Preservation Of Quality Research Articles

Impact of pomelo peel pectin on chicken egg quality preservation

Pomelo peel pectin coating preserves egg quality by sealing eggshell pores, making it a useful alternative when refrigeration is unavailable. This research aimed to assess the effectiveness of pomelo peel pectin coating in maintaining the quality and nutritional content of chicken eggs during 35 days of storage at room temperature. The eggs were analyzed across four treatments: uncoated eggs stored at room temperature (URT, control), uncoated eggs stored at 4°C (U4°C), pomelo peel pectin coated eggs stored at room temperature (PRT), and pomelo peel pectin coated eggs stored at 4°C (P4°C). Weight loss percentage, Haugh unit (HU), yolk index (YI), and albumen pH were measured weekly. Nutritional composition (protein, fat, ash, moisture, carbohydrate, and energy) was determined every two weeks. Results showed that PRT had lower weight loss and higher HU and YI compared to URT. No significant differences were observed between U4°C and P4°C. Both refrigerated treatments retained a Grade A HU on day 35, whereas PRT maintained a Grade A HU until day 28. Pomelo peel pectin coating had no significant impact on albumen pH and nutritional values. Overall, the coating effectively preserved egg quality by reducing weight loss and maintaining HU and YI at room temperatures (25-30°C). However, it did not show the same effects at 4°C. Without refrigeration, the coating offers an alternative method for extending shelf life, maintaining Grade A HU for up to 28 days at room temperature.

Green light enhances the phytochemical preservation of lettuce during postharvest cold storage.

The postharvest lighting environment is a main factor that influences quality preservation for harvested biomass. The objective of this study was to evaluate postharvest changes in bioactive compounds of lettuce with different storage light spectra. The effects of green LEDs with peaks at 500 nm and 530 nm, white LEDs (400-700 nm), and dark storage were evaluated, where light intensity (10 μmol m-2 s-1) and photoperiod (12 h per day) were constant with air temperature at 5°C over the 14 d treatment period. Lettuce stored with 500 nm and 530 nm green LEDs exhibited 1474.5% and 1451.8% (approximately 15.7 and 15.5 times) higher antioxidant activity, respectively, compared to dark storage. Significant improvements in total phenolic content, and 67.5% and 64.8% increases in total soluble solids with 530 nm and 500 nm green LEDs over dark storage were discerned. Exposure to 530 nm green LEDs led to 128.2% (approximately 2.28 times) higher anthocyanin content, a 26.2% increase in carotenoids, and a 95% rise in flavonoid content compared to dark storage. Increases of 26.4% and 16.0% in chlorophyll a content in lettuce stored under 500 nm and 530 nm green LEDs, respectively, and 65.6% and 46.6% rises in the Chlorophyll a/b ratio were observed. Compared to dark storage, green LEDs (500 nm) resulted in a 13.5% higher total chlorophyll content. Findings underscore the positive impact of green LEDs on the nutritional quality of lettuce, providing insight for postharvest practices.

GAMMA KNIFE AND QUALITY OF LIFE: A REVIEW ON THE USE OF RADIOSURGERY IN BRAIN TUMORS

INTRODUCTION: Considering the quality of life of patients with brain tumors, several treatment alternatives have been developed over time, aiming at a less invasive potential and providing a permanent functional capacity for the individual. In this regard, in recent decades there has been debate about radiosurgery for the treatment of brain tumors. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of Gamma Knife radiosurgery, considering patient safety. METHODS: This article is characterized as an integrative literature review of an exploratory nature, in the PubMED and Cochrane databases, the search was restricted to observational studies and randomized clinical trials as primary data to contemplate the outcomes Quality of life, neurological preservation, recurrence, cerebral complications and overall survival. RESULTS: The analysis of the collected data demonstrated that, in general, radiosurgery by the Gamma Knife platform preserves quality of life in several cases, mainly in smaller benign brain tumors. The disease recurrence rate after 3 years of radiosurgery ranged from 20 to 40%, depending on the type of tumor and treatment, with the highest recurrence rate in grade III meningiomas and high-grade gliomas. The 5-year recurrence rate ranged from 60 to 80%, and was therefore higher than that of more invasive treatments. CONCLUSION: The qualitative synthesis of these data proves the efficacy of radiosurgery and may suggest to neurosurgeons the possibility of treating brain tumors in patients who are not eligible for conventional surgery or in patients with non-bulky tumors.

