Food Control 21 (2010) 1182–1186

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Food Control
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foodcont

Inactivation of Listeria monocytogenes inoculated on disposable plastic tray,

aluminum foil, and paper cup by atmospheric pressure plasma
Hyejeong Yun a, Binna Kim a, Samooel Jung a, Zbigniew A. Kruk a,b, Dan Bee Kim c, Wonho Choe c,
Cheorun Jo a,*
a
Department of Animal Science and Biotechnology, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 305-764, Republic of Korea
b
Department of Animal Science, School of Agriculture Food and Wine, The University of Adelaide, South Australia 5371, Australia
c
Department of Physics, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon 305-701, Republic of Korea

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of atmospheric pressure plasma (APP) on Listeria
Received 21 September 2009 monocytogenes inoculated onto disposable food containers including disposable plastic trays, aluminum
Received in revised form 25 January 2010 foil, and paper cups. The parameters considered in APP processing were input power (75, 100, 125, and
Accepted 2 February 2010
150 W) and exposure time (60, 90, and 120 s). The bacterial reduction in the disposable plastic trays, alu-
minum foil, and paper cups was associated with increased input power and exposure time of APP. The D10
values were calculated as 49.3, 47.7, 36.2, and 17.9 s in disposable plastic trays, 133, 111, 76.9, and 31.6 s
Keywords:
in aluminum foil and 526, 65.8, 51.8, and 41.7 s in paper cups at 75, 100, 125, and 150 W of input power,
Atmospheric pressure plasma
Listeria monocytogenes
respectively. There were no viable cells detected after 90 and 120 s of APP treatment at 150 W in dispos-
Disposable plastic tray able plastic trays. However, only three decimal reductions of viable cells were achieved in aluminum foil
Aluminum foil and paper cups at 150 W for 120 s. These results demonstrate that APP treatment is effective for inacti-
Paper cup vation of L. monocytogenes and applicable for disposable food containers. However, the type of material is
crucial and appropriate treatment conditions should be considered for achieving satisfactory inactivation
level.
Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction was detected at a level of 105 CFU/cm2 on stainless steel surfaces

Food safety is the most critical issue for both consumers and the
food industry. Contamination of foods by pathogens induces an
enormous social and economical burden on health care. Escherichia
coli, Salmonella typhimurium, Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria mono-
cytogenes, and Enterococcus faecalis are general food-borne patho-
gens that cause severe diseases and in some cases even death. It
has been estimated that in the Unites States alone food-borne dis-
eases cause 76 million illnesses, 325,000 hospitalizations and 5000
deaths each year (Mead et al., 1999). Recent reports from the
World Health Organization (WHO) have also concluded that the
incidence of food-borne diseases is a growing public health prob-
lem in both developed and developing countries (WHO, 2007).
Several studies have suggested that various bacteria, such as
E. coli, S. aureus, and Salmonella. spp., survive not only in food but
also on hands, sponges, clothes, and disposable food containers
(Jiang & Doyle, 1999; Kusumaningrum, Putten, Rombouts, & Beu-
mer, 2002). In another study, survival of food-borne pathogens
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 42 821 5774; fax: +82 42 825 9754.
E-mail address: cheorun@cnu.ac.kr (C. Jo).
(Kusumaningrum, Ridoldi, Hazeleger, & Beumer, 2003).
There are several traditional decontamination methods and
they can be divided into thermal and non-thermal sterilization.
Thermal sterilization can inactivate pathogens efficiently but in-
duces side-effects in the sensory, nutritional, and functional prop-
erties of food. Therefore, it cannot be applied to some foods or
materials. Moreover, food containers may be also impacted by
thermal treatment. To overcome these disadvantages, non-thermal
sterilization methods were developed and used including chemical
treatment (Jane, Kang, Michael, Stuart, & Valgene, 2008), ultra vio-
let (Shama, 2007), irradiation (Aziz & Moussa, 2002), high pressure
(Garcia-Gonzalez et al., 2007), etc. However, these processes also
have certain disadvantages which include high costs of application,
requirements for specialized equipments, generation of undesir-
able residues, extended processing time, and lower efficiency
(Brendan & Joseph, 2008). Irradiation is known as one of the best
non-thermal sterilization methods to destroy pathogenic and
spoilage microorganisms but may induce side-effects such as lipid
oxidation, off-flavor, and loss of nutritional and sensory quality of
food. In addition, this technology needs special facilities and more
consumer acceptance. High pressure processing has also been suc-
cessfully applied in food processing but has limitations in batch

