Alternative hygienization technologies

Hygienizing using alternative technologies that generate oxidative agents in situ, such as cold plasma or advanced electrooxidative technologies, represent an alternative to regular decontamination processes used in the food industry. They clean technologies from an environmental point of view that does not use chemicals and has low water and energy requirements. Low temperature treatment can work with different materials, including thermolabile, fruits, cereals and vegetables. Plasma technology is normally applied in many industrial processes sectors such as automotive, packaging, optics or membranes. The ability of plasma technology to decontaminate different types of materials (metals, polymers, ceramics, food, textiles, etc. ) is well known and easily referenced in numerous publications. The plasma equipments are classified according to the working pressure as low-pressure plasma (LPP) and atmospheric pressure (APP). APP can be integrated in line production processes, while LPP operate in batch mode and are less suitable to be implemented in food production processes. Plasma technology can decontaminate food products and surfaces by destroying toxic agents and carcinogens at low temperature without the inconvenient of technologies that use high temperatures. Decontamination using plasma can be done by different mechanisms action, such as ultraviolet radiation, photons and reactive radicals, etc. Under certain conditions, plasma sterilization due to their efficacy at low temperatures (< 40 ° C ) can be applied to many materials with high power and achieve better results than conventional methods.