Plasma-activated water in food systems: linking generation chemistry, matrix-conditioned exposure, and process...

Plasma-activated water (PAW) is being investigated across food systems, yet evidence is often transferred across generation, chemistry, matrix and process contexts without testing whether those transfers are valid. This disconnect obscures device-dependent chemical identity, food-contact exposure and the conditions required for process translation.

This critical narrative review examines gaps in evidence transfer across the PAW generation-to-translation chain rather than recataloguing applications by food category. Representative studies are used to examine how claims are transferred between generation, chemistry, matrix-conditioned exposure, response and translation. The literature discussed is non-exhaustive and is not intended to constitute a defined evidence set.

PAW is better treated as a family of generation-dependent reactive solutions than as a standardised reagent. Matrix-conditioned exposure is an experimentally estimable intermediate between generator-outlet chemistry and food response, not a direct measure of cellular dose. The combination studies discussed here frequently report enhanced effects without testing them against an explicit, design-appropriate additivity reference. Greater-than-single-treatment efficacy therefore does not by itself demonstrate synergy. The literature considered also shows persistent gaps between PAW generation capacity and validated food-processing throughput. Dietary safety evidence for PAW-treated food remains less developed than evidence from direct PAW-liquid administration or indirect in vitro models. The Generation-Chemistry-Matrix-Response-Translation (GCMRT) framework makes these limits of inference explicit and links them to food-specific validation requirements.