Recent approaches using chemical treatments to preserve quality of fresh-cut fruit: A review

This review covers some recent advances for the maintenance of fresh-cut fruit quality with respect to the use of chemical compounds, including plant natural antimicrobials and antioxidants, as well as calcium salts for maintaining texture. It focuses especially on the use of natural preservatives, which are of increasing interest because of toxicity and/or allergenicity of some traditional food preservatives. The difficulties in the application of these substances on fresh-cut fruit without adversely affecting sensory characteristics of the product are reviewed. Edible coatings are presented as an excellent way to carry additives since they are shown to maintain high concentrations of preservatives on the food surfaces, reducing the impact of such chemicals on overall consumer acceptability of fresh-cut fruit. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.