$1M grant from the Defense Logistics Agency

Extending Shelf Life of Strawberries, Spinach, Kale, and Lettuce via Non-Equilibrium Short-Pulsed Plasma Activated Water Fog: AAPlasma receives Phase II Award # SP4701-19-C-0039 from the Defense Logistics Agency. The goal of this project is to disinfect fresh fruits and vegetables (FF&Vs) prior to or during transportation in non-refrigerated storage. This offers an opportunity to build a system ultimately destined to support sanitized or even sterile environment in a 53-foot FF&V transportation trailer, on-site storage at the processing plant, or at the final distribution center/grocery store.

Cold plasma fogging, developed originally with the funding from the DOT, DOD, NSF, and USDA, has the potential to significantly extend shellfire of FF&Vs while reducing or eliminating foodborne illnesses and deaths, associated with many recent outbreaks.

One of the possible implementations of the plasma fogging system with spinach, kale, lettuce, and strawberries (plus control Petri dishes) are setup for the experiment in a sealed misting chamber (wine cooler).

In a lab-scale system, we have successfully demonstrated an 8-log (99.999999%) reduction—virtually a complete elimination—of E.coli, Salmonella, and Listeria from the surface of spinach, kale, lettuce, and strawberries. Shown by other research groups, cold plasma can also inactivate spores, biofilms, viruses, and even insect eggs. We remain cautiously optimistic of the future success of this technology in the food and agriculture industries.

Fresh produce containers, ready for shipment, stacked at one of AAPlasma’s collaborator locations in Philadelphia, PA.

Company overview: AAPlasma, LLC performs scale-up feasibility research of laboratory plasma technologies and initiates commercialization efforts for systems capable of handling industry demands.