Projects / Programmes
Development of bio-active nanostructured fibrous membranes for an extension of fresh fruits postharvest shelf life
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 2.14.02 |
Engineering sciences and technologies |
Textile and leather |
Textile chemistry |
| 4.03.07 |
Biotechnical sciences |
Plant production |
Technology of vegetal origin food |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 2.05 |
Engineering and Technology |
Materials engineering |
| 4.01 |
Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences |
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries |
natural biopolymers, biocatalysis, emulsion electrospinning, bio-active nanofibrous membranes
Data for the last 5 years (citations for the last 10 years) on
March 25, 2023;
A3 for period 2017-2021
Data for ARRS tenders (
04.04.2019 – Programme tender,
archive
)
| Database |
Linked records |
Citations |
Pure citations |
Average pure citations |
| WoS |
748 |
14,730 |
12,586 |
16.83 |
| Scopus |
784 |
16,533 |
14,160 |
18.06 |
Researchers (25)
Organisations (4)
Abstract
Horticultural products such as fresh fruits and vegetables are very perishable by nature and susceptible to spoilage due to fungi and bacteria infection. Many are also susceptible to mechanical injuries during post-harvest handling and distribution due to their soft tissues and perishable nature. The fruit storage involves physical and chemical changes that negatively modify fruit quality. The ability of fruit industry to provide a “fresh” product for the consumer throughout the year, is highly dependent on the storage environment conditions and various post-harvest chemical treatments. Poor storage facilities and lack of infrastructure cause high post-harvest food losses. It has been estimated that from 20 to 25 % of fruit and vegetables leaving the farm gate is never consumed, but has to be thrown away. This leads not only to substantial fruit and vegetable losses representing financial losses for the farmers, packers, and distributors, but also to increased solid waste that can have a negative environmental impact. From a food safety standpoint, perished fruits and vegetables can also impact consumers' health. The current potential solutions are based on biological control and physical methods such as irradiation with high-energy electrons, heat treatment, storage in a controlled and modified atmosphere or gaseous treatments, the application of supplementary chemical treatments as fungicides, bactericides etc. However, specific treatments may only be applicable to certain types of product and spoilage conditions and the effectiveness of existing treatments on emerging quality issues need to be assessed. Also the safety issues are not properly addressed for the mentioned treatments. Lately, there has been an increase in the recognition of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), synthesized by plants including aldehydes such as acetaldehyde, hexanal and benzaldehyde, alcohols such as ethanol and acetic acid that have been shown to suppress the growth of plant pathogenic microorganisms indicating that these compounds could be one of the important mechanisms for biological control of plant diseases. The key objective of proposed project is to develop a biodegradable and bioactive membranes for the protection of fresh fruits, priority apples, using emulsion electrospun nanofibers providing (i) protection from mold and bacteria attack and (ii) optimal microenvironment for preserving nutritional quality during the define storage shelf life. The final product will be electrospun fiber mats on the paper based tray templates i.e. biodegradable fiber tray. By appropriate design of electrospun membrane we will be able, not only to prevent the uncontrolled release of bioactive compounds, but also allow the development of a triggering mechanism that activates their release (e.g., exploiting the desirable interactions between the membrane fiber and their surrounding matrices). For these purpose, we will encapsulate a vegetal enzymatic system (lipase, lipoxygenase and hydroperoxyde lyase) by formation of stable emulsions of the essentials oils - lipids (sunflower containing 60% of linoleic acid as source of hexanal and other bioactive volatiles compounds with antifungal/antibacterial and antifouling activity) that will be mixed with biopolymer solutions – polysaccharides, and then formed into nano fibers to manufacture antimicrobial active nano-structured membranes with sufficient mechanical properties (i.e. multilayered fibers mats) for the use to preserve fruits and vegetable. The efficacy of newly developed nano-structured membranes against mold and/or bacteria attack, and fruit protective ability will be tested under the real storage conditions, where the fruit response will be monitored indirectly through the formation of anaerobic metabolites and content of the most important aromatic compound through define period of time.
