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 Chapter 7

Value-Added Fruit Processing for Human Health

H.P. Vasantha Rupasinghe and Li Juan Yu

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/53161

1. Introduction

Fruits are staple food in human diet. There has been a growing interest in the connection of
fruit and vegetable consumption and improved health. Research have shown that biologi
cally active components in plant-based foods, particularly phytochemicals such as polyphe
nolics and carotenoids, have important role in reducing the risks of chronic diseases,
including cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and Alzheimers disease, among others.
The first part of the chapter provides a brief update of the links between fruit-based antioxi
dants and other biologically active compounds and potential health benefits.

Fruit production is increasing globally. Despite the increasing fruit production at the global
level, a significant amount of fruit produced is lost or wasted due to poor post-harvest man
agement. The second part of the chapter provides information on current status of post-har
vest losses in selected fruits and methods to prevent these losses. Therefore, processing
fruits into value-added products is one of the strategies to reduce post-harvest losses and
promote consumption of fruits.

Fresh-cut fruits, also called minimally processed fruits, are products that are partially pre
pared, maintain a fresh-like state and ready for use and eating. Recently, fresh-cut fruits
have become popular because they meet the consumer demand for convenient ready-to-eat
foods with fresh-like quality. However, fresh-cut fruits are more perishable than whole
fruits. The third part of the chapter covers some recently developed approaches for the val
ue addition of fresh-cut fruits with respect to the use of natural antimicrobials, anti-brown
ing agents, edible coating, modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), 1-methylcyclopropene
(1-MCP) application and vacuum impregnation (VI).

2013 Rupasinghe and Yu; licensee InTech. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
146 Food Industry

2. Fruits and human health

Consumption of fruits and vegetables is increasing because of strong evidence that many
beneficial effects for human health are associated with the dietary intake of fruits and vege
tables (Kaur & Kapoor 2001, Rupasinghe et al. 2012). As suggested by epidemiological stud
ies, the consumption of fruit and vegetables may lead to prevention of many chronic
diseases, including cardiovascular disease (Weichselbaum 2010, Al-Dosari et al. 2011; Thila
karathna and Rupasinghe 2012), type II diabetes (Johnston et al. 2002, Yu et al. 2012b) and
some cancers (De Meja & Prisecaru 2005, Lala et al. 2006, Sun & Liu 2008, Lippi & Targher
2011). These disease prevention effects of fruits could be due to the presence of health pro
moting phytochemicals such as carotenoids (Chichili et al. 2006), flavonoids (Yu et al.
2012a), other phenolic compounds (Masibo & He 2008) and vitamins (Lippi & Targher 2011,
Gutierrez 2008). Furthermore, the health-protective effects may be rather produced by com
plex mixtures of interacting natural chemicals than a single component in these plant-de
rived foods (Lila 2007). Table 1 gives a summary of selected fruit-based antioxidants and
other health promoting compounds for disease prevention.

3. Fruit production and post-harvest loss

3.1. Fruit production

Fruit production is increasing dramatically worldwide. According to the FAO, the total
world fruit production in 2008 was 572.4 million tons, and the number climbed to 609.2 mil
lion tons in 2010 (FAO 2010). Among these fruits, thirty percent of which were tropical
fruits, with water melon occupied of 59.2%, mongo and guavas of 20.5% and pineapple of
11.4% (Rawson et al. 2011).
Despite the increasing food production at the global level, about one-third of the food pro
duced in the world is lost or wasted (Prusky 2011), among which, post-harvest stage losses
and marketing stage losses are major losses.

3.2. Post-harvest loss of fruits

Despite of food production is increasing globally, a significant amount of the food for hu
man consumption is lost or wasted, especially perishable foods such as fruits and vegetables
(Prusky 2011). The amount of food lost each year is equivalent to more than half of the
worlds annual cereals production (2.3 billion tonnes in 2009/2010) (Gustavsson et al. 2011).
It is hard to give precise information on the amount of fruit losses generated globally, be
cause fruit losses vary greatly among varieties, countries, and climatic regions, and there is
no universally applied method for measuring losses. As a consequence, the food loss data
during post-harvest are mostly estimated and the variations are from 10% to 40% (Prusky
2011). Table 2 lists some examples of post-harvest losses of selected fruits in India, Egypt
and United States.
 Value-Added Fruit Processing for Human Health 147
http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/53161

