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Background and Objective: One of the problems associated with exporting traditional bulk saffron during the harvest season is the uncontrolled microbial load. Hence, it is crucial to discover a new and suitable approach for microbial decontamination. Cold plasma technology is a novel, non-thermal, safe, and efficient approach to deactivating various pathogenic microorganisms in various food materials and agricultural products. Considering the nutritional and medicinal importance of saffron (Crocus sativus L.), the present research aims to investigate the effect of cold plasma on the microbial decontamination of saffron. Methods: Cold plasma was utilized to treat samples of saffron under various conditions. Subsequently, the microbial load of the treatments was measured and compared to the control at a probability level of 1%. Results: According to the results, cold plasma technology reduced the microbial contamination in the treated samples. The lowest microbial load in treated samples was shown in conditions with cold-vacuumed plasma systems, pressure at 10-2 Torr, injected gas with air and argon (50 L min-1), radio frequency energy (RF) with a 13.56 MHz, exposure time of 5 min, the temperature at 25oC, and power of 30 w. This treatment was highly effective in decreasing microbial load by 46.6%. Conclusion: Hence, the cold plasma method can be a risk-free method to reduce the microbial load in spices, particularly saffron. Ultimately, our in vitro results provide an optimized set of conditions and basic data for future research on the industrial sterilization of medicinal plants

Keywords: Cold plasma, Non-thermal treatment, Decontamination, Licorice, Microbial load

     

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