Advances in Fruit and Vegetable Quality, Bioactive Compounds, and Nutritional Value: 3rd Edition

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 18 March 2026 | Viewed by 1312

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
1. Agricultural and Food Research Group (AA1), Department of Analytical and Food Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Universidade de Vigo, 32004 Ourense, Spain
2. Instituto de Agroecoloxía e Alimentación (IAA), Universidade de Vigo, Campus Auga, 32004 Ourense, Spain
Interests: fruit and vegetable quality; bioactive compounds; green processing; functional foods; waste recycling; nanoencapsulation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Center for Research and Development in Food Science and Technology (CIDCA), CCT-CONICET, La Plata RA1900, Argentina
Interests: probiotics; prebiotics; fermented products; circular economy; food processing; green synthesis processes; structure function relationship
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The increasing demand for fresh fruit- and vegetable-based products is related to growing evidence regarding both their nutritional value and the presence of health-promoting compounds. However, fresh fruits and vegetables are highly perishable, leading to significant losses throughout the whole supply chain. Thus, extending the shelf life of minimally processed fruit and vegetables while retaining overall quality remains a challenging task. For this purpose, the application of emerging processes and the development of edible coatings and films are some of the currently applied strategies to overcome these disadvantages. On the other hand, innovative approaches have been proposed to valorize waste and fruit and vegetable byproducts including green extraction procedures for bioactive ingredients, micro/nanoencapsulation, fermentation processes, and the synthesis of nanoparticles, among others. Thus, this Special Issue seeks to provide an overview of recent advancements in processes aiming toward maintaining the overall quality (microbiological, sensory, and nutritional) of fresh-cut fruit and vegetables for prolonged storage as well as green approaches that deal with valorizing waste from the agrifood industry. The development of novel functional foods containing fruit- and vegetable-waste-based ingredients will be also considered.

We invite researchers to submit original research or review articles to this Special Issue that are in line with the above-mentioned objectives. These high-quality articles should consider one or more of the following topics: emerging preservation technologies, edible coatings and films, fermentation processes, green extraction technologies, micro/nanoencapsulation, the synthesis of nanoparticles for application in the food industry, the incorporation of bioactive compounds into functional foods, and/or sustainable valorizing processes.

Dr. Lucía Cassani
Dr. Andrea Gomez-Zavaglia
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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

  • valorizing strategies
  • overall quality
  • extended shelf life
  • green processes
  • bioactive compounds
  • stabilizing approaches
  • nanotechnology
  • functional foods

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 1780 KB  
Article
GA4/GA7 Deficiency and Downregulated Ent-Kaurenoic Acid Oxidase Impair Seedless Mango Fruit Development
by Meng Gao, Songbiao Wang, Wentian Xu, Wenxin Li and Xiaowei Ma
Foods 2025, 14(21), 3705; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14213705 - 30 Oct 2025
Viewed by 381
Abstract
Seedless mangoes are desirable for fresh consumption and processing; however, they frequently exhibit poor fruit development and elevated abscission rates, necessitating applications of fruit regulators, though their physiological and molecular targets remain unclear. In this study, hormonal deficits and regulatory genes associated with [...] Read more.
Seedless mangoes are desirable for fresh consumption and processing; however, they frequently exhibit poor fruit development and elevated abscission rates, necessitating applications of fruit regulators, though their physiological and molecular targets remain unclear. In this study, hormonal deficits and regulatory genes associated with mango fruit development were identified. Morphological observations showed that embryo-containing (EC) and embryo-absent (EA) fruits begin to diverge in development between 30 and 45 days after bloom (DAB). During this period, targeted metabolomics of gibberellins (GAs) detected nine GAs; four (GA20, GA34, GA4, GA7) behaved consistently across cultivars, with GA4 and GA7 showing the largest declines in EA fruit. Applying 50 mg/L GA3 or GA4+7 at 30 DAB increased fruit growth versus water, with GA4+7 having the greatest effect. Comparative transcriptomic analysis revealed 1476 shared DEGs that were enriched in hormone signaling pathways. Among 13 DEGs involved in GA biosynthesis, KAO (Mi05g23760.1) showed the strongest correlation with GA levels and was markedly downregulated in EA fruits. Together, these results indicate that deficiencies in GA4/GA7—potentially resulting from reduced KAO expression—contribute to impaired EA fruit development and that targeted GA4+7 supplementation may more effectively rescue growth than conventional GA3 treatments. These results provide mechanistic insights and practical guidance for hormone-based strategies to promote consistent development of seedless mangoes, thereby improving yield stability and supporting more sustainable production. Full article
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14 pages, 566 KB  
Article
Compositional and Bioactive Differentiation of Opuntia spp. Fruit Varieties by PCA and LDA
by Liliana Espírito Santo, Cláudia S. G. P. Pereira, Anabela S. G. Costa, Agostinho Almeida, João C. M. Barreira, Maria Beatriz P. P. Oliveira and Ana F. Vinha
Foods 2025, 14(18), 3170; https://doi.org/10.3390/foods14183170 - 11 Sep 2025
Viewed by 742
Abstract
The nutritional, mineral, and bioactive profiles of four Opuntia fruit varieties—Opuntia robusta red variety (OR-RV) and three Opuntia ficus-indica varieties (red, yellow, and green: OFI-RV, OFI-YV, and OFI-GV, respectively)—were characterized to assess their compositional diversity and potential discriminant markers. Standard analytical procedures [...] Read more.
The nutritional, mineral, and bioactive profiles of four Opuntia fruit varieties—Opuntia robusta red variety (OR-RV) and three Opuntia ficus-indica varieties (red, yellow, and green: OFI-RV, OFI-YV, and OFI-GV, respectively)—were characterized to assess their compositional diversity and potential discriminant markers. Standard analytical procedures were applied to determine proximate composition, individual sugars, fibre content, mineral concentration, and bioactive compounds, followed by antioxidant activity assays. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) were used to explore multivariate patterns and identify variables with the greatest discriminatory power. Results revealed significant inter-varietal differences across all measured parameters (p < 0.05). OR-RV displayed the highest non-fibre carbohydrate, protein, copper, and ascorbic acid contents, as well as superior antioxidant activity. OFI-GV stood out for its high soluble and insoluble fibre, magnesium, and strontium levels, while OFI-YV was characterized by elevated sodium and calcium, and OFI-RV by increased protein and glucose contents. LDA identified ascorbic acid, protein, and five mineral elements (Sr, Zn, Cu, Mn, B) as key discriminant variables, achieving 100% classification accuracy. These findings highlight compositional diversity among Opuntia varieties and support their differentiated use in food and health applications. Full article
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