SURG-08. A PHASE III RANDOMIZED TRIAL OF GROSS TOTAL RESECTION VERSUS POSSIBLE RESECTION OF FLAIR HYPERINTENSITY LESION ON MR IMAGE FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED SUPRATENTORIAL GLIOBLASTOMA (JCOG2209)

Abstract BACKGROUND Complete resection of contrast-enhanced lesion (gross total resection: GTR) without severe neurological deficits has been generally accepted as the goal of surgery. However, it remains unclear if additional resection of surrounding FLAIR hyper-intense lesion combined with GTR (FLAIRectomy) has survival advantage of primary glioblastoma patients. Purpose: Multicenter, open-label, randomized phase III trial was commenced to confirm the superiority of FLAIRectomy to GTR alone followed by radiotherapy with concomitant and adjuvant temozolomide in terms of overall survival (OS) for primary glioblastoma IDH-wildtype patients. This trial investigates not only survival but also postoperative neurological and neurocognitive deficits in detail. METHODS We assumed a 2-year OS of 50% in the GTR arm and expected a 15% improvement in the FLAIRectomy arm. A total of 130 patients is required with a one-sided alpha of 5%, power of 70%, and will be accrued from 49 Japanese institutions in 4 years and follow-up will last 2.5 years. Patients 18-75 years of age will be registered and randomly assigned to each arm with 1:1 allocation. The primary endpoint is OS, and the secondary endpoints are progression-free survival, frequency of adverse events, proportion of Karnofsky performance status preservation, proportion of National Institutes of Health stroke scale preservation, proportion of mini-mental state examination preservation and proportion of health-related quality of life preservation. The Japan Clinical Oncology Group Protocol Review Committee approved this study protocol in May 2023. Ethics approval was granted by the National Cancer Center Hospital Certified Review Board. Patient enrollment began in July 2023. DISCUSSION If FLAIRectomy is superior to GTR alone, aggressive surgery will become a standard surgical treatment for glioblastoma with resectable contrast-enhanced lesion. Trial registration: Registry number: jRCT1031230245. Date of registration: 19/July/2023. Date of first participant enrollment: 28/July/2023. Funding for this study is provided by National Cancer Center Research and Development Fund (2023-J-03).

Enhancing the Robustness of the E_BLIND/D_LC Digital Watermarking Algorithm Against DCT-Filtering Removal Attacks

The paper focuses on evaluating and improving the robustness of watermarking algorithms against DCT-filtering, a common image processing technique that can be used to remove embedded watermarks from cover images. The study examines the EBLIND/DLC watermarking algorithm, which operates in the spatial domain and is designed to embed a 1-bit message into an image. To evaluate robustness against DCT-filtering, the research utilizes software implementations of the watermarking algorithms, the dctdnoiz filter from FFmpeg, and the Flickr8k image database, which contains 8091 images. An extension to the E_BLIND/D_LC algorithm is proposed to enhance its robustness against DCT-filtering. The paper presents an experiment comparing the robustness of the extended algorithm with the original E_BLIND/D_LC. The results demonstrate that the extended algorithm improves robustness against DCT-filtering and also maintains better image quality, as measured by the PSNR metric, at equal levels of robustness in terms of the number of successful watermark detections after filtering. This suggests that the proposed extension effectively balances enhanced robustness against DCT-filtering with the preservation of image quality. The experiment confirms that the extended version outperforms the original algorithm in both detection reliability and image quality under DCT-filtering conditions. The paper includes links to the algorithm implementations on C++ programming language and the Python testing scripts, which can be useful for further research and practical applications in software development.

