applied on apple slices drying

作者：Meng Zhang, Junbo Liu, Hao Jiang · 发表于：Drying Technology · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1080/07373937.2025.2500476 · 被引用次数：5 · 研究领域：Postharvest Quality and Shelf Life Management、Food Quality and Safety Studies、Fermentation and Sensory Analysis

Cold plasma (CP) is an advanced non-thermal sterilization technology that has shown great potential in preserving food quality. In this study, CP was employed as a pretreatment to prevent browning in apple slices during hot air drying (HAD), microwave drying (MD), and vacuum microwave drying (VMD). The impact of CP treatment on the physicochemical properties, color, dielectric properties, water migration, enzyme activity, and microstructure of the apple slices was evaluated over a one-month storage period. The results demonstrated that a 60-second CP treatment effectively shortened the drying time for VMD by 18.18% (from 44 min to 36 min) and for HAD by 14.29% (from 70 min to 60 min). Additionally, CP treatment significantly enhanced the dielectric properties of the VMD samples, with ε′ and ε″ increasing by 12.87% (from 79.84 to 90.12) and 21.30% (from 36.15 to 43.85), respectively. Beyond these effects, CP treatment helped preserve the color and hardness of the apple slices throughout the storage period. It also reduced the activities of polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and peroxidase (POD), while stimulating the activity of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), thus mitigating the degradation of phenolic acids. Furthermore, the CP exposure resulted in surface etching of the apple slices, which contributed to the overall enhancement of the drying process.