新鮮藍莓是我們時常食用的水果之一，且為經常使用於烘焙或糕點之食材。藍莓於栽種時常易遭受大腸桿菌及沙門氏菌等病原菌污染，一般清洗作業很難有效降低其表面病原菌污染。傳統熱殺菌方式易使藍莓組織軟化並導致營養成分流失；化學消毒方法則可能產生化學殘留及環安疑慮。常壓電漿為一種新穎之替代技術，應用於改善食安可提供非熱、無化學殘留、乾燥、並對環境友善的有效滅菌對策。因此本研究旨在研究介電質放電電漿 (DBD) 處理藍莓對其表面殺菌效果和對該藍莓品質的影響。利用DBD電漿 (工作氣體為空氣，電極間距0.5 cm) 對藍莓進行不同時間處理，再探討該處理直接對藍莓表面菌量及藍莓品質質地之影響。結果顯示，藍莓表面之大腸桿菌及沙門氏菌經15分鐘電漿處理後，菌量分別由初始濃度7.6和7.1 log10 CFU/mL減少7.6及5.8 log10 CFU/mL，藍莓重量幾乎不變，水分流失約0.31%，其壓縮硬度並無顯著差異，表面升溫小於2.6℃，樣品顏色有變化但不明顯；追蹤藍莓樣品經電漿處理後一週內其表面殺菌效果和水分含量幾乎無進一步變化，硬度僅略為降低。故利用此非熱乾式殺菌技術能有效降低藍莓菌叢汙染且可維持產品品質，值得進一步探討其最適化操作條件以應用於改善蔬果之衛生安全並兼顧品質。

Fresh blueberry is one of the most commonly consumed fruits and is often used in baking or pastry food ingredient. It is susceptible to contamination caused by pathogens, e.g., Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica, at plating time. It is difficult to effectively reduce the pathogen contamination on the surfaces of blueberries through ordinary methods. The traditional thermal sterilization process may soften blueberry tissue, resulting in losses of nutrients. The use of chemical disinfectants may inevitably cause chemical residues and environmental concern. Atmospheric pressure plasma is an emerging alternative technology that may provide a non-thermal, chemical free, dry, environmentally friendly and effective antimicrobial solution for the improvement of food safety. Hence, this work was aimed to study dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma decontamination of blueberry surfaces and to explore the quality of samples submitted to the plasma process. Blueberries were treated with DBD plasma for various times at a working distance of 0.5 cm, using air as working gas. The overall impacts on microbial load and blueberry quality (texture) directly after treatment were investigated. The results revealed that populations of E. coli and Salmonella enterica at an initial concentration of 7.6 and 7.1 log10 CFU/mL on the surface of blueberries were reduced by 7.6 and 5.8 log10 CFU/mL, respectively, after 15 min of plasma exposure. The weight loss of the fruit remained nearly unnoticed; the water loss was lower than 0.31%. Compression firmness was also practically unchanged after plasma treatment. The treated-samples exhibited the average surface temperature rise of less than 2.6℃ and the change in color was not visually evident. During the subsequent storage of 7 days, almost no further changes in the microbial counts and water content were detected within the same treatment groups, whereas only a slight decline in firmness was found. Thus, this nonthermal dry decontamination technique may be employed as a means for effective decontamination of blueberry while retaining product quality. This technique deserves further investigation of optimizing conditions to improve the safety and quality of produce.