Enhancing Prosciutto through Cold Plasma: From Pathogen Inactivation to Quality Retention

This study investigated the efficacy of non-thermal cold plasma treatment in enhancing the safety of prosciutto by inactivating microorganisms while preserving its essential properties. No consistent trends were observed in the prosciutto samples regarding appearance, pH, water content, water-holding capacity, and filter-paper fluid uptake with increasing treatment duration. No significant differences were observed in hardness or water activity among the samples. In contrast, volatile basic nitrogen levels decreased with treatment duration, except at 9 min, while the values of 2-thiobarbituric acid reactive substances increased, likely owing to the inhibition of endogenous enzyme activity and spoilage microorganisms that produce ammonia and trimethylamine. The levels of active hepatitis E virus RNA decreased significantly after 3 min of treatment and were undetectable after 9 min. Additionally, microbial analyses revealed a reduction of approximately 2-log colony-forming units in Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella enterica, Bacillus cereus, and Staphylococcus aureus after 5 min of treatment (p < 0.05). These findings demonstrate that cold plasma treatment is an effective method for microbial inactivation in prosciutto, achieving significant safety improvements while preserving the physical qualities of the product.