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Decontamination of food packages from SARS-COV-2 RNA with a cold plasma-assisted system

Capelli, Filippo ; Tappi, Silvia ; Gritti, Tommaso ; De Aguiar Saldanha Pinheiro, Ana Cristina ; Laurita, Romolo ; Tylewicz, Urszula ; Spataro, Francesco ; Braschi, Giacomo ; Lanciotti, Rosalba and Galindo, Federico Gómez LU , et al. (2021) In Applied Sciences (Switzerland) 11(9).
Abstract

The accidental contamination of food and food packaging surfaces with SARS-CoV-2 is of increasing concern among scientists and consumers, particularly in relation to fresh foods that are consumed without further cooking. The use of chemical sanitizers is often not suitable for these kinds of commodities; therefore, a non-thermal sanitation technology could help to increase safety in relation to the food supply chain. Cold plasma has proven to be a promising strategy for virus inactivation. This research is aimed at evaluating the ability of a cold plasma sanitation system to inactivate SARS-CoV-2 RNA on packaged foods. Two different plastic materials were investigated and subjected to 5- and 10-min exposure to plasma after experimental... (More)

The accidental contamination of food and food packaging surfaces with SARS-CoV-2 is of increasing concern among scientists and consumers, particularly in relation to fresh foods that are consumed without further cooking. The use of chemical sanitizers is often not suitable for these kinds of commodities; therefore, a non-thermal sanitation technology could help to increase safety in relation to the food supply chain. Cold plasma has proven to be a promising strategy for virus inactivation. This research is aimed at evaluating the ability of a cold plasma sanitation system to inactivate SARS-CoV-2 RNA on packaged foods. Two different plastic materials were investigated and subjected to 5- and 10-min exposure to plasma after experimental inoculum of the RNA. In addition to viral degradation, possible changes in the performance of the materials were evaluated. Shelf-life of the foods, after exposure of the packages to plasma, was also investigated. Results showed that 10 min of exposure was sufficient to almost completely eliminate the viral RNA from package surfaces. The treatment did not produce any significant variation in packaging material performance or the shelf-life of the tested packaged products, indicating the potentiality of this treatment for the decontamination of packaged products.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Cold plasma, Covid-19, Food quality, Food safety, Food shelf-life, Packaging materials, Viral RNA
in
Applied Sciences (Switzerland)
volume
11
issue
9
article number
4177
publisher
MDPI AG
external identifiers
  • scopus:85105653462
ISSN
2076-3417
DOI
10.3390/app11094177
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
1d1b6947-ffa1-4e3a-86f4-38012f131777
date added to LUP
2021-06-09 14:53:59
date last changed
2023-12-21 21:46:23
@article{1d1b6947-ffa1-4e3a-86f4-38012f131777,
  abstract     = {{<p>The accidental contamination of food and food packaging surfaces with SARS-CoV-2 is of increasing concern among scientists and consumers, particularly in relation to fresh foods that are consumed without further cooking. The use of chemical sanitizers is often not suitable for these kinds of commodities; therefore, a non-thermal sanitation technology could help to increase safety in relation to the food supply chain. Cold plasma has proven to be a promising strategy for virus inactivation. This research is aimed at evaluating the ability of a cold plasma sanitation system to inactivate SARS-CoV-2 RNA on packaged foods. Two different plastic materials were investigated and subjected to 5- and 10-min exposure to plasma after experimental inoculum of the RNA. In addition to viral degradation, possible changes in the performance of the materials were evaluated. Shelf-life of the foods, after exposure of the packages to plasma, was also investigated. Results showed that 10 min of exposure was sufficient to almost completely eliminate the viral RNA from package surfaces. The treatment did not produce any significant variation in packaging material performance or the shelf-life of the tested packaged products, indicating the potentiality of this treatment for the decontamination of packaged products.</p>}},
  author       = {{Capelli, Filippo and Tappi, Silvia and Gritti, Tommaso and De Aguiar Saldanha Pinheiro, Ana Cristina and Laurita, Romolo and Tylewicz, Urszula and Spataro, Francesco and Braschi, Giacomo and Lanciotti, Rosalba and Galindo, Federico Gómez and Siracusa, Valentina and Romani, Santina and Gherardi, Matteo and Colombo, Vittorio and Sambri, Vittorio and Rocculi, Pietro}},
  issn         = {{2076-3417}},
  keywords     = {{Cold plasma; Covid-19; Food quality; Food safety; Food shelf-life; Packaging materials; Viral RNA}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{05}},
  number       = {{9}},
  publisher    = {{MDPI AG}},
  series       = {{Applied Sciences (Switzerland)}},
  title        = {{Decontamination of food packages from SARS-COV-2 RNA with a cold plasma-assisted system}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/app11094177}},
  doi          = {{10.3390/app11094177}},
  volume       = {{11}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}