High Voltage Atmospheric Cold Plasma Treatment Of Refrigerated Chicken Eggs For Control Of Salmonella Enteritidis On External Surfaces

Chen, Yi. M. S., Purdue University, August 2014. High Voltage Atmospheric Cold Plasma Treatment of Refrigerated Chicken Eggs for Control of Salmonella Enteritidis on External Surfaces. Major Professor: Kevin M. Keener. The global market for eggs is projected to reach 1.154 trillion by the year 2015. The number one risk to consumers from chicken eggs is contamination with Salmonella Enteritidis (SE). FDA estimates each year 142,000 illnesses in the U.S. are caused by SE contamination in chicken eggs. The first objective of this research study was to evaluate a novel High Voltage Atmospheric Cold Plasma (HVACP) technology in reducing externally inoculated SE on refrigerated chicken eggs. Raw, chicken eggs attached with SE population (10 CFU/ml), were placed in plastic containers filled with either dry Air (22%O2, 78%N2) or Modified Atmospheric (MA) gas (65%O2, 30%CO2, 5%N2), and treated directly or indirectly with HVACP for 5, 10, and 15 min. The experiment was conducted in triplicate with each replicate requiring 48 eggs for treatment. Results showed direct HVACP treatment in MA for 15 min achieved maximum SE inactivation of 5.531 log CFU/egg. SE reductions on egg surfaces depended on treatment times, gas type, and mode of exposure of eggs to the plasma. For the storage study up to 21 days, Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) populations on untreated control egg surfaces were in a decreasing trend from 7.8 log CFU/egg to below the