Influence of Long and Short Pulse Widths on Sterilization of Cut Vegetables Packaged at Low Oxygen Concentration Using Pulsed Plasma

If packaging cut vegetables can be sterilized by pulsed plasma produced by applying pulsed voltage to a bag even after packaging in the bag, the risk of bacterial contamination is further reduced. Gas of the inside of the bag is a kept hypoxic state by replacing the air to nitrogen gas for keeping the vegetables fresh, when the cut vegetables are packaged in the bag. In the hypoxic conditions, the active species produced by pulsed plasma may decrease. By that, the bactericidal effect may decrease. Also, in the case of the same output voltage, different pulse widths may result in different discharge currents. In that case, the energy given to the plasma by each discharge is different, which affects the collision and ionization of particles in the atmosphere, thereby affects the production of active species, like an ozone. Therefore, we investigated the bactericidal effect by pulsed plasma when short and long pulse widths were applied to the cut vegetables in the hypoxic state. The bactericidal effect by the pulsed plasma was investigated at the same applying voltage under normal and 10% oxygen concentration.