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Recent Research on the Processing Technology and Quality Control of...
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Recent Research on the Processing Technology and Quality Control of Fruit and Vegetables

A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Foods".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 July 2025 | Viewed by 2207

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Leiqing Pan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Food Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China
Interests: non-destructive detection; spectral; imaging; food composition; food safety; identification; regression; modeling; chemometrics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Lijun Song

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Food Science and Technology, Hebei Normal University of Science & Technology, Qinhuangdao 066600, China
Interests: fruit and vegetable deep processing; quality control
Dr. Weijie Lan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Food Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China
Interests: smart food processing; infrared spectroscopy and imaging techniques; AI-based food processing and quality determination
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Fruit and vegetables (F&Vs) are an elemental part of cuisines and play a vital role in providing fresh, nutritious, and healthy food to consumers of all ages around the world. Achieving the goal of sustainable development of the F&V value chain is heavily dependent on processing and quality control technology at both the global and local levels. The future contribution of F&Vs to human health is widely recognized, but the scientific needs that underpin their production, processing, and distribution still need elucidation.

The ideal innovative F&V processing solutions should be flexible and personalized, efficient in resource utilization, and based on seasonality and demand. They should take into account the specific and common expectations of large industries or small- and medium-sized F&V processors, focus on technical and economic feasibility, and consider the needs of consumers and the food chain. A resilient F&V chain system should be established to tackle its complexity and the losses and waste along the entire chain. This requires multiple interventions, e.g., improved post-harvest handling of F&Vs, well-utilized and managed data, well-organized supply chain logistics, and advanced processing equipment and technologies. Therefore, perishable F&Vs can be effectively processed and used as consumer products or stable food ingredients. Moreover, the study of food processing, especially F&V processing, is complex and involves multiple scientific disciplines, which requires breaking down barriers across disciplines, e.g., physics, engineering, mechanics, chemistry, statistics, nutrition, biochemistry, computer science, and psychology.

Prof. Dr. Leiqing Pan
Prof. Dr. Lijun Song
Dr. Weijie Lan
Guest Editors

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

  • new technologies, methods, theory, and equipment for F&V utilization
  • quality control, reactivity, and microbial risk in production
  • artificial intelligence and F&V processing, detection, and control
  • innovative personalized food products based on F&V by-products
  • non-destructive and rapid evaluation techniques for quality, safety, and nutrition of F&V (near-infrared spectroscopy, hyperspectral imaging technology, machine vision, etc.)

