Approaches for prolonging the shelf-life of vegetables and fruits

Abstract

As most fresh produced fruits and vegetables are perishable, they cannot be satisfactorily preserved under natural circumstances for an extended period of time. Conventional preservation techniques exists, nevertheless they have disadvantages like expensive manufacturing costs, short shelf lives, unwanted residue, etc. Therefore, cutting-edge techniques like cold chain, ozone, cold plasma, microwave heating, and UV-C (ultraviolet-C) non-ionizing radiation help maintain the vegetables and fruits fresh in addition to superior quality by lowering the microbial load. High surface to volume ratios and antibacterial effectiveness that prolongs shelf life are among the possibilities of nanotechnology.