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Fruits and vegetables, commonly termed as'fresh produce'are an important component of the human diet, as these provide various beneficial and essential health-related compounds. Nevertheless, fresh produce is susceptible to postharvest deterioration and decay along with loss of certain nutrients due to innapropriate storage conditions and lack of standard postharvest technologies. In addition, the short shelf life is considered another major constraint that must be extended after harvest to ensure a wider availability window of the fresh produce for consumers. From this perspective, the use of postharvest approaches is considered imperative to reduce the deterioration of harvested fresh produce in order to extend their storage and shelf life potential on a sustainable basis. Sustainable Postharvest Technologies for Fruits and Vegetables covers various aspects of postharvest technologies with major developments over the recent past and provides a way forward for the future.The sustainable use of various technologies and elicitors could be adapted from farm to fork in order to conserve the eating quality of fresh produce. Therefore, this book covers various sustainable postharvest treatments and technologies that could be considered highly effective for the delay of postharvest senescence and deterioration. Among the various technologies, the use of preharvest treatments, controlled atmosphere, dynamic control atmosphere, modified atmosphere and hypobaric conditions has tremendous potential for the fresh fruits and vegetables industry. In the same way, cold plasma, pulsed light, ultraviolet light, ultrasound technology, nanoemulsions, nano-packaging, electrolyzed water, high pressure processing, ozone gas, irradiations, edible coatings, vacuum packaging and active packaging with slow releasing compounds along with nanotechnology are highly practicable and possesses tremendous potential to be used in the maintenance of overall eating quality and storage life extension of the fresh produce.Key Features: Overviews the major factors affecting postharvest physiology and shelf life potential of fresh produce. Focuses on major sustainable technologies having the potential to maintain postharvest quality and extend shelf life of fruits and vegetables. Describes practical and recent advances of various approaches indispensable for the maintenance of overall eating quality and food safety attainment for fresh produce on a sustainable basis. Covers how quality maintenance and shelf life rely on preharvest practices, nonthermal treatments, storage atmospheres, packaging materials, active packaging, edible packaging, coating application techniques, nanotechnology and ecofriendly plant extracts and natural antagonists.

Because they meet the needs of today's consumers, fresh-cut plant products are currently one of the hottest commodities in the food market of industrialized countries. However, fresh-cut produce deteriorates faster than the correspondent intact produce. The main purpose of Fresh-Cut Fruits and Vegetables: Technology, Physiology, and Safety is to provide helpful guidelines to the industry for minimizing deterioration, keeping the overall quality, and lengthening the shelf life. It provides an integrated and interdisciplinary approach for accomplishing the challenges, where raw materials, handling, minimal processing, packaging, commercial distribution, and retail sale must be well managed. It covers technology, physiology, quality, and safety of fresh-cut fruits and vegetables. In this book, the chapters follow a logical sequence analyzing most of the important factors affecting the main characteristics of fresh-cut horticultural products. The most relevant technologies to prevent deterioration and improve final overall quality of fresh-cut commodities are described in detail. This book covers the basics of the subject from quality preservation, nutritional losses, physiology, and safety to industry-oriented advancements in sanitization, coatings, and packaging. It examines such novel preservation technologies as edible coatings, antimicrobial coatings, natural antimicrobials, gum arabic coatings, and pulsed light treatments. Minimal processing design and industrial equipment are also reviewed. With its international team of contributors, this book will be an essential reference work both for professionals involved in the postharvest handling of fresh-cut and minimally processed fruits and vegetables and for academic and researchers working in the area.