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 3810 KiB  
Article
Effect of Ultrasound Combined with Plasma-Activated Water on Lethal and Sublethal Injury Against Escherichia coli
by Xin Wen, Meimei Nie, Zhongyuan Zhang, Lingming Xiong, Jialin Feng, Zhi Zhang, Dajing Li, Yihong Bao and Haihong Wu
Foods 2025, 14(9), 1457; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14091457 - 23 Apr 2025
Viewed by 401
Abstract
Plasma-activated water (PAW) treatment is a promising technique for food processing, but it causes sublethal injury (SI) to microorganisms. This study investigated the effect of ultrasound (US) combined with PAW (US-PAW) on SI of Escherichia coli (E. coli). Results showed that, [...] Read more.
Plasma-activated water (PAW) treatment is a promising technique for food processing, but it causes sublethal injury (SI) to microorganisms. This study investigated the effect of ultrasound (US) combined with PAW (US-PAW) on SI of Escherichia coli (E. coli). Results showed that, after plasma activation for 10 min and treatment for 10 min, the US-PAW treatment caused a 4.89 ± 0.07 log CFU/mL reduction in E. coli. Meanwhile, under these conditions, the SI rate of E. coli was decreased to 13.3 ± 2.15%, significantly reduced by 52.74% compared to using PAW alone. The inactivation process of US-PAW treatment fitted the Weibull model better. The morphology of E. coli was destroyed by PAW and US-PAW treatment. Additionally, US-PAW treatment significantly increased the leakage of protein and nucleic acid, as well as cell membrane permeability and potential. Compared to PAW or US treatment, the proportion of membrane fatty acids and the structure of membrane proteins were altered in the US-PAW group. Furthermore, intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels increased by US-PAW treatment, and the levels of GSH, SOD, and CAT enzyme activities were significantly reduced, compared to PAW or US treatment. The combined treatment also resulted in significant DNA oxidative damage. The disruption of cell membrane structure and oxidative damage caused by US-PAW treatment resulted in irreversible damage to bacteria, thus reducing the SI rate. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Research on the Processing Technology and Quality Control of Fruit and Vegetables)
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15 pages, 3178 KiB  
Article
Comparative Analysis of Chilling Injury in Banana Fruit During Storage: Physicochemical and Microstructural Changes, and Early Optical-Based Nondestructive Identification
by Hui Ma, Lingmeng Hu, Jingyuan Zhao, Jie He, Anqi Wen, Daizhu Lv, Zhi Xu, Weijie Lan and Leiqing Pan
Foods 2025, 14(8), 1319; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14081319 - 11 Apr 2025
Viewed by 785
Abstract
Chilling injury (CI) during postharvest storage seriously impairs bananas’ quality and marketability. This study systematically investigated CI mechanisms through physicochemical, microstructural, and optical analyses and innovatively developed a hyperspectral imaging (HSI)-based approach for early CI detection. Bananas stored at suboptimal (7 °C) and [...] Read more.
Chilling injury (CI) during postharvest storage seriously impairs bananas’ quality and marketability. This study systematically investigated CI mechanisms through physicochemical, microstructural, and optical analyses and innovatively developed a hyperspectral imaging (HSI)-based approach for early CI detection. Bananas stored at suboptimal (7 °C) and optimal (13 °C) conditions exhibited distinct physicochemical changes. CI progression was related to increased browning symptoms, an abnormal moisture redistribution (reduced pulp moisture content), and delayed softening. Microstructural analysis revealed membrane destabilization, cellular lysis, intercellular cavity formation, and inhibited starch hydrolysis under chilling stress. Hyperspectral microscope imaging (HMI) captured chilling-induced spectral variations (400–1000 nm), enabling the t-SNE-based clustering of CI-affected tissues. Machine learning models using first derivative (1-st)-processed spectra achieved a high accuracy. Both PLS-DA and RF had a 99% calibration accuracy and 98.5% prediction accuracy for CI classification. Notably, HSI detected spectral signatures of early CI (2 days post-chilling treatment) before visible symptoms, achieving a 100% identification accuracy with an optimized PLS-DA combined with 1-st processing. This study provides a theoretical basis for studying fruit CI mechanisms and a novel nondestructive optical method for early CI monitoring in postharvest supply chains. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Research on the Processing Technology and Quality Control of Fruit and Vegetables)
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15 pages, 2664 KiB  
Article
The Phytochemical Characterization of a Cili (Rosa roxburghii) Fruit Low-Temperature Extract with Hepatoprotective Effects
by Rifeng He, Ziling Lian, Zhongjun Cheng, Yang Liu, Xiaoyan Peng, Yong Wang, Hang Ma, Xue Zhou and Fahuan Ge
Foods 2025, 14(8), 1301; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14081301 - 9 Apr 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 495
Abstract
Cili (Rosa roxburghii Tratt) fruit is a nutrient-rich edible plant known for its antioxidant and hepatoprotective properties. However, conventional extraction methods often lead to the degradation of its bioactive compounds. In this study, we developed a low-temperature homogenate-assisted high-pressure disruption extraction (HHPD) [...] Read more.
Cili (Rosa roxburghii Tratt) fruit is a nutrient-rich edible plant known for its antioxidant and hepatoprotective properties. However, conventional extraction methods often lead to the degradation of its bioactive compounds. In this study, we developed a low-temperature homogenate-assisted high-pressure disruption extraction (HHPD) method to obtain a phytochemically enriched cili fruit extract (HHPD-CFE). The chemical characterization of the HHPD-CFE showed that it contained higher levels of polyphenols, polysaccharides, and superoxide dismutase (SOD) than those in conventional squeeze extraction. The hepatoprotective effects of the HHPD-CFE were evaluated in oxidative stress-induced liver injury and hepatic fibrosis models. The HHPD-CFE mitigated oxidative damage by reducing malondialdehyde while enhancing SOD and glutathione activity. Additionally, the HHPD-CFE inhibited the activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSC-T6) and reduced collagen deposition, suggesting a protective role against liver fibrosis. These findings support that the HHPD-CFE is a promising botanical extract with enriched bioactive compounds and liver-protective properties. This study supports the potential application of optimized extraction techniques to preserve thermosensitive compounds and improve the efficacy of functional foods for liver health. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Research on the Processing Technology and Quality Control of Fruit and Vegetables)
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