Explorative MS-fingerprinting to assess novel applications of Non-thermal plasma in food research

Several statistical tools such as Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Soft Independent Modelling of Class Analogy (SIMCA) are often used in food research. In this study, the use of non-thermal plasma (NTP) as an accelerated lipid oxidation technique in food matrices was evaluated, using the abovementioned tools. First, a blend of vegetable oil was treated to evaluate the impact of NTP gas composition and treatment time. Secondly, oleic acid was used as food model matrix to undertake a profound parameter study and demonstrate the high steerability of NTP. Samples oxidized at room temperature for several months were used as reference. Results of the oil tests indicate significant differences in oxidized samples with different NTP conditions. The parameter study revealed highest correlation to oxidized samples at room temperature when Ar/O2 (0.1%) NTP was used. Varying parameters such as oxygen concentration and treatment time indicate a good steerability of the NTP technique. Third, olive oil samples adulterated with cheap sunflower oil were detected through a unique pretreatment, using NTP. Adulterated olive oil samples could be identified through NTP pretreatment, even at the level of 1%.status: publishe