Detoxification of the post-harvest antifungal pesticide thiabendazole by cold atmospheric plasma.

Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) irradiation has a sterilizing effect without thermal denaturation or the production of residual substances. Hence, it is considered to be a safe sterilization technology with minimal damage for fresh foods. In addition, its decomposition effect on chemical substances has also been confirmed, and the application of CAP in the food and agricultural domains is increasing. In this study, we examined the potential of CAP to detoxify pesticide residues. Post-harvest chemical treatments using pesticides, such as fungicides, are frequently employed in imported agricultural products and are often disapproved by consumers. Therefore, we assessed the detoxification of thiabendazole (TBZ), a widely used post-harvest pesticide, using low-cost air plasma irradiation. We found that CAP irradiation conditions that detoxified TBZ caused little damage to the edible parts of mandarin oranges. The results of the present study suggest that CAP irradiation is useful for detoxifying and degrading pesticide residues without damaging agricultural products and that CAP irradiation is an effective means of maintaining food safety.