Source Active component Prevention mechanism Disease References

Grape Anthocyanins Anti-proliferative Cancer Lala et al. 2006

Flavonoids Inhibition of HNR-adduct Macular degeneration Yu et al. 2012a

formation and cataract

Resveratrol Antioxidant, anti- Alzheimer's Sun et al. 2010

inflammatory, activation of
SIRT1

Resveratrol Normalize iron and Ca2+, Cardiotoxicity Mokni et al. 2012

increase SOD activity

Resveratrol Enhance insulin secretion Diabetes Yu et al. 2012b

Apple Polyphenols Antioxidant, cell cycle Cancer Sun & Liu 2008
modulation

Polyphenols Antioxidant, multiple Cardiovascular Weichselbaum 2010

mechanisms

Phloridzin Anti-inflammatory, bone Bone protection Puel et al. 2005

resorption

Polyphenols Reduce amyloid- formation Alzheimer's Chan & Shea 2009

Phloretin-2'-O- Delay glucose absorption Diabetes Johnston et al. 2002

Glucoside

Banana Lectins (Bioactive Cell cycle arrest, apoptosis Cancer De Meja & Prisecaru 2005
protein)

Polyphenols Antioxidant, reduce LDL cardiovascular Yin et al. 2008

modification

Polyphenols Antioxidant Alzheimers Heo et al. 2008

Pineapple Bromelain Proteolytic enzyme regulation Anti-inflammatory Hale et al. 2010

Mango Phenolic Antioxidant, multiple Degenerative diseases Masibo & He 2008

compounds mechanisms

Table 1. Fruit-based health promoting compounds and postulated disease prevention

Source Post-harvest loss % References

Farm Wholesale Retail Total

Grape 15.1 6.9 6.0 28.0 Kader 2010

Grape 7.3 4.2 2.9 14.4 Murthy et al. 2009
Grape N/A N/A 7.6 N/A Buzby et al. 2009
Mango 15.6 8.9 5.3 29.7 Murthy et al. 2009
Mango N/A N/A 14.5 N/A Buzby et al. 2009
Banana 5.5 6.7 16.7 28.8 Murthy et al. 2009
Banana N/A N/A 8.0 N/A Buzby et al. 2009
148 Food Industry

Source Post-harvest loss % References

Farm Wholesale Retail Total

Papaya N/A N/A 54.9 N/A Buzby et al. 2009

Pineapple N/A N/A 14.6 N/A Buzby et al. 2009
Kiwi N/A N/A 12.7 N/A Buzby et al. 2009
Apple N/A N/A 8.6 N/A Buzby et al. 2009
Avocado N/A N/A 9.3 N/A Buzby et al. 2009
Tomato 9.0 17.9 16.3 43.2 Kader 2010

Table 2. Post-harvest losses in selected fruits

3.3. Prevention and reduction of post-harvest loss

Methods of preventing losses of fruits and vegetables could be found from papers and fact
sheet written by Singh and Goswami (2006), Sonkar et al. (2008), Prusky (2011) and DeEII
and Murr (2009). These methods include selection of new cultivars with firm fruits and lon
ger postharvest life, minimizing physical damage during harvesting and postharvest han
dling, control and monitoring of temperature and relative humidity, use of controlled or
modified atmosphere storage, use of pre- and post-harvest fungicides (hydrogen peroxide)
before and after harvest and use of physical treatment such as ozonation technology. Table 3
gives examples of use of controlled atmosphere storage of selected fruits.

Source Temp (C) RH (%) O2 (%) CO2 (%) Storage life References

Grape 0-5 90-95 5-10 15-20 > two weeks Singh and Goswami 2006

Mango 10-15 90 3-7 5-8 > two weeks Singh & Goswami 2006

Banana 12-16 90 2-5 2-5 > two weeks Singh & Goswami 2006

Papaya 10-15 90 2-5 5-8 > two weeks Singh & Goswami 2006

Pineapple 8-13 90 2-5 5-10 > two weeks Singh & Goswami 2006

Kiwi 0-5 90 1-2 3-5 > two weeks Singh & Goswami 2006

Avocado 5-13 90 2-5 3-10 > two weeks Singh & Goswami 2006

Apple (Empire) 1-2 N/A 1.5-2.5 1.5-2.0 5-8 months DeEII & Murr 2009

Apple (Gala) 0 N/A 1.5-2.5 1.5-2.5 5-8 months DeEII & Murr 2009

Apple (Golden 0 N/A 1.5-2.5 1.5-2.5 5-8 months DeEII & Murr 2009
Delicious)

Apple 3 N/A 1.0-2.5 0.5-2.5 5-8 months DeEII & Murr 2009
(McIntosh)

