目前食品包裝材料的殺菌法，主要有熱處理、物理性的紫外光、γ射線或是化學性的液體殺菌 (過氧化 氫、酒精等)和氣體殺菌 (環氧乙烷) 等。這些方法在業界雖然已經沿用多年，但還是可能造成食品包材上產生 某些問題，如待殺菌物不耐熱、形狀改變甚至會有化學藥品殘留等。本研究將應用介電質常壓電漿 (dielectric barrier discharge, DBD) 於食品包裝材料之殺菌處理並測試其殺菌效果及最適化操作條件。將常見食品汙染菌如 大腸桿菌 (Escherichia coli)、金黃色葡萄球菌 (Staphylococcus aureus)、沙門氏菌 (Salmonella typhimurium) 或李斯 特菌 (Listeria innocua) 等分別接種於常用的塑膠材料上進行DBD處理。結果顯示，電漿功率與時間增加能提 升殺菌效果，E. coli起始濃度7.21 log CFU/mL，使用電漿功率40 W；以氧氣為工作氣體處理十分鐘，可以減少 2.71 log CFU/mL。在菌種試驗方面，E. coli、S. typhimurium、S. aureus及L. innocua起始濃度分別為7.25、6.97、 6.76及6.72 log CFU/mL，經40 W DBD處理20分鐘後，各減少了3.37、3.28、1.07及1.15 log CFU/mL。S. aureus、L. innocua對電漿殺菌之抗性效應比E. coli與S. typhimurium佳，即革蘭氏陽性菌較陰性菌對電漿有較強的抗性。電 漿處理完後，利用原子力顯微鏡觀察菌體本身，顯示菌體會因為電漿處理而被破壞。使用電漿對常用的包裝 材料PE、PP及PET進行短時間滅菌處理，均明顯呈現相似之殺菌效果。本研究之電漿殺菌技術主要特色為乾 式且非熱殺菌，可望應用於食品包裝材料之殺菌。

Many methods have been widely applied for sterilization of food packaging materials, including heat treatment, physical sterilization (such as ultraviolet (UV) light and γ irradiation) and chemical sterilization (such as hydrogen peroxide, ethanol, and ethylene oxide), etc. Although those methods have been used in industry for many years, they still might cause certain problems on food packaging. For example, the objects to be sterilized are heat-labile, the shape of which could be deformed due to heating, and even on the surface of which the chemicals might be left over. The aim of this study was to employ dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) to decontaminate food packaging materials as well as to evaluate the sterilization efficacy and the optimum operation conditions. Common food spoilage bacteria, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhimurium, or Listeria innocua was artificially inoculated on frequently used plastic packaging materials and the inactivation of them was performed by DBD. The results indicated that the microbial number reduced with increased input power and plasma exposure time. The initial bacterial count of 7.21 Log CFU/mL on PE film was reduced by 2.71 Log CFU/mL after 10 min of plasma treatment at 40 W, using oxygen as the working gas. The bacterial count of E. coli, S. aureus, S. typhimurium, and L. innocua was decreased by 3.37, 3.28, 1.07 and 1.15 log CFU/mL, which suggested that gram-positive bacteria, S. aureus and L. innocua, were more resistant to the effect of plasma than gram-negative bacteria, E. coli and S. typhimurium. The alteration of cell morphology observed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) revealed that the microbes can be destroyed progressively by DBD plasma. By means of DBD, evident decontamination of the prevailing food packaging materials, PE, PP and PET was achieved after treatment for short time. From our study, the DBD treatment is especially a non-thermal, dry-type sterilization method and the technique has great potential in sanitizing food packaging materials.