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This study investigated an ultrasound (US) treatment strategy in plasma-activated water (PAW) (UP treatment) to inactivate indigenous aerobic bacteria, Escherichia coli O157:H7, and Listeria monocytogenes in fresh-cut celery. Both plasma discharge and US treatment times contributed to the inactivation of indigenous bacteria in celery. The predicted optimal UP treatment conditions included a discharge time of 61.5 min and treatment time of 338 s, resulting in the inactivation of indigenous bacteria, E. coli O157:H7, and L. monocytogenes by 2.7, 1.7, and 3.2 log CFU/g, respectively. With an increase in plasma discharge time or US treatment time, the oxidation-reduction potential and electrical conductivity values of PAW increased, while the pH decreased. UP treatment effectively inactivated bacteria non-thermally, without altering the color of celery. Furthermore, UP treatment led to an increase in cell lipid peroxidation, reactive oxygen species production, and the number of non-viable E. coli O157:H7 and L. monocytogenes cells with membrane damage. This study highlights the potential of UP treatment for bacterial decontamination of fresh-cut celery., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)