* Temp: temperature; RH: Relative humidity

Table 3. Controlled atmosphere storage conditions of selected fruits

 Value-Added Fruit Processing for Human Health 149
http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/53161

4. Fruit processing and preservation

Processed fruit products generally include minimally processed fruit products such as fresh-
cut fruit, fermented fruit products such as cider, wine and vinegar, traditional thermally
processed fruit products such as jam, jelly, juice and beverage, novel non-thermal processed
fruit products such as juice and beverage, etc. A comprehensive review has been given by
the same authors on novel non-thermal processed fruit product preservation including jui
ces and beverages (Rupasinghe & Yu 2012). At the same time, fresh-cut fruit stands out to be
a promising food that meets the demand of consumers for convenient and ready-to-eat
fruits with a fresh-like quality. In this case, this part of the chapter would give emphasis on
fresh-cut fruit processing and preservation.

4.1. Fresh-cut fruit processing

The sales of fresh-cut produce have grown from approximately $5 billion in 1994 to $1012
billion in 2005, which is about 10% of total produce sales (Rupasinghe et al. 2005). Fresh-cut
fruits and vegetables are products that are partially prepared, maintain a fresh-like state and
no additional preparation is necessary for use and eating (Watada & Qi 1999). Figure 1
shows the flowchart of fresh-cut fruit processing. It generally includes washing, and/or peel
ing, cutting, and/or slicing or wedging and packaging. Dipping solutions or edible coating
materials could be applied during dipping or coating process.

Figure 1. Major steps for fresh-cut fruit processing (revised from Corbo et al. 2010) * During this process, natural pres
ervatives or edible coating materials could be applied
150 Food Industry

4.2. Fresh-cut fruit preservation

Fresh-cut fruits are more perishable than whole fruits, because the tissue integrity of fruits is
more easily altered during processing. Post-cut quality of fresh-cut fruits suffers from
wound induced biochemical and physiological changes such as water loss, accelerated respi
ration and cut-surface browning as well as microbiological spoilage (Kader 2002, Chiabran
do & Giacalone 2012). Therefore, preservation of fresh-cut fruits needs combinative efforts
of antimicrobial agents, anti-browning substances as well as packaging strategies. A detailed
review was given by Oms-Oliu et al. (2010) about recent approaches for preserving quality
of fresh-cut fruits.

4.2.1. Antimicrobial agent

During the preparatory steps of fresh-cut fruit processing, the natural protection of fruit is
removed and chances of contamination may increase. Damage of tissues allows the growth
and fermentation of some species of yeasts such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the attack by
pathogenic microorganisms such as Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp., Staphylococcus
aureus and Escherichia coli O157:H7 (Martin-Belloso et al. 2006). Therefore, the searching for
methods to retard microbial growth is of great interest to researchers and fresh-cut industry.
Traditionally, the most commonly used antimicrobials are potassium sorbate and sodium
benzoate. However, consumer demand for natural origin, safe and environmental friendly
food preservatives is increasing. Natural antimicrobials such as organic acids, herb leaves
extracts and oils, chitozan and bacteriocins have shown feasibility for use in some food prod
ucts including fresh-cut fruits (Gould 2001, Corbo et al. 2009). Some of them have been con
sidered as Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) additives in foods. Selected natural
antimicrobials and their status for GRAS additives are listed in Table 4.
Cinnamon as an antimicrobial agent has been investigated in fresh-cut apple slices (Mu
thuswamy et al. 2008). Ethanol extract of cinnamon bark (1% to 2% w/v) and cinnamic alde
hyde (2 mM) could reduce E. coli O157:H7 and L. innocua in vitro. Ethanol extract of
cinnamon bark (1% w/v) reduced significantly the aerobic growth of bacteria inoculated in
fresh-cut apples during storage at 6C up to 12 days. It was also found that cinnamic alde
hyde has greater antimicrobial activity than potassium sorbate (Muthuswamy et al. 2008).
Carvacrol and cinnamic acid could delay microbial spoilage of fresh-cut melon and kiwi
fruit. Dipping of fresh-cut kiwifruit in carvacrol solutions at up to 15 mM reduced total via
ble counts from 6.6 to less than 2 log CFU/g for 21 days of storage at 4C. Also, treatment
with 1 mM of carvacrol or cinnamic acid reduced viable counts on kiwifruit by 4 and 1.5 log
CFU/g for 5 days of storage at 4C and 8C, respectively (Roller & Seedhar 2002).
Vanillin was also proved to be a practical preservative for processing fresh-cut mango and
apples under refrigerated conditions. Fresh-cut mango slices were dipped for 1 min in solu
tions containing 80 mM vanillin before being packaged. Results indicated that treatment
with 80 mM vanillin significantly delayed (P < 0.05) the development of total aerobic bacte
ria and yeast and mold populations of fresh-cut mangoes stored at 5 and 10 C for up to 14
and 7 d, respectively (Ngarmsak et al. 2006). Also, a dip of 12 mM vanillin incorporated with
 Value-Added Fruit Processing for Human Health 151
http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/53161