The Power of Thermosonication on Quality Preservation and Listeria Control of Blueberry Juice

Due to the increasing consumer demand for healthy, beneficial foods, natural fruit juices have gained popularity for their rich nutritional value and appealing flavor. However, traditional thermal processing can compromise these quality attributes. This study investigates using pulsed thermosonication, a novel mild thermal processing method, on Listeria innocua inactivation in blueberry juice, chosen for its high phenolic and anthocyanin content. Ultrasonication was applied at 60% and 100% amplitudes combined with heat treatments at 45 °C and 55 °C and compared to control heat treatments. The Weibull model effectively described the inactivation kinetics, showing that the thermosonicated samples required significantly shorter times (1 and 25 min) for a 5-log reduction compared to the heated samples (10 and 60 min). While pH, total soluble solids, and water activity remained unaffected, color parameters improved, and the best retention of phenolics and anthocyanins was observed at 100% amplitude and 45 °C. Rheological properties were unchanged. The findings demonstrate that thermosonication at milder temperatures is more effective than conventional heat treatment for microbial inactivation and quality retention in blueberry juice, suggesting it is a superior processing method for preserving fruit juices’ nutritional and sensory attributes.

Metabolomic and enzymatic markers reveal critical air exposure threshold for Crassostrea hongkongensis quality

Post-harvest air exposure is unavoidable during oyster transportation and storage, yet the physiological tolerance limits and underlying metabolic responses of commercially important oyster species remain poorly understood. While previous studies have focused on immediate post-harvest quality changes, there is limited knowledge about the time-dependent metabolic adaptations that determine product quality during extended air exposure. This study investigated the physiological and metabolic responses of Crassostrea hongkongensis during air exposure at 4 °C, focusing on identifying the optimal period for quality preservation. Using a combination of survival analysis, enzyme activity assays, and metabolomic profiling, we examined oysters exposed to air for up to 18 days, with particular emphasis on the critical first three days. Survival analysis showed 100 % survival rate at 4 °C through day 7, with mortality beginning thereafter, compared to significant mortality observed at 25 °C (complete mortality by day 7) and 37 °C (complete mortality by day 2). Analysis of antioxidant enzyme activities revealed complex, time-dependent changes, with robust responses observed within the first three days, indicating effective stress management. Metabolomic analysis identified 38 differentially abundant metabolites throughout the exposure period. Notably, the metabolic profile at day 3 showed a tendency to revert towards the control state, suggesting a temporary adaptive response. Key findings included stability in total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) levels during the initial three days and subtle changes in flavor-related compounds, such as slight decreases in glutamate and aspartate levels. Correlation analyses revealed intricate interactions between enzyme activities and metabolites, highlighting complex stress response mechanisms. The relationship between T-AOC and key osmolytes underscored their critical role in maintaining cellular redox balance during the initial exposure period. Our findings suggest that the optimal window for maintaining C. hongkongensis quality during air exposure at 4 °C is within the first three days. During this period, oysters demonstrate effective adaptive responses, maintaining key quality attributes and nutritional value. Beyond this timeframe, the risk of quality degradation increases significantly. These results have important implications for the oyster industry, providing evidence-based guidelines for post-harvest handling, transportation, and storage practices. We recommend limiting air exposure during cold storage to no more than 3 days to ensure optimal product quality and consumer satisfaction.

Multi-functional reinforced food packaging using delivery carriers: A comprehensive review of preparation, properties, and applications.

With the rapid development of globalization, food packaging takes on more responsibility, while guaranteeing product quality and safety. In this context, the health risks associated with chemically synthesized additives and inorganic nanoparticles have opened a new chapter in the reinforcement of food packaging with natural active ingredients. Various delivery carriers have been developed to overcome the limitations of poor stability, uneven dispersion, and low bioavailability of natural active ingredients. The combination of encapsulation technologies can increase the biocompatibility of the active ingredient with the packaging material. Moreover, the protective and slow-release effects of the carrier matrix on the active ingredients are desirable for the reinforcement of food packaging. This review presents the latest advances in the application of delivery systems in food packaging, including the types of delivery systems used in food packaging, reinforced properties of food packaging, and potential applications in the food industry. Previous scientific studies found that active ingredient-loaded delivery carriers increased the effectiveness of food packaging in preventing food spoilage. Furthermore, the integration of active packaging with smart food packaging exhibits the synergistic effects of freshness monitoring and quality preservation. This review also discusses the challenges and trends in reinforcing food packaging with delivery carriers under a synergistic strategy that will provide new ideas and insights for the development and application of innovative food packaging.

