scholarly journals CURRENT RESEARCH PROGRAMS AT THE USDA–ARS CITRUS AND SUBTROPICAL PRODUCTS LABORATORY

HortScience ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 504D-504
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Baldwin
Keyword(s):  
Fruits And Vegetables ◽  
The Other ◽  
Food Science ◽  
Edible Coatings ◽  
Processing Waste ◽  
Citrus Peel ◽  
Citrus Juices ◽  
Fresh Cut ◽  
Citrus Waste ◽  
Fruit Flavor

The USDA–ARS Citrus and Subtropical Products Laboratory is a food science and postharvest facility for fresh and processed fruits and vegetables of tropical and subtropical origin. The term “tropical” is extended to vegetables grown during the summer of temperate climates like tomato. There are also projects involving strawberry and blueberry since these are important crops for Florida. The majority of the work, however, is on citrus (70%). There are four projects at the facility including quality and by-product research. The two quality projects involve work on juice (mainly citrus juices) and fresh fruit flavor. The other quality project includes work on edible coatings or other surface treatments to reduce decay, water loss and to improve of the appearance of fresh or fresh-cut fruits and vegetables. The two by-product projects aim to develop products from citrus processing waste. One project mines citrus waste for edible fiber, nutraceuticals and compounds in grapefruit that enhance uptake of certain drugs. The other by-product project seeks to develop industrial products from the carbohydrates in citrus peel such as suspension aids and fuel ethanol.

scholarly journals Films and edible coatings containing antioxidants - a review

2014 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 98-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaliana Sitonio Eça ◽  
Tanara Sartori ◽  
Florencia Cecilia Menegalli
Keyword(s):  
Fruits And Vegetables ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Natural Antioxidants ◽  
Edible Films ◽  
Edible Coatings ◽  
Synthetic Antioxidants ◽  
Bioactive Properties ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Pure Compounds ◽  
Fresh Cut

The incorporation of natural antioxidants into films and edible coatings can modify their structure, improving their functionality and applicability in foods, such as in fresh-cut fruits. This paper reviews the more recent literature on the incorporation of antioxidants from several sources into films and edible coatings, for application in fruits and vegetables. The use of synthetic antioxidants in foods has been avoided due to their possible toxic effects. Instead, a wide range of natural antioxidants (such as essential oils and plant extracts, as well as pure compounds, like ascorbic acid and α-tocopherol) have been incorporated into edible films and coatings to improve their bioactive properties. Films and coatings containing added antioxidants help to preserve or enhance the sensory properties of foods and add value to the food products by increasing their shelf life.

scholarly journals Study on browning mechanism of fresh-cut eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) based on metabolomics, enzymatic assays and gene expression

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaohui Liu ◽  
Aidong Zhang ◽  
Jing Shang ◽  
Zongwen Zhu ◽  
Ye Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Fruits And Vegetables ◽  
Solanum Melongena ◽  
Downward Trend ◽  
Glutathione Metabolism ◽  
Phenylpropanoid Metabolism ◽  
Kegg Pathways ◽  
Maximum Value ◽  
Cut Time ◽  
Fresh Cut

AbstractEnzymatic browning is one of the crucial problems compromising the flavor and texture of fresh-cut fruit and vegetables. In this study, an untargeted metabolomics approach based on liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC–MS) was used to explore the browning mechanism in fresh-cut eggplant. Metabolomics studies showed that with the increase of fresh-cut time, the contents of 946 metabolites changed dynamically. The metabolites having the same trend share common metabolic pathways. As an important browning substrate, the content of chlorogenic acid increased significantly, suggesting that may be more important to fresh-cut eggplant browning; all 119 common differential metabolites in 5 min/CK and 3 min/CK contrastive groups were mapped onto 31 KEGG pathways including phenylpropanol metabolism, glutathione metabolism pathway, et al. In physiological experiments, results showed that the Phenylpropanoid-Metabolism-Related enzymes (PAL, C4H, 4CL) were changed after fresh-cut treatment, the activities of three enzymes increased first and then decreased, and reached the maximum value at 5 min, indicating the accumulation of phenolic substances. At the same time, ROS were accumulated when plant tissue damaged by cutting, the activities of related antioxidant enzymes (SOD, APX and CAT) changed dynamically after oxidative damage. SOD and APX content increased significantly and reached the maximum value at 10 min after cutting, and then showed a downward trend. However, CAT activity increased sharply and reached the maximum value within 3 min after cutting, then maintained the same activity, and showed a downward trend after 30 min. These data fully demonstrated that the activities of browning related enzymes and gene expression increased with the prolonging of fresh cutting time. We explained the browning mechanism of fresh-cut eggplant by combining metabolomics and physiology, which may lay the foundation for better understanding the mechanism of browning during the fruits and vegetables during processing.

scholarly journals Naturalization and spread of the alien species Ozognathus cornutus (LeConte, 1859) (Coleoptera: Ptinidae: Ernobiinae) in Italy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuliano Cerasa ◽  
Gabriella Lo Verde
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Fruits And Vegetables ◽  
First Record ◽  
The Other ◽  
Ecological Role ◽  
Dried Fruits ◽  
Wood Shavings ◽  
Potential Pest ◽  
Small Wood ◽  
Natural Barrier

AbstractOzognathus cornutus (LeConte, 1859) (Coleoptera: Ptinidae: Ernobiinae), species native to North America, is a saproxylophagous species and is known to feed on decaying tissues within conspicuous galls and on vegetal decaying organic material such as dried fruits or small wood shavings and insect excrements in galleries made by other woodboring species. A few years after the first record in 2011, its naturalization in Italy is here reported. The insect was found as successor in galls of Psectrosema tamaricis (Diptera Cecidomyiidae), Plagiotrochus gallaeramulorum, Andricus multiplicatus and Synophrus politus (Hymenoptera Cynipidae). The galls seem to have played an important ecological role in speeding up the naturalization process. The lowest proportion of galls used by O. cornutus was recorded for P. tamaricis (23%), the only host belonging to Cecidomyiidae, while the percentages recorded for the other host species, all Cynipidae forming galls on oaks, were higher: 43.6%, 61.1% and 76.9% in A multiplicatus, S. politus and P. gallaeramulorum, respectively. Although O. cornutus is able to exploit other substrates like dried fruits and vegetables, for which it could represent a potential pest, it prefers to live as a successor in woody and conspicuous galls, which thus can represent a sort of natural barrier limiting the possible damages to other substrates.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document