Atmospheric cold plasma as a preservation strategy for red shrimp surimi-based products: Effects on bacterial communities, volatile compounds, and freshness during refrigerated storage

Microbial spoilage is a major contributor to seafood quality deterioration, posing major challenges to freshness preservation. In this study, we investigated how atmospheric cold plasma (ACP) treatment influenced the freshness, volatile compounds (VCs), and microbial properties of red shrimp surimi-based product (RSSP) during refrigerated storage. The results demonstrated that ACP treatment had no significant impact ( p  > 0.05) on the color attributes, texture properties, or pH of RSSP on day 0 compared to the untreated group. However, notable changes were observed in the VCs, including increases in 2-butanone-D and 1-pentanol, and a decrease in ethyl acetate-D, suggesting mild oxidative modifications. Notably, ACP significantly ( p  < 0.05) reduced total viable count and psychrotrophic viable count by 62.53 % and 65.82 %, respectively. Over the storage period, ACP-treated samples exhibited delayed proliferation of Shewanella and Brochothrix , leading to a reshaped bacterial community structure during the mid- to late storage stages, which delayed the accumulation of spoilage-related VCs such as trimethylamine and ammonia. Additionally, ACP-induced oxidative stress influenced the ecological assembly of the bacterial community, shifting from a stochastic process in the early stage of storage to a more deterministic trajectory later on. Correlation analysis identified Psychrobacter , Shewanella , and Brochothrix as key contributors to quality decline, although causality requires further investigation. Overall, ACP treatment effectively inhibited microbial spoilage progression and helped maintain the freshness of RSSP.