ABSTRACT
The consumption of tropical fresh-cut fruits and vegetables has increased largely due to their sensorial, nutritive, and nutraceutical properties, creating a corresponding demand for those commodities. According to the IFPA, a minimally processed product is made of fruits or vegetables that have been physically altered from their original form (peeled, cut, washed). By fresh-cutting, fruits and vegetables tend to be highly perishable due to changes induced by wounding, in addition to being more exposed to other stress conditions such as ultraviolet (UV) radiation, oxygen and temperature, resulting in a degradation of antioxidant compounds. For this reason, several treatments are applied to whole or fresh-cut produce that allow extending its shelf life and at the same time maintaining its antioxidant potential, which is closely associated with beneficial effects on health. Within the different treatments that are used are sanitizers, food additives or texturizers, coatings or edible films, radiation, mild heat treatments, modified atmospheres and a combination of these treatments. Also, under strict controlled conditions, these treatments can even increase the antioxidants content in several whole or fresh-cut produce, such as in the case of guava fruits where the phenolic compounds showed an increase after exposure to UV radiation. Similarly, by cutting fresh produce and a joined metabolic activity increase, this would induce the synthesis of phenolic compounds and therefore increase its antioxidant capacity. This chapter shows some studies where the controlled use of specific treatments under minimally processed conditions can induce the secondary metabolism of plants, mainly those pathways related to antioxidant molecules.
