Nutritional quality of fresh-cut produce is very important for the consumer. Its evaluation may be expensive and time-consuming for the industry, which conversely can easily determine changes in external appearance including color. The aim of this work was to find possible relationships between degradation of appearance attributes and the retained nutritional content of fresh-cut 'Cantaloupe' melons. Melon pieces were stored for 8 days in air at 5°C and 99% RH. Initially and after 1, 2, 3, 7 and 8 days of storage external (color, appearance score) and internal (acidity, soluble solids, fructose content, vitamin C, phenolic, antioxidant activity) quality parameters were monitored. For each parameter a degradation curve over time was obtained, which was fitted to zero and first order kinetics. For most of the quality parameters degradation patterns followed a kinetic of the first order, antioxidant activity and soluble solids could not be described by any significant kinetic. The appearance score showed the highest kinetic rate (0.17 day-1), followed by titratable acidity (0.09 day-1) and vitamin C (0.06 day-1). Score 3 and 2, which were defined as the limits of marketability and edibility, respectively, were used as reference for comparing the percentage of quality changes over time. When melon pieces reached score 3 that corresponded to 40% of initial variation, acidity increased of 39% and vitamin C decreased by 20%. When score reached a value of 2 (60% of variation), acidity increased by 73% and vitamin C decreased by 30%. Further research about different storage conditions and melon cultivars is needed in order to confirm the relationship between simple quality indicators linked to appearance degradation and nutritional quality of fresh-cut melon.

Postponing the harvest of grapes is a common practice in southern Italy, in order to delay harvest up to Christmas and make higher income from their sale. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of harvest time (over almost 3 months) on the quality of table grapes (cv. Italia). The experiment was repeated for two years (2010 and 2011). In 2010, grapes were harvested starting from 8 October and after 11, 27 and 48 days. In 2011, five harvest times were compared over a period of 56 days. Respiration rate, firmness, colour, sensory attributes, total soluble solids (TSS), pH, titratable acidity (TA), phenols and antioxidant activity were measured. In addition, in the second year, volatile compounds were evaluated.

Almonds (Prunus dulcis Mill.) kernels stored in uncontrolled environmental conditions can show drastic quality loss. The aim of this work was to evaluate how removing the shell and storage at different temperatures may affect almonds quality. For 2 following years, dried almonds ('Marta') were stored: I) unshelled at 20°C; II) unshelled at 0°C; III) shelled at 20°C; IV) shelled at 0°C. Initially and after 2, 5 and 9 months of storage the following analyses were carried out: rupture force, color, sensorial evaluation (on the kernels), acidity and tocopherols content (on the oil), sugar content, antioxidant activity and total phenols (on the defatted powder). In both years, the presence of shell reduced the variation in some color parameters, while the effect of temperature was less evident. No differences were observed in rupture force, sensorial attributes, antioxidant activity and sucrose content according to the storage temperature and the presence of shell. Phenols content was affected by storage modality; in 2007, a lower decrease in unshelled almonds than in shelled ones was observed, while in 2008 almonds stored in shell at 0°C showed a delay in phenols loss during storage, with no effect of storage temperature. Tocopherols content did not show evident variation, while acidity increased during storage, regardless storage temperature and the presence of shell.

Atmosphere modification can improve the storability of some fruits and vegetables, but also has the potential to induce undesirable effects. In this work, the effect of high-CO2 atmospheres on the quality of fresh-cut artichokes (Cynara cardunculus L. subsp. scolymus (L.) Hayek 'Catanese') was tested. Freshly harvested artichoke heads were cut into halves and stored at 5°C in air (control) and in air with 5, 15, and 25% CO2. Initially, and after 2, 4, and 8 days of storage, quality attributes were monitored, including colour, overall appearance, and weight loss. In addition, chemical determinations, such as ammonia accumulation in artichoke tissues and polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity were carried out. Samples stored in air+25% CO2 showed a tendency to develop brown spots on the external bracts, as a probable sign of intolerance to high CO2 concentration. As consequence, the a* value was significantly higher, while b* value and hue angle were significantly lower than the other treatments; the overall appearance also was lower, reaching below the limit of marketability at the end of the experiment. On bract cut surfaces L* value showed a slightly higher retention for the sample stored in 5% CO2 than for the other treatments. The storage in presence of CO2 controlled weight loss of the cut artichokes, with samples stored in air +5% and in air+15% CO2 showing the lowest values. At the end of the storage, ammonia accumulation was higher for sample stored in air+25% CO2. No substantial differences in PPO activity were found among different treatments. The presence of high CO2 concentrations in the storage atmosphere have been proven to be deleterious for fresh-cut artichokes, while only slight beneficial effects were observed for the lowest concentrations. For this reason, the avoidance of extreme conditions in terms of CO2 concentrations within the packages should be the main objective when designing a modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) system for freshcut artichokes.

'Hayward' kiwifruits were harvested at a commercial maturity stage with flesh firmness of 59 N (±3.9), soluble solids content (SCC) of 11.5% (±0.6), and titratable acidity (TA) of 1.4% (±0.03). They were then divided in 3 groups and treated at different time during storage with 0.5 ppm of 1-MCP for 24 h. A first group was immediately treated (firm stage), a second group was stored at 0°C for 40 days until 1-MCP treatment when a firmness of 36 N (±1.9) was reached (intermediate stage), while a third group was stored at 0°C for 2 months until treatment when a firmness of 25 N (±1.6) was reached (soft stage). 1-MCP treated samples at firm stage were stored for 100 days at 0°C, while fruits at intermediate and soft maturity stages were stored for 80 days, together with the respective untreated control fruits. Initially upon 1-MCP treatment and during storage, firmness, SSC, TA, respiration rate, vitamin C and total phenolic contents, and antioxidant activity were measured. Untreated firm samples showed a severe firmness loss, which, starting from 23% of the initial value at 20 days of storage, reached 44 and 85% after 60 and 80 days of storage, respectively; treated fruits only lost about 20% of initial firmness after 40 days. At the intermediate stage the effect of 1-MCP treatment resulted evident only after 40 days of storage, when treated samples resulted firmer (about 44%) than the control. Also at the soft stage 1-MCP treatment slowed down softening: firmness decreased of 60 and 54% of initial value for control and treated fruits, respectively during the first days of storage. 1-MCP treatment did not affect chemical composition, while it had a significant effect on respiration rate only for fruits of the firm stage.

There is a rising demand for fresh-cut convenience products with high quality and nutritional standards that needs to be met by the fresh-cut industry. It is well known that harvest and postharvest handling of fresh produce has a paramount impact on its quality and storage, although most of the existing literature has focused on these impacts related only to fresh produce that is destined for the final consumers. Indeed, current harvest methods and postharvest technologies have improved fruit and vegetable handling and distribution processes by slowing down physiological processes and senescence. Nonetheless, these technologies and methods may influence the quality of fresh produce as raw material for fresh-cut processing as a result of the dynamic responses of fresh produce to handling procedures and treatments. Here, we review the existing literature on the challenges facing the fresh-cut industry, focusing on the impact of harvest, maturity, and handling of fruit and vegetables on the quality of raw materials, as well as the implications for fresh-cut products. The review also highlights areas for further research with the aim of enhancing the sensorial, nutritional and biochemical quality of such products. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.