Safety assessment of cold plasma technology in food: From molecular modification to toxicological analysis

As a non-thermal processing technology, cold plasma has emerged as a promising approach to enhance food safety due to its unique physicochemical properties, particularly in microbial inactivation. However, critical challenges remain regarding the complex interactions between plasma-generated reactive species and food components, raising safety concerns for industrial applications. Additionally, there is a lack of a comprehensive review on the safety aspects of CP technology. This review systematically consolidates recent progress in establishing a safety evaluation framework for CP technology. Through comparative analysis, we elucidate the distinct action pathways of CP on key nutrients in plant-based and animal-derived food matrices. Mechanistic studies further elaborate that CP induces conformational modifications of food allergens through reactive species-mediated structural alterations. Furthermore, toxicological assessments combining in vitro and in vivo studies provide multi-dimensional safety validation. The review proposes targeted research directions and theoretical insights to standardize the application of CP technology in the food industry.