A New Frontier in Food Safety: Cold Plasma Strategies for Effective Control of Fungi and Mycotoxins

Mycotoxins are compounds produced by the secondary metabolism of certain fungi. These compounds contaminate foods worldwide and pose a severe threat to the health of humans and animals. They also cause huge economic losses. A plethora of methodologies, encompassing agricultural, biological, chemical, and physical approaches, have been devised to curtail the presence of mycotoxins in food commodities. Among the physical processes, cold plasma (CP) has emerged as a useful technique for controlling the presence of toxigenic fungi in foods and for degrading the mycotoxins occurring in them without significantly affecting the quality and organoleptic properties of the treated commodities. The present review endeavors to demonstrate the efficacy of CP as a method of eradicating or reducing both the toxigenic mycobiota and the mycotoxins present in the most contaminated foods, including nuts, dried fruits, and cereal grains. The mechanisms of toxin degradation proposed by the different researchers are also examined and compared. Furthermore, the impact of the CP effect on the quality, sensorial characteristics, and toxicological properties of the treated food is thoroughly examined.