Improved strategies for keeping overall quality of fresh-cut produce

In order to reduce losses and provide safe and high quality minimally fresh processed or fresh-cut fruit and vegetables, the industry needs to implement improved strategies. The keys are those related with sanitation, mainly by optimizing existing techniques or combining them. Even when chlorine is effective for most of the cases, regulatory restrictions require the development of safer alternatives. Washing solutions, UV-C radiation, ozone and superatmospheric 02, alone or combined, are currently promising treatments for the minimal processing industry. Transition from use of traditional to new sanitizers requires a clear understanding of the benefits and limitations and realistic expectations. In the present work several interesting results obtained with these alternative sanitizers on plant produce are reviewed.