Impact of cold plasma on the quality of peach juice

Peach juice is a sweet and refreshing beverage rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, making it a popular choice for those seeking a healthy and delicious drink. Cold plasma, an innovative non-thermal technology, uses ionized gas to destroy bacteria, retain nutrients, and improve food products (including juices) all without compromising their flavour, texture, or nutritional content. This study focuses on how cold plasma, a unique non-thermal technology, affects peach juice quality in terms of colour change, antioxidant activity, phenolics, vitamin C, and Bacillus inactivation. The initial confirmation of the primary determinant for CP treatment, aside from treatment duration (4, 6, and 8 minutes), was the oxygen concentration (0, 1%, and 1.5%) of ionized gas. A longer treatment and higher oxygen concentration considerably accelerated the Bacillus death rate. When CP treatment was used instead of thermal treatment, phenolics were significantly higher, and the peach juice's original colour was better preserved. A comparatively lower exposure duration to CP was proposed regarding vitamin C. Increases in oxygen content in antioxidant tests led to rising trends in antioxidant activity in the DPPH and ABTS assays. This study demonstrates that cold plasma technology can effectively enhance the quality of peach juice by inactivating microorganisms, preserving nutrients, and maintaining its original colour and flavour, making it a promising non-thermal alternative to traditional thermal processing methods.