Peach fruit is highly susceptible to oxidative damage and pathogen infection during postharvest storage, leading to rapid quality deterioration. Previous studies conducted by our team have suggested that propolis extract microcapsules (PM) can reduce fruit decay due to their superior antioxidant and antifungal capacity. This study investigated the physiological and transcriptional responses associated with PM treatment, with a particular focus on oxidative homeostasis. PM treatment significantly reduced decay rate from 83 % to 43 % at the end of storage and maintained key quality attributes, including firmness, titratable acidity, and ascorbic acid content, while suppressing respiration and ethylene production. Physiological analysis showed that PM treatment alleviated oxidative stress by reducing H2O2 and MDA accumulation and enhancing antioxidant enzyme activities. Transcriptomic analysis further revealed that PM modulated genes associated with reactive oxygen species (ROS) signaling, lipid metabolism, and stress responses, including RBOH and LOX. These results suggest that PM coordinates ROS production and scavenging processes, associated with a dynamic balance of oxidative homeostasis rather than the simple suppression of oxidative damage. In addition, pathways related to phenylpropanoid metabolism and defense responses were influenced, indicating an integrated stress adaptation mechanism. Overall, this study suggests that PM maintains postharvest quality by regulating oxidative homeostasis through coordinated physiological and transcriptional responses, providing insight into the role of exogenous treatments in postharvest preservation.

In this study, linalool microcapsules (LMs) were prepared through ionic gelation using linalool as the core material and sodium alginate as the wall material. The efficacy of LMs in cherry preservation and their inhibitory mechanism against brown rot (caused by Monilinia fructicola) were investigated. The optimal preparation process conditions for LMs were determined, while encapsulation efficiency could reach 88.44 %. Scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis confirmed the successful encapsulation of linalool in microcapsules, which exhibited good thermal stability and sustained-release properties. LMs enhanced the antioxidant capacity, disease resistance, and storage quality of cherries. The linalool significantly inhibited the mycelial growth and spore germination of M. fructicola by disrupting cell membranes, inhibiting ergosterol synthesis, and inducing reactive oxygen species accumulation, thereby suppressing the development of brown rot. These findings indicate that LMs can extend the shelf life of cherries and hold broad application prospects in fruit preservation.

Pectins, as health-promoting factors, often degrade during fruit post-harvest storage. Changes in structure and physicochemical properties of pectic polysaccharides from 'Huangguan pear' after 0, 3, and 5 months of 4 °C storage and their lipid-lowering activity were studied. The degree of methylation of pectic polysaccharides decreased from 79.31% to 71.88%. Galacturonic acid content decreased while side chains, molecular weight and viscosity increased, and surfaces became rougher. Decreased binding ability on four bile salts but enhanced inhibitory ability on cholesterol micelles, pancreatic lipase, and cholesterol esterase were displayed. Cell experiments showed pectic polysaccharides reduced total cholesterol and triglycerides levels by downregulating relative mRNA expression of fatty acid synthase (FAS) and sterol regulatory element-binding protein-1c (SREBP-1c), and pears with shorter storage exhibited higher protection against oxidative stress and lipid accumulation in HepG2 cells. Overall, pectin in fresher pears showed more comprehensive lipid-lowering effects, but pears with longer storage still have specific lipid-lowering values.

Cold-induced flesh reddening of the black-skinned and amber-fleshed plum cultivars are characterized by the enhancement of nutritional value and biofunction activities. In this study, cold storage induced the flesh reddening of ‘Angeleno’ plums (Prunus salicina Lindl), accompanied by significant accumulation of anthocyanins and upregulation of anthocyanin biosynthesis genes. The biosynthesis of jasmonic acid (JA) was also involved. evm.TU.Chr5.2239, a bHLH family transcription factor, was identified through expression analysis and bioinformatics analysis and designated as PsMYC2, a key transcription factors in JA signaling pathway. Further investigations revealed PsMYC2 localized in the nucleus, possessed self-activation activity and cold tolerance. Transit overexpression and virus-induced gene silencing experiments verified the gene functioned as a positive regulator on the anthocyanin biosynthesis. Results of dual-luciferase reporter assay, yeast one-hybrid and electrophoretic mobility shift assay demonstrated that PsMYC2 directly binding to and activating the promoters of PsGST. The transcriptional regulatory mechanism of PsMYC2 in the cold-induced anthocyanin biosynthesis was thereby established. For validation, PsMYC2 was found involved in the exogenous methyl jasmonate treatment promoted flesh reddening of plums, accompanied with the upregulation of the expression of anthocyanin biosynthesis genes. This study successfully elucidates the transcriptional regulatory mechanism by which PsMYC2 promotes cold-induced anthocyanin biosynthesis in plum flesh via jasmonic acid mediated pathway, providing a crucial theoretical foundation for the transcriptional regulation of anthocyanin biosynthesis in plum fruits in response to cold stress.