Comparing the Effects of Duo-Functional Triple-Layer Films Enriched with Different Sources of Curcumin on the Shelf-Life of Fish.

The objective of this study was to compare the effects of two types of active triple-layer films containing curcumin on the shelf-life of salmon fillets. One film (Film A) contained pure curcumin dissolved in lemongrass essential oil, while the other (Film B) incorporated curcumin from Curcuma longa extract dissolved in citral. The impact of these active films on the preservation of salmon fillets quality and safety was studied by analyzing factors such as color parameters, sensory evaluation, lipid oxidation, and biogenic amines. Despite good active properties measured in vitro, both films harmed the sensory quality and color of salmon. However, the incorporation of active ingredients in biopolymer films has shown the potential to inhibit biogenic amine formation. The findings pave the way for future research to explore the synergistic effects of combining various natural extracts with active packaging films.

Sustainable package design for efficient pomegranate cold chain: Enhancing storage space, sea freight efficiency, material sustainability, and energy conservation

This study evaluated the performance of a novel fabricated dual layer ventilated packaging (carton) design for pomegranate fruit. The study argues that higher process throughput, storage space usage (higher cargo density) and packaging material usage can be achieved through systematic design of packaging. The mechanical strength, fruit cooling speeds, and quality preservation characteristics of the new and existing carton designs were evaluated in a controlled laboratory environment. The new carton design achieved 22 % above minimum recommended industry compression strength, confirming its stacking safety during palletization. Fruit packed inside both carton designs attained an average respiration rate of 5.66 ± 1.23 mL CO2 kg−1 h−1 during cold storage. Fruit decay incidence (average 5.5 %), colour changes and sensory attributes were also similar in both carton designs after 12 weeks cold storage and 2 weeks ambient storage period. Finally, fresh pomegranate fruit (cv. Wonderful) were packed in the new and commercial package designs, palletized, containerized and exported from South Africa to Germany. The novel dual layer design had a higher freight density (1720 kg more fruit per reefer) compared to the commercial counterpart. It also improved the precooling process throughput (13 % faster), reduced carton material usage (40 %), and reduced energy usage (13 %). These advantages of the new dual layer ventilated packaging can be implemented with considerable sustainability benefits.

The first firefly fossil (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) from Dominican amber

Fireflies (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) comprise ~2,500 extant species worldwide (Ferreira et al., 2020). Considering the extant diversity of firefly species, their fossil record is scant, with only eight taxa across four subfamilies: Luciolinae, Ototretinae, Lamprohizinae, and Lampyrinae (Supplementary file 1; Kazantsev, 2024). Dominican amber may have the best quality of preservation among fossil resins, with a rich diversity of fossil specimens (Grimaldi & Engel, 2005) from the early Miocene (20–15 Ma) (Iturralde-Vinent & MacPhee, 2019). However, no firefly taxon was previously known from this deposit. Here, we describe the first Lampyridae fossil from Dominican amber. It represents a new species of the extant Neotropical genus Lychnacris Motschulsky, 1853, which has 19 extant species known from the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean (Kazantsev & Perez-Gelabert, 2009, 2013; Perez-Gelabert, 2011).

