ABSTRACT
Fresh-cut fruits and vegetables are convenience foods. Today, consumers prefer ready-to-eat fruits and vegetables. These undergo a process of peeling, trimming, cutting, washing, disinfection, rinsing, packaging, storage, and distribution. During the course of preparation, fresh-cut products are injured and damaged and are thereby exposed to biochemical, physiological, and microbiological changes. Various problems are associated with these products and the most common is the change in color of the produce. Enzymatic browning is associated with cutting fruits and vegetables, resulting in their oxidation in the presence of polyphenol oxidase and phenylalanine ammonialyase. The physiology and biochemistry of color changes is the major goal of this chapter. This chapter emphasizes the technologies that are able to maintain the color in fresh-cut fruits and vegetables. Various chemicals, adjuvants, and physical treatments are also discussed.