0956-7135/$ - see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.foodcont.2010.02.002
 H. Yun et al. / Food Control 21 (2010) 1182–1186
size processing and affects the quality of the product (Kruk et al.,
2009).
Plasma is an electrically energized state of matter and can be
generated by electrical discharge (Bogaerts, Neyts, Gijbels, & Mul-
len, 2002). Utilization of non-thermal plasma discharges at pres-
sures at or near 1 atm in the ambient condition makes the
decontamination process practical and inexpensive. In addition,
the fact that the gas temperature in such discharges remains rela-
tively low makes their use suitable for heat-sensitive products. Re-
cently, atmospheric pressure plasma (APP) has been applied to the
deposition, coating, synthesis, metallurgy, and etching of thin film
etc. (Gomez et al., 2009).
The highly reactive free radicals (OH, H2O) and H2O2 produced
during APP process are known to play a major role in the inactiva-
tion of bacteria (Gilliland & Speck, 1967; Gweon, Kim, Moon, &
Choe, 2009). Reactive oxygen species affect bacterial membrane
lipids by causing the formation of unsaturated fatty acid peroxides.
Oxidation of amino acid and nucleic acids may also cause changes
that result in microbial death or injury. Therefore, APP is intro-
duced as a new sanitizing technology in the field of food
processing.
APP processing was effective to inactivate microorganisms in
hard solid foods including nuts and soft foods including apples
and lettuce (Brendan & Joseph, 2008). Recently, Song et al. (2009)
reported that APP was effective to inactivate L. monocytogenes inoc-
ulated on sliced ham and cheese. Moon et al. (2009) suggested that
APP of 4 mA conduction current and 60 °C gas temperature condi-
tion was obtained at input power 100 W using helium gas and that
it could be safely applied to human skin without electrical and
thermal damages. However, evidence of effectiveness on inactiva-
tion of pathogens in different foods or food containers is still very
limited.
The objective of this study was to investigate the inactivation
effect of APP on L. monocytogenes inoculated on disposable plastic
trays, aluminum foil, and paper cups, which are all commonly used
for food preparation and serving.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Samples preparation
Disposable plastic trays (polystyrene), aluminum foil, and paper
cups (pulp) were purchased from a local market located in Daej-
eon, Korea in November 2008. The samples were cut into dimen-
sions (length x width) of 60  6 mm, then packed into a
polyethylene pouch. To sterilize the samples, 35 kGy of gamma
irradiation (AECL, IR-79, MDS Nordion International Co. Ltd., Otta-
wa, ON, Canada) was applied at the Advanced Radiation Technol-
ogy Institute, Jeongeup, Korea. The source strength was
approximately 320 kCi with a dose rate of 20 kGy/h at 10 ± 0.5 °C.
2.2. Inoculation
Three strains of L. monocytogenes (ATCC 19114, 19115, and
19111) were obtained from a Korean Culture Center of Microor-
ganisms (KCCM, Seoul, Korea). Each strain was cultured in a tryptic
soy broth (Difco, Laboratories, Detroit, MI, USA) at 25 °C for 24 h. At
the stationary-phase, a culture of three strains of L. monocytogenes
were transferred aseptically to a 50 ml centrifuge tube and were
vortexed for 10 s to ensure a homogenous cocktail. Then, L. mono-
cytogenes were centrifuged (1950g for 10 min at 4 °C) in a refriger-
ated centrifuge (VS-5500, Vision Scientific Co., Seoul, Korea). The
pellet was washed twice with sterile saline (0.85%), and suspended
in saline to a final concentration of approximately 109 CFU/ml of
the stock cocktail inoculum. The test culture suspension (100 ll)
1183
was uniformly and aseptically inoculated on the disposable plastic
trays, aluminum foil, and paper cups, respectively. The samples
were sealed in a polyethylene bag and incubated at 10 °C for 1 h
to facilitate the attachment of microorganisms to the samples.
2.3. Treatment by atmospheric pressure plasma (APP)
The plasma generator used in the experiment was a capaci-
tively-coupled large area system (dimensions: 110 mm  15 mm)
and consisted of a powered rod electrode covered by a dielectric
material located in a grounded case, and a bottom ground elec-
trode that was placed under the powered electrode and used as a
base for material treatment (Fig. 1). The electrode was powered
by a 13.56 MHz rf supply through an impedance matching net-
work. Helium gas with a fixed flow rate of 4 lpm (liter per minute)
was introduced for stable plasma generation. The input powers in
this study were 75, 100, 125, and 150 W and the exposure times
were 30, 60, 90, and 120 s. For plasma treatment, inoculated sam-
ples were placed on the bottom conductor and were in direct con-
tact with the plasma at room temperature. The gap distance
between the powered electrode and the treatment surface was
maintained at 6 mm. Inoculated samples without plasma treat-
ments were also prepared as a control. After plasma treatment,
the samples were immediately stored at commercial storage con-
ditions (25 °C) and microbial analysis was performed.
2.4. Microbiological analysis
After APP treatment, samples were vortexed with sterile saline
solution (NaCl, 0.85%) for 5 min. The samples for the microbiolog-
ical count were prepared in a series of decimal dilutions utilizing
sterile saline solution. The media used for L. monocytogenes was
tryptic soy agar (Difco, Laboratories, Detroit, MI, USA). Each diluent
(100 l) was spread in triplicate on each agar plate and the plates
were incubated at 25 °C for 48 h, after which the colony formation
units (CFU) per gram were calculated.
2.5. Statistical analysis
Three independent trials were conducted with two samples for
treatment combination per each trial in the experiment. One-way
Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was performed, and when signifi-
cant differences were detected the differences among the mean
values were identified by Duncan‘s multiple range test using SAS
software with a confidence level of P < 0.05 (SAS, Release 8.01,
SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC). Mean values and standard errors of
the mean are reported.
Dielectric Powered
electrode
RF
source
Plasma Sample
Fig. 1. Diagrammatic representation of plasma generator.
1184 H. Yun et al. / Food Control 21 (2010) 1182–1186
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Effects of APP input power on L. monocytogenes survival
The sensitivity of APP treatment of L. monocytogenes inoculated
on the surface of disposable plastic trays, aluminum foil, and paper
cups are shown in Table 1. Calculated D10 values, the exposure
time required to inactivate 90% of a population from the survival
curves, demonstrated a decreasing trend with the increased input
power in all of the materials tested. Initially, the highest D10 values
with input power of 75 W were observed on paper cups followed
by aluminum foil and disposable plastic trays (Table 1). The in-
creased input power from 75 to 100 W reduced the D10 values from
49.3 and 133 s to 47.6 and 111 s on the plastic trays and aluminum