Alleviation of Heat Stress Effects on Canino Apricot (Prunus Armeniaca, l.) by Using Shade Net

Rise in temperature prior to and during flowering can be detrimental to trees and occur irregularity of apricot varieties productivity. We could overcome the problem by using coloured shade net on the trees. Therefore, this work was done through two seasons to reduce the impact of temperature stress on the growth, productivity and quality of Canino Apricot trees grown in El Kanater Station of the Horticulture Researches at El Kalubeia province, Egypt. It can be recommended to use both of shade nets, which, improved the growth and led to an increase in the yield and preservation of a higher quality of the resulting fruits. A relative superiority was also observed for the use of black shade net.

Colon Cancer With Bladder Invasion: A Single Center Experience.

The aim of our study was to investigate the outcome of colon cancer with bladder invasion after surgical intervention. Between 2011 and 2022, a total of 41 patients diagnosed with colon cancer and bladder invasion underwent surgical procedures at Taichung Veterans General Hospital. The impact of various risk factors on overall survival (OS) was assessed using Kaplan-Meier analyses and Cox proportional hazards models. Among the enrolled patients, 21 underwent radical cystectomy, while 20 underwent partial cystectomy. Twelve had tumors located in the rectum, 19 in the sigmoid colon, and 10 in both the rectum and sigmoid colon. The median OS was 71.8 months in stage 2, 50.8 months in stage 3, and 11.2 months in stage 4 (p=0.061). Median OS was 71.8 months in patients with negative surgical margins and 10.5 months in those with positive surgical margins (p=0.003). In multivariate regression analysis, positive surgical margins [hazard ratio (HR)=3.64, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.28-10.34, p=0.015] and emergency operations (HR=4.57, 95%CI=1.34-15.55, p=0.015) significantly impacted OS. Complete resection of colon cancer with bladder invasion can yield excellent oncologic outcomes. The decision between partial and radical cystectomy should balance surgical margin clearance and the preservation of quality of life. Both surgical margin involvement and emergency operations are independent risk factors for OS.

Dexamethasone and azithromycin enhance goat sperm preservation quality by regulating lipid metabolism

Phospholipase A (PLA) in goat semen aggregates with egg yolk in semen diluent, leading to sperm death. The aim of this study is to address the issue of sperm death caused by the interaction between PLA and egg yolk, and to explore the protective effect and metabolic regulation mechanism of the combination of dexamethasone (DXMS) and azithromycin (AZM) on goat sperm under low temperature conditions. At a low temperature of 4 °C, different concentrations of DXMS were added to semen diluents containing 30 μg/mL AZM to detect the quality of goat sperm. The optimal concentration of DXMS was determined to be 20 μg/mL. On the 5th day of storage, antioxidant capacity, total cholesterol (TC) levels, energy metabolism, and metabolomics analysis were performed on the sperm of the 20 μg/mL DXMS group. The results showed that there was no aggregation caused by the interaction between PLA and egg yolk in the group containing 30 μg/mL AZM at 4 °C. 20 μg/mL DXMS significantly improved sperm motility, plasma membrane integrity, acrosome integrity, glutathione peroxidase (GPX) (P < 0.05), catalase (CAT) (P < 0.01), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity (P < 0.01). The content of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and Fe2+ significantly decreased (P < 0.01), while the content of ATP (P < 0.01) and TC (P < 0.05) significantly increased. Through metabolomics analysis, a total of 56 differential metabolites (P < 0.05) were screened, including 5a, 6-Anhydrotetracycline, Betamethasone, and 11-Dehydrocorticosterone, mainly enriched in 8 metabolic pathways (P < 0.05), including steroid hormone biosynthesis, glycerophospholipid metabolism, and choline metabolism in cancer. Among them, 5 metabolic pathways are related to lipid metabolism. The results indicate that AZM effectively inhibits the aggregation of PLA and yolk, and the combination of AZM and DXMS enhances the preservation quality of goat sperm during low-temperature preservation by regulating lipid metabolism.

