Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) is an emerging non-thermal technology with significant potential for use in the meat industry to extend product shelf life.

In this context, the aim of a recent study carried out by a group of international researchers (Oliinychenko et al., 2024) was to evaluate the influence of CAP treatments on the natural microbial load and quality of pork stored at 4 °C for a period of 8 days. In particular, the experiment was conducted using direct discharge piezoelectric technology for 0, 3, 6 and 9 minutes.

The results show reductions of approximately 0.8-1.7 log CFU/g in total viable counts (TVC) and Pseudomonas spp. levels for CAP treatments lasting > 3 minutes, immediately after their application.