Fresh-cut fruits and vegetables – a review

Abstract

Fresh cut products from fruits and vegetables are in great demand in local market as well as for export. It is very essential and critical to maintain the quality of fresh cut produce from the farmers’ field to the consumer. Fresh-cut processing involves careful selection of raw material variety, cultivar, maturity stage, washing, sanitising, peeling, deseeding, cutting, dicing, slicing, pre-treatment (anti-microbial, firming, flavour enhancer, etc.), packaging, storage at proper temperature, transportation, etc. Maintaining the quality and safety of fresh-cut produce is a challenge as deterioration processes take place due to ongoing biochemical and microbiological processes. The combination of sanitizing, packaging environment and temperature need to be optimized to maximize the quality (nutritional and sensory) and safety of the produce. The processors also need to know the spoilage causing organisms, such as pseudomonads, lactic acid bacteria, yeast, moulds, and fungi which can damage the quality of the produce. The knowledge of food borne pathogens and their sources is also important. The processors need to consider all the steps of the fresh-cut produce processing from the point of view of food safety as well as quality of the product.