Improving food drying performance by cold plasma pretreatment: A systematic review.

Area of Science:

• Food Science and Technology
• Materials Science
• Chemical Engineering

Background:

• Drying is crucial for food preservation and shelf-life extension.
• Cold plasma (CP) is an emerging pretreatment technology for food drying.
• CP offers potential benefits in drying performance, energy consumption, and product quality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To comprehensively review the mechanisms by which cold plasma improves food drying.
• To analyze related equipment, energy consumption, influencing factors, and impact on dried food quality.
• To discuss the advantages, disadvantages, and future research directions for CP in food drying.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of recent studies on cold plasma pretreatment in food drying.
• Analysis of the scientific principles behind CP's effect on moisture diffusion and microstructure.
• Evaluation of experimental data on drying rates, energy efficiency, and product quality attributes.

Main Results:

• Cold plasma pretreatment significantly improves drying rates and overall efficiency.
• CP enhances dried food quality by reducing drying time and enzyme activity.
• CP pretreatment leads to reduced energy consumption during the food drying process.

Conclusions:

• Cold plasma is a promising technology for optimizing food drying processes.
• Further research into CP mechanisms and equipment innovation is needed for wider industry adoption.
• CP pretreatment offers a sustainable approach to improving food preservation techniques.