Cold plasma technique poised to bolster food safety and germination in wheat and barley

12 Mar 2024 --- Scientists in Canada have used cold plasma techniques to target fungal mycotoxins and reduce contamination in wheat and barley grains for enhancing food safety and reducing agricultural product losses associated with it. The method can also boost seed germination to enhance beer production.

The scientists reduced the levels of zearalenone and deoxynivalenol — the two major mycotoxins affecting grains in Canada, by 54% in one minute to one hour, which they say can potentially increase the F&B industry’s efficiency.

The discovery “can provide the food processing and livestock feed industries with more effective, efficient ways to process grains that are safe for consumption,” says Ehsan Feizollahi, who led the research at the University of Alberta, Canada.

Mycotoxins grow in warm, humid conditions and infect more than 25% of globally produced grains yearly, including barley, wheat and oat grains in Western Canada. This results in lower-quality crops and financial losses to farmers. They also pose threats to human and livestock health, including cancer, lung disease, brain and kidney damage, or even death.

“Because mycotoxins resist high temperatures, removing them from grains is challenging,” explains Feizollahi, adding that the industry currently does not have an effective way to reduce the toxins.

Mycotoxins infect more than 25% of grains globally.“Common food processing practices such as roasting, baking and frying may only partially remove mycotoxins.”

The findings are published in the Journal of Food Engineering.

Deactivating toxins sustainably
Plasma is considered the fourth state of matter along with solid, liquid and gas and has been attracting attention over the past few years, notes professor M.S. Roopesh, who supervised Feizollahi’s work and studies the broader applications of atmospheric cold plasma through the university’s Food Safety and Sustainability Engineering Research lab.

He sees cold plasma as an “emerging technology” for reducing food safety risks, as it contains highly reactive components that deactivate or reduce the toxins on the surface of the grains.

The treatments are also deemed environmentally sustainable.

“Making the cold plasma in gas form only requires air and electricity required for the process can be drawn from renewable sources,” explains Feizollahi.

Further, the cold plasma does not leave residues on the grain, eliminating the need for chemical sanitizers.

Targeting beer
The researchers also developed a plasma steeping technology for barley malting, which boosts grain germination by 10-13% for potential applications in malt and beer production.

Steeping the barley in plasma-activated water lowered the levels of deoxynivalenol in the grain, a mycotoxin produced by the fungus Fusarium graminearum that causes considerable financial loss to the grain and malting industries.

If left untreated, mycotoxins can seep into beer, threatening consumer health.According to Feizollahi, if manufacturers fail to break down this mycotoxin during malting operations, it can transfer into the beer produced, which could lead to acute temporary nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, headache, dizziness and fever in consumers.

He adds that the team will also explore cold plasma methods for use in reducing microbial contamination in food and water that can cause illnesses from bacterial pathogens like Escherichia coli and Salmonella.

Currently, the technology is open to licensing through the university and the team will conduct more experiments to scale it up for use in the industry.

Managing mycotoxins
Mycotoxins pose a major food safety concern in the F&B industry, prompting continuous innovation to reduce its levels in products.

Japanese scientists recently targeted Patulin, a harmful mycotoxin in damaged fruits, by leveraging a filamentous fungal strain, Acremonium sp, to degrade the toxin into other less harmful chemical substances.

Last year, Bühler unveiled optical sorters to increase nut yields that combat aflatoxin, a poisonous mycotoxin in nuts.

Animal food brands are also innovating through mycotoxin binders that can reduce the risk of mycotoxin infections in animal feeds.

By Insha Naureen