foil, respectively, and from 526 to 65.8 s on the paper cups. When
the input power was further raised to 150 W the D10 values for dis-
posable plastic trays, aluminum foil and paper cups were reduced
to 18.0, 31.6, and 41.7 s, respectively. These results clearly suggest
that the efficiency of plasma treatment on L. monocytogenes is
highly dependant on surface characteristics of the serving/storage
material. Kayes et al. (2007) reported that one atmosphere uniform
glow discharge plasma (OAUGDP) treatment resulted in D10 values
of 22, 22, and 51 s in S. flexneri, V. parahaemolyticus, and E. coli
O157:H7 at pH 7.0 agar, respectively. However, in agar with pH
5.0, D10 values were 19 and 31 s in V. parahaemolyticus and S. ente-
ritidis, respectively. Ben Gadri et al. (2000) observed D10 values for
E. coli K12 at 6, 33, and 70 s on polypropylene, glass, and agar,
respectively. It seems that D10 values for these incubated agar
plates depended strongly on pH among other surface characteris-
tics. A longer plasma exposure time was also required to achieve
the same inactivation level for dried cultures or cultures embedded
within agar plugs (Ben Gadri et al., 2000). Bacteria in agar require a
longer penetration time for the antimicrobial active species to dif-
fuse to them in the porous medium (Montie, Kelly-Winternberg, &
Roth, 2000). Recently Song et al. (2009) also pointed out the signif-
icantly different effect in inactivation of L. monocytogenes that were
inoculated in ham and cheese. The authors indicated that it is pos-
sibly due to the sliced ham surface being a little rough compared
with the smooth surface of the sliced cheese, so the intricate web-
bing on the surface of sliced ham provided numerous sites for L.
monocytogenes to attach and potentially evade antimicrobial treat-
ment. Park et al. (2008) reported that microwave-induced argon
plasma treatment completely sterilized in less than 7 s the silk fab-
rics inoculated with various strains of either bacteria or fungi.
Bacillus subtilis, Aspergillus niger, Bacillus stearothermophilus, and
Saccharomyces cerevisiae with an initial spore density of
2.0  104 CFU/cm2 can easily be inactivated within less than one
second of plasma treatment without forming dangerous or even
toxic products that would contaminate the food packaging mate-
rial, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) foils (Feichtinger, Schulz,
Walker, & Schumacher, 2003).
Table 1
Calculated D10 valuesa (s) for Listeria monocytogenes inoculated on different food
containers by atmospheric pressure plasma.
Input power (W) D10 value
Disposable plastic tray Aluminum foil Paper cup
75 49.3 133 526
100 47.6 111 65.8
125 36.2 76.9 51.8
150 18.0 31.6 41.7
a
D10 value is described as the time necessary to reduce the population of cells
one log or 90%. The values were determined from plots of the number of survivors
versus time (s).
3.2. Effects of APP on L. monocytogenes during storage
Table 2 shows the reduction of L. monocytogenes inoculated on
disposable plastic trays, aluminum foil, and paper cups with differ-
ent input power (W) and exposure time (s) during storage at 25 °C.
Results show that the higher input power of APP was more effec-
tive in inactivation of L. monocytogenes at even shorter exposure
times. Inactivation of L. monocytogenes was influenced more by
power (W) than by exposure time (s) on disposable plastic trays.
The input power of 75 W resulted in only two decimal reductions
of L. monocytogenes after 120 s, but 150 W resulted in elimination
of the pathogen (Table 2). APP treatment with 125 W for 60 s or
longer showed approximately a two decimal reduction, but after
storage for 3 days at 25 °C the viable cell number decreased to
undetected levels. After 6 days, the viable cells were reduced be-
low the detection limit with APP treatment of 100 W for 90 s (data
not shown). This may be accounted for by the presence of a post-
treatment effect wherein the APP damaged cells could not recover.
The L. monocytogenes inoculated on aluminum foil and paper
cups showed more resistance by APP treatment in this study. In
aluminum foil, APP treatment with up to 100 W resulted in only
one decimal reduction, and the decrease of the viable cell number
was very limited after 3 days (Table 2), and even after 6 days (data
not shown). APP treatment of aluminum foil with 150 W for 120 s
showed three decimal reductions in L. monocytogenes.
In the case of paper cups, 2–3 decimal reductions were achieved
by APP at 100, 125, and 150 W for 150 s. However, APP treatment
with 75 W was not effective for inactivation of microorganisms.
Generally, the inactivation trend of paper cups was similar to alu-
minum foil. During the plasma process, the formation of an oxygen
functional group occurs at the surface of treated materials through
the interaction between the active species from the plasma and the
surface atoms (Guruvenket, Mohan Rao, Komath, & Raichur, 2004).
In plasma-solid interactions, the surface of material may be chem-
ically and physically modified by plasma processing (Pykonen
et al., 2008). The membrane surface can be changed by different
functional groups. In particular the groups responsible for surface
hydrophilicity such as peroxide, carboxylic acid, ketone/aldehyde
and ester groups can be generated and activated by plasma on
the surfaces (Lai et al., 2006; Weibel, Vilani, Habert, & Achetee,
2006). Guruvenket et al. (2004) reported that plasma-treated poly-
styrene increased ion density and transformed to a hydrophilic
state through an increase of plasma power (Guruvenket et al.,
2004). Polystyrene, the major material ingredient in disposable
plastic trays, comprises of saturated hydrocarbons and can be eas-
ily attacked by the reactive species in the plasma (Araya, Yuji,
Watanabe, Kashihara, & Sumida, 2007). Wang, Wu, and Li (2008)
reported that the inactivation efficiency of microorganisms in poly-
styrene decreased with the addition of sodium carbonate, whereas
it increased with the addition of ferrous sulfate. The carbonate pig-
ment coated on paper cups may be one of the reasons for the lower
efficiency of inactivation of L. monocytogenes inoculated on paper
cups by APP.
Recently, the inactivation of food-borne microorganisms by
plasma treatment has been reported. Deng, Ruan, Mok, Huang,
and Chen (2007) showed that the number of E. coli 12955 on al-
monds was reduced by log 5 after 30 s of non-thermal plasma at
30 kV and 2 kHz. Critzer, Kelly-Wintenberg, South, and Golden
(2007) reported that reductions of 2–5 log were obtained in
OAUGDP treatment of 2–5 min in E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella enter-
iridis, and L. monocytogenes on Red Delicious apples. Cold atmo-
spheric plasma treatment (12 kV) reduced the number of Pantoea
agglomerans and Gluconacetobacter liquefaciens on mango and mel-
on to below the detection limit after 2.5 s. However, E. coli required
5 s to reach the same level of inactivation and Saccharomyces cere-
visiae was the most resistant and required 10 and 30 s in mango
 H. Yun et al. / Food Control 21 (2010) 1182–1186 1185