Disentangled Lifespan Synthesis via Transformer‐Based Nonlinear Regression

AbstractLifespan face age transformation aims to generate facial images that accurately depict an individual's appearance at different age stages. This task is highly challenging due to the need for reasonable changes in facial features while preserving identity characteristics. Existing methods tend to synthesize unsatisfactory results, such as entangled facial attributes and low identity preservation, especially when dealing with large age gaps. Furthermore, over‐manipulating the style vector may deviate it from the latent space and damage image quality. To address these issues, this paper introduces a novel nonlinear regression model‐Disentangled Lifespan face Aging (DL‐Aging) to achieve high‐quality age transformation images. Specifically, we propose an age modulation encoder to extract age‐related multi‐scale facial features as key and value, and use the reconstructed style vector of the image as the query. The multi‐head cross‐attention in the W+ space is utilized to update the query for aging image reconstruction iteratively. This nonlinear transformation enables the model to learn a more disentangled mode of transformation, which is crucial for alleviating facial attribute entanglement. Additionally, we introduce a W+ space age regularization term to prevent excessive manipulation of the style vector and ensure it remains within the W+ space during transformation, thereby improving generation quality and aging accuracy. Extensive qualitative and quantitative experiments demonstrate that the proposed DL‐Aging outperforms state‐of‐the‐art methods regarding aging accuracy, image quality, attribute disentanglement, and identity preservation, especially for large age gaps.

Scalable watermarking for identifying large language model outputs

Large language models (LLMs) have enabled the generation of high-quality synthetic text, often indistinguishable from human-written content, at a scale that can markedly affect the nature of the information ecosystem1–3. Watermarking can help identify synthetic text and limit accidental or deliberate misuse4, but has not been adopted in production systems owing to stringent quality, detectability and computational efficiency requirements. Here we describe SynthID-Text, a production-ready text watermarking scheme that preserves text quality and enables high detection accuracy, with minimal latency overhead. SynthID-Text does not affect LLM training and modifies only the sampling procedure; watermark detection is computationally efficient, without using the underlying LLM. To enable watermarking at scale, we develop an algorithm integrating watermarking with speculative sampling, an efficiency technique frequently used in production systems5. Evaluations across multiple LLMs empirically show that SynthID-Text provides improved detectability over comparable methods, and standard benchmarks and human side-by-side ratings indicate no change in LLM capabilities. To demonstrate the feasibility of watermarking in large-scale-production systems, we conducted a live experiment that assessed feedback from nearly 20 million Gemini6 responses, again confirming the preservation of text quality. We hope that the availability of SynthID-Text7 will facilitate further development of watermarking and responsible use of LLM systems.

Preserving snake fruit (Salacca zalacca) Voss) quality: Effective control of Peniophora salaccae SKRU002 with fungicides and biological agents

Peniophora salaccae (Russulales, Basidiomycota), a newly identified pathogen of Salacca zalacca, is a major cause of snake fruit rot, resulting in significant agricultural losses. This study evaluates the efficacy of chemical fungicides and biological controls against P. salaccae SKRU002, focusing on disease suppression and fruit quality preservation. Commercial fungicides (propiconazole®, prochloraz®, metalaxyl®, azoxystrobin®, thiram®) and Streptomyces philanthi strains RM-1-138 and RL-1-178 were tested. In vitro, prochloraz® (1000 μL mL−1) fully inhibited P. salaccae growth, outperforming other fungicides. Both S. philanthi strains exhibited strong antifungal activity through volatile and non-volatile compounds. Additionally, autoclaved (at 121 °C for 15 min) and diluted (1/1000) bacterial culture filtrates (BCF) from both strains achieved over 55 % inhibition of P. salaccae. In liquid culture, RM-1-138 (86.80 %) and RL-1-178 (80.86 %) demonstrated greater inhibition than metalaxyl® (9.34 %) and azoxystrobin® (56.84 %), though prochloraz® and propiconazole® remained the most effective (100 %). In vivo, untreated fruits inoculated with P. salaccae showed 100 % disease incidence, significant weight loss (13.28 %), color changes (L∗, a∗, and b∗), and reductions in total soluble solids, total phenolic content, and antioxidant activity, while titratable acidity remained unchanged. Both biological and chemical treatments effectively controlled the pathogen and preserved fruit quality. These findings highlight the potential of S. philanthi strains and fungicides in managing P. salaccae, offering promising strategies for snake fruit cultivation.

