About the Authors

Karolina Anna Lis

Roles Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Software, Writing – original draft

Affiliation Institute of Food Quality and Food Safety, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, Hannover, Germany

Annika Boulaaba

Roles Conceptualization, Project administration, Writing – review & editing

annika.boulaaba@tiho-hannover.de

Affiliation Institute of Food Quality and Food Safety, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, Hannover, Germany

Sylvia Binder

Roles Methodology, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Terraplasma GmbH, Garching, Germany

Yangfang Li

Roles Methodology, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Terraplasma GmbH, Garching, Germany

Corinna Kehrenberg

Roles Supervision, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Institute of Food Quality and Food Safety, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, Hannover, Germany

Julia Louise Zimmermann

Roles Methodology, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Terraplasma GmbH, Garching, Germany

Günter Klein

† Deceased.

Roles Funding acquisition, Methodology, Resources

Affiliation Institute of Food Quality and Food Safety, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, Hannover, Germany

Birte Ahlfeld

Roles Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Institute of Food Quality and Food Safety, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, Hannover, Germany

Competing Interests

Sylvia Binder, Yangfang Li and Julia L. Zimmermann are employed by terraplasma GmbH. The scientific cooperation with Drs Zimmermann and Li with TiHo-Hannover dates back to the time when they were both employed at the Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics. Since their appointments at terraplasma GmbH (a spin-out start-up from the Max Planck Society) they have been given freedom to carry on with the basic research that was started earlier and is continuing. Their contribution to the current paper has been scientific – involving study design, analysis and interpretation and preparation of the manuscript. Ms Binder is a Bio-Engineer and helped in preparing the specialized plasma equipment used in the research and optimizing it for bactericidal and virucidal effects, without which the success of the study would not have been possible. The specialized plasma source was designed and manufactured at terraplasma and sold at cost price to TiHo-Hannover. terraplasma GmbH made no financial contribution other than continuing salary payments for (JZ, SyB and YFL). There are no further patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter our adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials, as detailed online in the guide for authors.