Table 2
Effects of atmospheric pressure plasma on Listeria monocytogenes (log CFU/g) inoculated on disposable plastic trays, aluminum foil and paper cups during storage at 25 °C.

Input power (W) Exposure time (s) Disposable plastic tray Aluminum foil Paper cup
Storage (day)
0 3 SEMe 0 3 SEMe 0 3 SEMe
aw bx x x
75 0 6.79 5.28 0.146 7.13 6.54 0.220 6.51 6.04 0.228
30 6.07ax 5.11bxy 0.084 6.97ax 6.21bxy 0.162 6.50 6.32 0.124
60 5.26ay 4.58by 0.195 6.86axy 5.92byz 0.076 6.31a 5.34b 0.060
90 4.49z 4.63yz 0.099 6.47ayz 5.74bz 0.092 6.43a 5.21b 0.087
120 4.54z 4.47z 0.156 6.26az 5.61bz 0.045 6.23 5.28 0.263
SEMf 0.165 0.132 0.125 0.092 0.291 0.310
100 0 6.79aw 5.28bw 0.146 7.13w 6.54x 0.220 6.51x 6.04x 0.228
30 5.40ax 4.12bxy 0.088 6.58x 6.16xy 0.134 6.02x 5.92x 0.201
60 4.76ay 4.31ax 0.156 6.19ay 5.71byz 0.087 5.77x 5.41xy 0.296
90 4.38az 3.67byz 0.152 6.09ayz 5.60bz 0.022 5.72x 5.46xy 0.143
120 4.16az 3.50bz 0.231 6.02az 5.51bz 0.042 4.46y 4.72y 0.361
SEMf 0.100 0.148 0.039 0.133 0.276 0.263
125 0 6.79ax 5.28bx 0.146 7.13w 6.54x 0.220 6.51ax 6.04ax 0.228
30 4.93ay 3.58by 0.079 6.56ax 5.62by 0.170 6.11axy 5.36bxy 0.092
60 4.37ay NDbz 0.005 6.02ay 5.54by 0.060 5.36y 5.13y 0.045
90 3.57az NDbz 0.145 5.66az 4.75bz 0.072 4.50y 4.25z 0.420
120 3.33az NDbz 0.122 5.53az 4.49bz 0.162 4.31y 4.19z 0.074
SEMf 0.173 0.030 0.063 0.144 0.292 0.181
150 0 6.79aw 5.28bx 0.146 7.13w 6.54x 0.220 6.51ax 6.04ax 0.228
30 4.41ax NDby 0.022 4.89x 4.38y 0.190 6.02axy 5.15by 0.180
60 3.46ay NDby 0.125 4.77ax 4.31byz 0.090 5.20axy 3.41bz 0.215
90 NDz NDy – 4.51ay 4.13byz 0.110 4.32ay 2.89az 0.632
120 NDz NDy – 4.04z 3.73z 0.120 3.66ay 2.15az 0.634
SEMf 0.042 0.020 0.069 0.158 0.476 0.372

