An innovative curing process with plasma‐treated water for production of loin ham and for its quality and safety

The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the potential of plasma‐treated water (PTW) as an alternative to synthetic sodium nitrite in loin ham manufacturing. Two brine solutions made of sodium nitrite were compared against PTW for curing of loin ham. In comparison to chemical brining PTW resulted in increased redness (a*‐value), while allowing to maintain low residual nitrite content and total bacterial counts. No significant differences were found in yellowness (b*‐value), lightness (L*‐value), and lipid oxidation among the treatment groups. Furthermore, the loin ham manufactured using PTW showed no genotoxicity by Ames test. Therefore, PTW could be considered as an effective and innovative substitute for synthetic nitrite in cured meat manufacturing without compromising on quality changes. A new concept use of plasma technology other than for microbial decontamination is applied for food production here. In this study, the plasma‐treated water (PTW) is served as an alternative to sodium nitrite in loin ham production. Redness of loin ham made with PTW is higher, whereas residual nitrite content and initial total bacterial counts are lower than that in ham made with sodium nitrite. Loin ham made with PTW did not show any mutagenicity.