ABSTRACT
Microbial spoilage is the most common cause of post-harvest loss in fruits worldwide. Many environmental factors act as driving forces for microbial spoilage. Although, fruits contain natural microbiota and their count ranges from 102 to 107 colony-forming units (CFU) per gram, but they do not cause any spoilage in fresh fruits. Microorganisms responsible for spoilage contaminate fresh fruits at various stages from harvesting to processing and this contamination goes on spreading from fruit to fruit, if it is not taken care while processing and storage. Microbial spoilage causes physiological changes in fruits by increasing respiration rate and ethylene production, whatever may be the storage condition. Rotting is the typical examples of microbial spoilage occurring in fruits during storage. A number of preharvest and postharvest factors play their role in microbial spoilage of fruits. Pre-harvest factors include pruning, training, use of fungicides, methods of harvesting, and so on while as postharvest factors include proper handling, transportation, quality of water used for processing and so on.
