Research Publications (Food Safety)

Fungal spoilage of postharvest grains poses serious problems with respect to food safety, human health, and the economic value of grains. The protection of cereal grains from deleterious fungi is a critical aim in postharvest grain management. Considering the bulk volume of grain piles in warehouses or bins and food safety, fumigation with natural gaseous fungicides is a promising strategy to control fungal contamination on postharvest grains.

Introduction Lignification of fruit flesh is a common physiological disorder that occurs during post-harvest storage, resulting in the deterioration of fruit quality. Lignin deposition in loquat fruit flesh occurs due to chilling injury or senescence, at temperatures around 0°C or 20°C, respectively.

Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, EarlyView. Postharvest diseases and quality degradation are the major factors causing food losses in the fresh produce supply chain. Hence, detecting diseases and quality deterioration at the asymptomatic stage of produce enables growers to treat the diseases earlier, maintain quality and reduce postharvest food losses.

This research was conducted to explore the influence of cold shock on the firmness, a quality marker in chili pepper during 0–21 d storage and determine mechanism by cold shock impacted pectin. Chili peppers were exposed to cold shock precooling (0 ± 2 °C water/ice mixture) for 0-, 30-, 90- and 150-min, respectively. Results showed that cold shock alleviated loss of firmness throughout storage.

Journal of Food Safety, EarlyView. Stropharia rugosoannulata, a high-value mushroom, exhibits high nutritional value and flavor characteristics; however, the mushroom is susceptible to spoilage, water loss and texture deterioration, which renders its safety and edibility a challenge. To improve the shelf life of fresh mushrooms during storage, a novel nanocomposite packaging (NP) was applied for the first time to maintain the freshness of S.

Calcium treatment can reduce fruit softening and browning and enhance postharvest fruit quality. Chitosan (CS) had a certain viscosity. Therefore, in this study, calcium chloride (CaCl2) was used as a calcium source and CS was used as a carrier to study the interaction of Ca2+ and CS of the film coating through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR).

Journal of Food Science, EarlyView. Sugar beet leaves can be a viable and economically interesting source of high-quality protein for the food industry. We investigated how storage conditions and leaf wounding at harvest affect the content and quality of the soluble protein. After collection, leaves were either stored intact or shredded to mimic wounding induced by commercial leaf harvesters.

Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, EarlyView. Chitosan is an interesting alternative material for packaging development due to its biodegradability. However, its poor mechanical properties and low permeability limit its actual applications. Chitosan nanoparticles (CHNPs) have emerged as a suitable solution to overcome these intrinsic limitations.

This research developed a novel, efficient and safe antimildew for peanut kernel postharvest storage. The antimildew, cinnamon-Litsea cubeba compound essential oil (CLCEO) microcapsule (CLCEOM), was synthesized with CLCEO as core materials and β-cyclodextrin as wall materials. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analyses indicated that major antifungal compounds of CLCEO were encapsulated in the cavity of β-cyclodextrin.

In 2008, the African Postharvest Losses Information Systems project (APHLIS, accessed on 6 September 2022) developed an algorithm for estimating the scale of cereal postharvest losses (PHLs). The relevant scientific literature and contextual information was used to build profiles of the PHLs occurring along the value chains of nine cereal crops by country and province for 37 sub-Saharan African countries.

Journal of Food Safety, EarlyView. Sulfur dioxide (SO2) fumigation has been widely used to control pathogens and maintain the postharvest quality of table grapes. However, the effective dosage of SO2 treatment is close to causing bleaching damage on fruits. Further, the SO2 potential residue is a risk to human health.

Botrytis cinerea is one of the most important postharvest pathogens causing economical loss in blackberry. To control B. cinerea effectively with safe agent, optimal allyl isothiocyanate (AITC) concentration was determined. Freshly harvested blackberries were placed in a plastic container and treated with AITC at 0, 0.5, 1, 2, 5, and 10 μL L-1 for 12 h at 4 °C, and then stored for 14 d at 4 °C and 80 % relative humidity.

Blueberry surface color is determined in large part by anthocyanin pigments and is one of the most important quality traits influencing consumer preference. Postharvest changes in fruit surface color and phenolic compounds, including anthocyanins, have been reported in blueberries; however, the relationships between these changes had not yet been investigated.

Fruit phenotypic information reflects all the physical, physiological, biochemical characteristics and traits of fruit. Accurate access to phenotypic information is very necessary and meaningful for post-harvest storage, sales and deep processing. The methods of obtaining phenotypic information include traditional manual measurement and damage detection, which are inefficient and destructive.

Pesticide use has grown rapidly in West Africa over the past decades. Regulatory capacity has not kept pace with the rapid proliferation of pesticide products and on-farm use. As a result, health and environmental impacts from the growing use of pesticides, despite their potential importance to food safety, remain largely unmonitored, underreported, and poorly understood by key stakeholders.

As an apple fruit rot disease related fungus, Alternaria spp. could bring severe hazardous risk to apple fruits during postharvest storage. In this research, cold treatment is investigated for inhibition of Alternaria infection and related mycotoxins production during postharvest storage of apple. Morphology results show that cold treatment could inhibit Alternaria rot in inoculated apple samples.

Mycotoxins contamination and pest infestation of foods and feeds represent a pivotal threat for food safety and security worldwide, with crucial implications for human and animal health. Controlled atmosphere could be a sustainable strategy to reduce mycotoxins content and counteract the vitality of deleterious organisms in foodstuff.

Pulp breakdown is the main reason for the reduction of fruit quality. However, there are relatively few studies on small molecule metabolites based on the pulp breakdown of dragon fruit. In this study, four dragon fruit cultivars were comparatively analyzed during pulp breakdown.

Legume seed systems in many developing countries are characterized by low availability of certified seeds because the private sector is often absent, and the public sector has limited capacity to produce such seeds. Farmer seed enterprises (FSEs) are therefore increasingly promoted as alternative suppliers of certified and in some instances, quality declared and truthfully labelled seeds.

Gray mold, caused by the Botrytis cinerea fungus, is the most common and destroying disease in kiwifruit during storage. In this study, an experimental electronic nose system combined with machine learning (ML) approaches were utilized for early detection and monitoring of Botrytis cinerea in Hayward kiwifruit based on the odor-extracted information.

In this study, Toxicodendron vernicifluum fisetin chelated silver nanoparticles (FT-AgNPs) with outstanding antioxidant and antimicrobial activities were constructed via self-assembly. To surprise, 0.6 wt% FT-AgNPs was compatibly dispersed into the 1:1 chitosan/pullulan (CS/PUL, CP) matrix.

Introduction

Peach (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch,) and nectarine fruits (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch, var nectarine), are characterized by a rapid deterioration at room temperature. Therefore, cold storage is widely used to delay fruit post-harvest ripening and extend fruit commercial life. Physiological disorders, collectively known as chilling injury, can develop typically after 3 weeks of low-temperature storage and affect fruit quality.

Methods

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Ahead of Print. While growers have reported pressures to minimize wildlife intrusion into produce fields through noncrop vegetation (NCV) removal, NCV provides key ecosystem services. To model food safety and environmental tradeoffs associated with NCV removal, published and publicly available food safety and water quality data from the Northeastern United States were obtained.

After harvest at horticultural maturity, X-ray computed tomography was used for the non-destructive determination of internal defects occurring in chestnuts during storage. An image processing pipeline was established to accurately identify various types of defective chestnuts. Severely defective chestnuts, with a complete loss of eating quality, were accurately identified by their gray scale value from volume and porosity analyses.

Current methods of preserving fruit and vegetables are costly with accompanying health risks from preserver residue.