Packaging Criteria for Non-Thermally Processed Fruit and Vegetable Products

Non-thermal processing of fruits and vegetable products offers great advantages over conventional treatments in retaining organoleptic and nutritional quality. High-pressure processing, pulsed electric field, irradiation, UV and pulsed light, ultrasound, cold plasma, and dense phase CO2 are among the potential non-thermal preservation tools that can be applied to fruit and vegetable products. The treatments can be applied to both fresh/fresh-cut and transformed fruits and vegetable products. Some of these treatments are applied before packaging while others can be applied either before or after packaging operation. Suitable packaging of non-thermally processed products is very important in the success of the treatment. The selection and design of packaging for these products require careful evaluation of the interactions among the treatments, the package, and the products. This chapter presents the fundamental aspects of packaging non-thermally processed fruits and vegetable products through consideration of these interactions.