a commercial anti-browning dipping solution (calcium ascorbate, NatureSeal) inhibited

the total aerobic microbial growth by 37% and 66% in fresh-cut Empire and Crispin ap
ples, respectively, during storage at 4 C for 19 days. Furthermore, vanillin (12 mM) did not
influence the control of enzymatic browning and softening by NatureSeal (Rupasinghe et al.
2006).

Name Origin GRAS status

Rosemary Plant Yes

Cinnamon Plant Yes

Cinnamic acid Plant Yes

Clove Plant Yes

Lactoperoxidase Animal No

Lemon (peel, balm, grass) Plant Yes

Lime Plant Yes

Nisin Microorganism Yes

Chitozan Animal No

Carvacrol Plant Yes

Citric acid Plant Yes

Ascorbic acid Plant Yes

Vanillin Plant Yes

* Revised from USFDA (2006): Food Additive Status List

Table 4. Selected natural antimicrobial agents and their status for GRAS additives*

4.2.2. Anti-browning agents

Enzymatic browning is also a major concern on the extension of shelf-life of fresh-cut fruit
(Oms-Oliu et al. 2010). It is caused by the enzymatic oxidation of phenols to quinones by en
zymes, typically polyphenoloxidases, in the presence of oxygen. Quinones are then subject
ed to further reactions, leading to the formation of browning pigments (Ozoglu & Bayindirli
2002, Jeon & Zhao 2005). Traditionally, sulfites have been used for browning prevention.
However, their use on fresh-cut fruit and vegetables was banned in 1986 by the FDA owing
to their potential hazards to health (Buta et al. 1999). Therefore, various alternative substan
ces, such as honey, citric acid, ascorbic acid, calcium chloride, calcium lactate and calcium
ascorbate, among others, have being used to retard browning in fresh-cut fruit (Jeon & Zhao
2005, Oms-Oliu et al. 2010). These anti-browning products are not often used alone because
it is difficult to achieve efficient browning inhibition, and combination of them would give
preferable results. Table 5 gives examples of anti-browning treatment on fresh-cut Apples.
152 Food Industry

Examples of anti-browning treatment on other fresh-cut fruits including banana, kiwifruits,

mango, among others could be found in Table 3 in Oms-Oliu et al. (2010)s paper.

Cultivar of Storage
Anti-browning agent References
apple conditions

3C for
Gala 10% honey solution with vacuum impregnating Jeon & Zhao (2005)
14 days

1% w/v of citric acid/CaCl2 and 4C for Chiabrando & Giacalone

Granny Smith
1% of ascorbic acid/CaCl2 5 days (2012)

0.05% w/v of sodium chlorite and 10C for

Granny Smith Guan & Fan (2010)
1% of calcium propionate 14 days

Golden 1% w/v of citric acid/CaCl2 and 4C for Chiabrando & Giacalone

Delicious 1% of ascorbic acid/CaCl2 5 days (2012)

Golden 80 mg/L acidic electrolyzed water (AEW) followed by 4C for

Wang et al. (2007)
Delicious 5%calcium ascorbate 11 days

1% w/v of citric acid/CaCl2 and 4C for Chiabrando & Giacalone

Granny Smith
1% of ascorbic acid/CaCl2 5 days (2012)

5C for
Red Delicious 300 mg /L sodium chlorite (SC) and 300 mg /L citric acid Luo et al. (2011)
14 days

1% w/v of citric acid/CaCl2 and 4C for Chiabrando & Giacalone

Scarlet Spur
1% of ascorbic acid/CaCl2 5 days (2012)

Table 5. Examples of anti-browning treatments assessed on fresh-cut fruits

4.2.3. Edible coating

The incorporation of antimicrobial and anti-browning agents to fresh-cut fruits could be

done by dipping, spaying or edible coating treatment. Dipping or spraying aqueous solu
tions to fruit pieces containing antimicrobial agents, antioxidants, calcium salts or functional
ingredients such as minerals and vitamins are widely used to improve quality of fresh-cut
fruit. However, the effectiveness of these compounds could be better improved with their
incorporation into edible coatings. The application of edible coatings to deliver active ingre
dients is one of the recent progresses made for shelf-life extension of fresh-cut fruits. De
tailed information on edible coating for fresh-cut fruits could be found in review papers
from Vargas et al. (2008), Rojas-Gra et al. (2009) and Valencia-Chamorro et al. (2011).