Values with different superscripts (a–d) within the same row and for the same material differ significantly (P < 0.05), values with different superscripts (w–z) within the same
column for the same material differ significantly (P < 0.05), eStandard errors of the mean (n = 6), f(n = 15), ND = viable cells were not detected with a detection limit
at < 101 CFU/g.

and melon, respectively (Perni, Liu, Shama, & Kong, 2008). Atmo-
spheric pressure glow discharge (APGD) treatment for 10 min
achieved six decimal reductions on Bacillus subtilis spores at a spor-
ulation temperature of 22 °C and 3.5 decimal reductions at 47 °C
(Deng, Shi, & Kong, 2006a, 2006b). Therefore, the microorganism
inactivation by plasma treatment can be dependent on different
factors including plasma type, microorganism, culture age, expo-
sure power, temperature, pH, exposure time, composition of the
media, and material type.
The risk of food-borne pathogens is mainly associated with cross-
contamination, level of contamination on the surfaces, and the prob-
ability of its transfer to food. Perni et al. (2008) suggested that cold
atmospheric gas plasmas have potential in decontaminating the
skins of soft fruits and it seems feasible when the plasmas generated
are scaled up to industrial level (Shi, Liu, & Kong, 2007). In this study,
it has been concluded that APP treatment has great potential for
inactivation of L. monocytogenes on the surface of disposable food
containers. However, different inactivation rates in different surface
materials should be considered to achieve satisfactory results.
Therefore, further work is required to develop an efficient APP treat-
ment system that can be applied effectively in the food industry.
Acknowledgement
This work was supported by the Korea Rural Development
Administration Fund.
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