Current Challenges of Physical Treatments to Control Quality and Postharvest Diseases of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables

Abstract

Physical treatments have gained interest in recent years to improve quality and safety of fresh fruits and vegetables, due to the emergence of non-chemical techniques. Indeed, the use of fungicides is becoming restricted because of the concerns of the consumers for human health and for the release of fungicides in the environment. Physical treatment appears to promote sustainable technology. This review attempts to highlight the use of the light treatments in postharvest, with visible and UV-C. These treatments already showed interesting perspectives of applications due to, their direct impact onto pathogens, and the induction of resistance onto the host. The mode of action is not well known, but some new tools such as ohmic methods will help to highlight physiological and biochemical pathways on which the phenomena are based. Despite a wide range of positive impact of light treatments in several research works, their commercial use remains limited in relation to their potential market.