Next-Generation Technologies for Extending the Shelf Life of Fresh-Produce
A special issue of Horticulturae (ISSN 2311-7524). This special issue belongs to the section "Postharvest Biology, Quality, Safety, and Technology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 November 2026 | Viewed by 182
Special Issue Editors
Interests: postharvest handling; fresh fruit; citrus fruit; fruit quality; environmentally friendly strategies; innovative technologies; cold storage
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: energy saving and process analysis; cold storage room; automated systems of storage and packing; computer application in all agricultural activities and food processing; post-harvest and storage technology; packaging systems; food loss
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: food science & technology engineering chemistry agriculture physics; postharvest
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Fresh fruit is a highly perishable commodity and the challenge to horticulture is preserving its quality, safety and nutritional value from harvest to consumption. There are substantial postharvest losses occurring all over the world as result of poor storage, microbial spoilage, physiological changes and improper handling processes. In order to counteract such an occurrence, novel sustainable and non-deteriorating postharvest technologies are being explored in order to provide prolongation of shelf life along with the retention of important sensory and nutritional properties as well as reduction of environmental burdens.
This Special Issue “Next-Generation Technologies for Extending the Shelf Life of Fresh-Produce” seeks to emphasise state-of-the-art ideas on fruit preservation. These areas include non-thermal physical interventions, such as cold plasma, high hydrostatic pressure and pulsed electric fastingkur fields; antimicrobial/antioxidant chemicals application while other are light based intervention like UV-C and pulsed light and then active/smart packaging systems designed to control ethylene, moisture, and microbial activity. Manuscripts dealing with edible coatings based on natural polymers, as well as non-destructive optical sensors including NIR spectroscopy, e-noses and AI-supported image analysis applied to real-time quality control, are also accepted.
This Special Issue welcomes contributions from researchers working in the field of postharvest physiology, biotechnology, and quality assessment of fresh fruits. Original research articles and comprehensive reviews are encouraged.
Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Innovative non-thermal or non-chemical preservation technologies;
- Active and smart packaging systems for fresh fruits;
- Edible coatings and biopolymer-based preservation strategies;
- Molecular and physiological responses of fruits to postharvest treatments;
- Mechanisms of stress tolerance and quality retention during storage;
- Integrative multi-omics approaches to understand postharvest biology;
- Advanced sensing technologies and AI-based quality monitoring system.
Dr. Maria Concetta Strano
Dr. Francesco Genovese
Dr. Mahdi Rashvand
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. Horticulturae is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2200 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
- artificial intelligence
- postharvest technology
- shelf life extension
- non-destructive techniques
- sustainable preservation
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