Novel Approach to Enhance the Shelf Life of Fresh Cut Fruits and Vegetables: A Review

摘要

The market for chilled fresh-cut produce has witnessed dramatic growth in recent years, stimulated largely byconsumer demand for fresh, healthy, convenient and additive-free foods which are safe and nutritious. Growingconsumer interest in international markets in new or exotic tastes has promulgated growth in the international tradeof fresh-cut products. Consumers generally purchase fresh-cut produce for convenience, freshness, nutrition, safetyand eating experience. Fresh-cut processing involves cutting through the tissue of fresh produce, thus causing majortissue disruption and release of enzymes that interact with substrates associated with the fruit tissue. Wounding of thefruit tissue by cutting also increases ethylene production and stimulates respiration and phenolic metabolism. Slicing,dicing and shredding procedures as well as temperature abuse during storage can, however, result in increases inpopulations of mesospheric aerobic microorganisms associated with fresh-cut products. Therefore, it is essential toadopt various strategies that can minimize quality loss and assure safety for fresh cut produce.Shelf life of fresh cut produce can be extended by adopting several chemical and physical posts cutting treatments viz.acidification, use of reducing agents, application of edible coatings, natural antimicrobials, use of firming agents andby reducing the O2 levels by means of modified atmospheric packaging. Quality loss can be reduced and safety offresh cut produce can be achieved by minimizing mechanical damage during cutting, transfer of contaminationduring washing operation and also temperature management during processing operations and post processingperiod. In a nutshell, the fresh cut produce stability can be enhanced to a greater extent by adopting combinedtreatment techniques.