Edible coatings may be defined as a thin layer of material that covers the surface of the food
and can be eaten as a part of the whole product. Therefore, the composition of edible coat
ings has to be food grade or GRAS. Furthermore, the coating materials need to be transpar
ent, odourless, permeable for water vapour and selectively permeable to gases and volatile
compounds (Kester & Fennema 1986).
 Value-Added Fruit Processing for Human Health 153
http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/53161

Ingredients that can be used to form edible coatings include polysaccharides such as cellu
lose, starch, alginate, chitosan, pectin, carrageenan, gum Arabic, guar gum and xanthan
gum, proteins such as zein, gluten, soy, whey protein, lipids such as beeswax, lecithin, cocoa
butter and fatty acids (Vargas et al. 2008). Examples of edible coating treatment on fresh-cut
apples are listed in Table 6.

Cultivar of
Functional ingredients Concentration (%) Coating materials References
apple

Cassava starch, glycerol,

Chiumarelli & Hubinger
Gala N/A N/A carnauba wax,
2012
stearic acid
Gala N/A N/A Chitosan Wu et al. 2005
Apple puree,
Fuji Oregano oil 0.1 0.5 (v/v) Rojas-Gra et al. 2007
alginate
Apple puree,
Fuji Lemongrass 1.0 1.5 (v/v) Rojas-Gra et al. 2007
alginate
Apple puree,
Fuji Vanillin 0.3 0.6 (v/v) Rojas-Gra et al. 2007
alginate
0.7 (v/v) Raybaudi-Massilia et al.
Fuji Cinnamon Alginate
2008
0.7 (v/v) Raybaudi-Massilia et al.
Fuji Clove Alginate
2008
0.7 (v/v) Raybaudi-Massilia et al.
Fuji Lemongrass Alginate
2008
Raybaudi-Massilia et al.
Fuji Cinnamaldehyde 0.5 (v/v) Alginate
2008
Raybaudi-Massilia et al.
Fuji Citral 0.5 (v/v) Alginate
2008
Fuji Ascorbic acid, CaCl2 1.0 (w/v) Carrageenan Lee et al. 2003
Whey protein
Fuji Ascorbic acid, CaCl2 1.0 (w/v) Lee et al. 2003
concentrate
Whey protein
Fuji Ascorbic acid, CaCl2 1.0 (w/v) Lee et al. 2003
concentrate
Whey protein
Golden
Ascorbic acid 0.5-1.0 (w/v) concentrate, Perez-Gago et al. 2006
Delicious
beeswax
Whey protein
Golden
Cysteine 0.1-0.5 (w/v) concentrate, Perez-Gago et al. 2006
Delicious
beeswax
Ascorbic acid, Pectin,
Granny Smith 0.5 (w/v) McHugh & Senesi 2000
citric acid apple pure

Table 6. Examples of edible coating treatment on fresh-cut apples

154 Food Industry

4.2.4. Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) and 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP)

The respiration rate of fresh-cut fruits is greater than that of intact fruits (Kader 1986). The
increased respiration rate can induce the ethylene synthesis, increase enzymatic activity,
promote oxidation of phenolic compounds and microbial growth, and therefore contrib
utes to quality losses such as color and firmness. In this case, the control of respiration is
essential for maintaining quality and prolonging the shelf life of fresh-cut fruits (Rocha &
Morais 2003).

Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) is a technology which offers the optimum gas con
ditions around the product by adjusting the barrier properties of the packaging film (Simp
son and Carevi 2004). Various approaches to prolong the shelf life of fresh-cut products,
such as edible coatings and refrigeration could be applied in combination with MAP (Rupa
singhe 2005).