Revealing the mechanism underlying the use of preharvest nano-emulsion of citrus essential oil for reducing browning injury and maintaining postharvest quality of chili during cold storage

The transportation and storage of chili in cold storage are beneficial for handling from farm to household; however, browning injury and quality loss during cold storage are the main concerns. This study explored a new method for preharvest chili plants to reduce browning injury and maintain postharvest quality during cold storage (4 ± 2 °C) for at least 40 days. Citrus essential oil (lime oil and orange oil) nanoemulsion at a low concentration of 0.006 % v v−1 was applied to chili plants for 10 days before the 1st harvest at 90 days and the 2nd harvest at 120 days. Both the first and second harvest chili fruits were kept under cold storage for 40 days. Color change, pigment, bioactive compounds, and quality of chili were measured. Results showed that citrus nanoemulsion could be absorbed from the roots of chili plants and pass through the flowers and fruits. The treated chilies were firmer, more water-resistant, and had a longer fruit length than the control. Treated chili also displayed delayed color change, ripening from green to red, increased brightness, and reduced browning injury on both the surface and seeds. Furthermore, higher total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, and antioxidant activity were confirmed in the treated chili, which helped to maintain the quality of the chili fruit from 20 days (control) to 40 days, with a slight disease incidence (17 %) and low weight loss (7 %) compared to the control (54 % disease incidence and 64 % weight loss). Orange oil nanoemulsion showed greater quality preservation than lime oil due to the higher limonene content found on the chili surface, around 5.7 % for chili treated with orange oil compared to 0.7 % for lime oil. This finding indicates a method to reduce browning injury and prolong the shelf life of chili during cold storage. It is easy to implement in chili farming, allowing for at least two harvests before the next pretreatment, benefiting both farmers and consumers.

Synthesis, characterization, and application of films made from highly substituted N-perfluoroacylated chitosan

Highly substituted perfluoroacylated chitosan can alter the physicochemical properties of chitosan; however, the currently synthesized perfluoroacylated chitosan has a low degree of substitution. In this study, we present a simple method for the homogeneous preparation of highly substituted N-perfluoroacylated chitosan, conducted at room temperature without requiring strict anhydrous or oxygen-free conditions. Various perfluorocarbon chains were successfully attached to chitosan through a reaction between perfluorinated acid esters and amines, catalyzed by DBU. The synthesized N-perfluoroacylated chitosan, with high degree of substitution, demonstrated excellent solubility in common organic solvents. Comprehensive characterization was performed using elemental analysis, nuclear magnetic resonance (including two-dimensional NMR), gel permeation chromatography, infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and thermal analysis. The resulting films exhibited high water contact angles. Notably, as the fluorocarbon chain length increased, tensile strength gradually decreased, while elongation at break improved. Additionally, water uptake, water vapor transmission rate, and oxygen transmission rate all exhibited a declining trend. The films exhibited good biocompatibility, and in the grape preservation experiment, HFBC treatment effectively delayed grape aging and deterioration while enhancing quality preservation. These results suggest that HFBC film holds promising potential for food packaging applications.

Active Modified Atmosphere Packaging Helps Preserve Quality of Edible Flowers

Edible flowers are becoming increasingly popular as food products, since they give aroma, color, and visual appeal and are also health-promoting compounds. However, they are a highly perishable product, thus post-harvest technologies are needed to extend their marketability. In this study, active (N2: 100%) and passive modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) technologies were applied to three edible flower species, namely Begonia grandiflora ‘Viking’, Tropaeolum majus, and Viola cornuta, stored at 4 °C. Even if the flowers’ quality decay occurred differently according to the species, active MAP better maintained petal colors and slowed down the edible flowers’ decay than passive MAP by decreasing flower respiration in all three species and sugars consumption in begonia; there was weight loss in nasturtium, and better preserved total phenolic content in begonia and viola. Coupling cold storage with active MAP can be an effective method to extend edible flowers’ post-harvest life.