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Refrigerated Storage of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables: Emerging Postharvest Techniques...
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Refrigerated Storage of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables: Emerging Postharvest Techniques and Applications

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Food Packaging and Preservation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2022) | Viewed by 6632

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Georgios Xanthopoulos

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Natural Resources Development & Agricultural Engineering, School of Environment and Agricultural Engineering, Agricultural University of Athens, Athens, Greece
Interests: postharvest technology; transport phenomena; computational fluid dynamics (CFD); mathematical modelling; multivariate analysis; non destructive quality assessment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

From conventional cold rooms to controlled atmosphere rooms, and from the refrigerated storage of fruits and vegetables to the minimal processing of fresh products, cold storage has played a key role in human nutrition evolution. New developments in refrigeration technology related to equipment (magnetic refrigeration, improved compressor technologies etc.), biodegradable packaging materials and edible films and coatings, and remote sensing to detect produce quality have transformed the cold chain, enhancing national and international economies.
As Guest Editor, it is my pleasure to introduce this Special Issue of Foods entitled “Refrigerated storage of fresh fruits and vegetables: Emerging postharvest techniques and applications”. We aim to present a collection of studies detailing the latest trends, innovative methodologies, and emerging techniques in the cold storage of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Dr George Xanthopoulos
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Foods is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • modified atmosphere packaging (MAP)
  • controlled atmosphere (CA)—state-of-the-art methodologies
  • refrigeration transport—emerging technologies
  • refrigerated display cabinets—limitations and new prospects
  • pre-cooling methods and food quality
  • innovative techniques and equipment in cold chain
  • cold storage and quality assessment
  • minimal processing-innovative applications and future prospects
  • mathematical modelling in food refrigeration and the cold chain

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

22 pages, 45992 KiB  
Article
Development and Evaluation of an Ultrasonic Humidifier to Control Humidity in a Cold Storage Room for Postharvest Quality Management of Dates
by Maged Mohammed, Nashi Alqahtani and Hamadttu El-Shafie
Foods 2021, 10(5), 949; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/foods10050949 - 26 Apr 2021
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 5653
Abstract
Dates are subjected to postharvest losses in quality and quantity caused by water loss, fermentation, insect infestation, and microbial spoilage during storage. Cold storage is the main element in the postharvest quality management used for fruit preservation. Although cold storage is used for [...] Read more.
Dates are subjected to postharvest losses in quality and quantity caused by water loss, fermentation, insect infestation, and microbial spoilage during storage. Cold storage is the main element in the postharvest quality management used for fruit preservation. Although cold storage is used for dates, precision control of the relative humidity (RH) using ultrasonic applications is not used thus far, or it is applied to other fruits on a small scale. Therefore, we designed and constructed an ultrasonic humidifier (DUH) for RH control in the cold storage room (CSR) of dates. The optimum air velocity of 3 m s−1 at the outlets of the DUH ducts produced a mist amount of 6.8 kg h−1 with an average droplet diameter of 4.26 ± 1.43 µm at the applied voltage of 48 V and frequency of 2600 kHz of the transducers. The experimental validation was carried out by comparing a CSR controlled with the DUH with two conventional CSRs. The three tested CSRs were similar in dimensions, cooling system, and amount of stored dates. The time required for cooling 800 kg of dates in the controlled CSR from 25 °C to the target temperature of 5 °C was approximately 48 h. The DUH precisely controlled the RH at the maximum RH set point of 80% in the tested CSR at 5 °C. The controlled RH at 80% has a positive impact on the physicochemical characteristics of the stored dates. It significantly reduced the weight loss of the fruits and preserved fruit mass, moisture content, water activity, firmness, and color parameters. However, no significant effect was observed on fruit dimensions, sphericity, and aspect ratio. The microbial loads of mesophilic aerobic bacteria, molds, and yeasts fell within the acceptable limits in all tested CSRs. Both stored date fruits and artificially infested dates showed no signs of insect activity in the controlled CSR at the temperature of 5 °C and RH of 80%. The DUH proved to be a promising technology for postharvest quality management for dates during cold storage. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Refrigerated Storage of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables: Emerging Postharvest Techniques and Applications)
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