Recent Advances on Packaging and Storage Technologies for the Preservation of Fresh Produce

Fresh fruits and vegetables (F&V) constitute the highest percentage, 44% (by mass), of the total food lost or wasted per year worldwide (Lipinski et al., 2013; Porat et al., 2018). Among these losses, postharvest losses are most severe as a loss at the postharvest stage implies that all the energy and capital invested in the prior stages of agriculture, pre-harvest and harvest is also lost. Additionally, fruit and vegetables are perishable products; this greatly increases the challenge of maintaining postharvest quality and reducing losses for the horticultural industry. Although temperature is the most important parameter in storage and transport of fresh produce, gaseous conditions during storage can immensely impact fruit quality (Wills et al., 2007; Mahajan et al., 2014). This review provides recent advances on packaging and storage technologies for the preservation of fresh fruit and vegetables.