1-Methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) may retard or inhibit the generation of ethylene, the natural
ripening hormone which is undesirable in terms of storage of certain fruits. Therefore, 1-
MCP is becoming a commercial tool (SmartFresh, AgroFresh Inc., Philadelphia) for extend
ing the shelf-life and quality of certain fruits and plant products (Rupasinghe et al. 2005). 1-
MCP can be applied immediately after harvest (Aguayo et al. 2006; Mao & Fei 2007), just
before fresh-cut processing or at both steps (Caldern-Lpez et al. 2005; Vilas-Boas & Kader
2007). However, treatment of intact fruit with 1-MCP before fresh-cut processing is easier
and more convenient than after processing. Moreover, the increase in ethylene production
promoted by peeling, slicing or wedging could be prevented by the pre-use of 1-MCP (Ru
pasinghe et al., 2005).

4.2.5. Vacuum impregnation

Osmotic treatments have been traditionally used as a pre-treatment step in freezing, canning
and frying to improve the quality of the final produce (Alzamora et al., 2000). Among devel
opments in osmotic treatments of fruit products, vacuum impregnation (VI) may be the lat
est (Zhao & Xie 2004). The VI technique is performed by applying a vacuum pressure in a
tank or oven containing the immersed product for a short time and then restoring the at
mospheric pressure with the product remains immersed (Martnez-Monz et al., 1998). The
process of VI is a hydrodynamic mass transfer process based on an exchange between inter
nal gas or liquid and an external liquid phase (Zhao & Xie, 2004). VI technique could be
used to develop novel minimally processed fruit products with value-addition since nutri
tional and bioactive ingredients could be incorporated into the fruit based products during
VI process (Xie & Zhao, 2003; Guillemin et al., 2008, Rle 2011) and which gives a bright
future for VI application in fresh-cut fruits. Table 7 gives examples of VI treatment on fresh-
cut fruits.
 Value-Added Fruit Processing for Human Health 155
http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/53161

VI treatment conditions
Type of fruit VI pressure VI time Restoration References
VI solution
(mmHg) (min) Time (min)

Apple (Gala) 20% (w/w) of HFCS, Ca, Zn 50 15 30 Xie & Zhao 2003

Apple (Gala) 10% (w/w) of honey 75 15 30 Jeon & Zhao 2005

Strawberry 8Brix of glucose solution 37.5 5 5 Castell et al. 2006

Apple (Empire) 15Brix of grape juice, 1.6% 152.4 10 22 Joshi et al. 2010
of CaCl2 (w/v), 0.05% of NaCl
(w/v), 0.1% of vitamin E (v/v)

Apple (Empire) 20-40 % (v/v) of maple syrup, 152 10 22 Joshi et al. 2011
1.6% of CaCl2 (w/v), 0.05% of
NaCl (w/v)

Apple (Granny 50% (v/v) of honey 525 10 10 Rle et al. 2011

Smith)

HFCS: High fructose corn syrup

Table 7. Examples of VI treatment conditions on fresh-cut fruits or value-added products

5. Conclusion

Fruits are not only consumed as stable food but also provide desirable health benefits be
yond their basic nutrition. However, the quantitative and qualitative losses of fruits are sig
nificant during post-harvest, marketing, processing and storage. Prevention of these losses
during post-harvest management could be done by multiple steps and methods such as con
trolled or modified atmosphere packaging and application of ozonation technology.
On the other hand, promotion of minimally processed fruit products such as fresh-cut fruit
into the commercial market is a practical, economical, and consumer and environmental
friendly approach compared with traditional processing methods. However, fresh-cut fruits
are more perishable than whole fruits in terms of biochemical and physiological changes
such as water loss, accelerated respiration and cut-surface browning as well as microbiologi
cal spoilage. Therefore, preservation of fresh-cut fruits needs combinative efforts of antimi
crobial agents, anti-browning substances as well as packaging strategies.
Natural or GRAS additives have been the popular ingredients used as antimicrobial agents
and anti-browning agents, or bioactive ingredients. The incorporation of antimicrobial and
anti-browning agents to fresh-cut fruits could be done by dipping, spaying or edible coating
treatment. The application of edible coatings to deliver active ingredients is one of the recent
progresses made for shelf-life extension of fresh-cut fruits. It could be used in combination
with modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) and refrigera
tion for better results.
156 Food Industry

In addition for edible coating, vacuum impregnation (VI) may be another practical approach
for incorporation of health promoting natural ingredients into fresh-cut fruits. VI technique
could be used to develop novel minimally processed fruit products with value-addition
through incorporation of nutritional and bioactive ingredients.

Author details

H.P. Vasantha Rupasinghe and Li Juan Yu

*Address all correspondence to: vrupasinghe@dal.ca

Faculty of Agriculture, Dalhousie University, Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada

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