Food supply chain faces challenges from quality degradation, microbial contamination, and chemical synthetic fungicides. Recently, the remarkable food preserving ability and biological activity of natural clove essential oil (CEO) has gained significant attention. However, its application is limited by volatility, photothermal sensitivity, and inherent odor. To this end, encapsulation strategies have been attempted on CEO to enhance its bioavailability, as well as their efficacy in food preservation scenarios. This study outlines CEO's chemistry and delves into its antimicrobial/antioxidant mechanisms. Subsequently, latest advances in encapsulation strategies for CEO in food preservation are comprehensively reviewed, including film blending, emulsification techniques, polyelectrolyte complexation, ion gelation, etc. The encapsulation enhances CEO's benefits, augmenting its long-term bioavailability in diverse food preservation systems. Finally, CEO's security and limitations are also discussed in-depth. This work aims to compile recent trends in encapsulation strategies for active substances and guide judicious utilize for natural CEO preservative.

Soy protein isolate (SPI) is a high-purity protein from defatted soybeans, providing emulsifying and gelling functions for plant-based foods and supplements. Hydrolysis can facilitate the production of bioactive small-molecule proteins or peptides with potential functional applications. In this study, 20% hydrolyzed soy protein (20% HSP) was prepared from SPI, and the effects of 20% HSP and SPI on alleviating oxidative stress in Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) and regulating immune–gut microbiota in cyclophosphamide (CTX)-induced immunocompromised BALB/c mice were investigated. In C. elegans, both SPI and 20% HSP (300 μg/mL) enhanced locomotive activities, including body bending and head thrashing, and improved oxidative stress resistance under high glucose conditions. This improvement was mediated by increased antioxidant enzyme activities (SOD, CAT, and GSH-Px), while malondialdehyde (MDA) content was reduced by 60.15% and 82.28%, respectively. Both of them can also significantly extend the lifespan of normal C. elegans and paraquat-induced oxidative stress models by inhibiting lipofuscin accumulation. This effect was mediated through upregulation of daf-16 and suppression of daf-2 and akt-1 expression. In immunocompromised mice, 20% HSP alleviated CTX-induced immune dysfunction by increasing peripheral white blood cells and lymphocytes, attenuating thymic atrophy, and reducing hepatic oxidative stress via MDA inhibition. Gut microbiota analysis revealed that 20% HSP restored microbial balance by suppressing Escherichia-Shigella and enriching beneficial genera, like Psychrobacter. These findings highlight 20% HSP and SPI’s conserved anti-aging mechanisms via daf-16 activation in C. elegans and immune–gut modulation in mice, positioning them as plant-derived nutraceuticals targeting oxidative stress and immune dysregulation.

With the increasing attention on food safety and health promotion, the development of natural, non-toxic and biodegradable encapsulation materials is upcoming in food system. Cyclodextrin-based metal-organic frameworks (CD-MOFs) are promising edible MOFs currently reported, consisting of cyclodextrins and alkali metal ions with different crystal configurations and cavity sizes. CD-MOFs not only maintain advantages of common MOFs such as highly porous structure, diversified functional sites, unique host-guest interactions, but also bring the desirable features of CDs such as nontoxicity, biocompatibility, and environmental friendliness. CD-MOFs possessed good properties of internal and external hydrophilicity, adsorption and separation, and biocompatibility. The loading of active ingredients into CD-MOFs can enhance their stability, targeted delivery and controlled release. These features make CD-MOFs great potential in applications in biomedicine, chemical products, environment protection, as well as food industry. Here, the most advanced progress in the study on the structure, synthesis and physicochemical properties of CD-MOFs was introduced. Then, the current status of the application of CD-MOFs in active ingredients loading, protection, targeted delivery and slow release in food matrix were comprehensively summarized, especially the relevant reports in the past five years. The potential opportunities and prospects for the development of novel complexes with CD-MOFs are envisioned.

With the rise of the lazy economy, pre-made foods have drawn increasing attention in recent years. Pre-made fruit and vegetable products are the most common plant-based pre-made food products. Among them, readyto-eat fruit and vegetable products (RFVP) play the most important roles. In this paper, the recent advances in the applications of different technologies in the processing of RFVP to improve their freshness, quality and safety were summarized for the first time. It was shown that physical [low-temperature blanching, flash vacuumexpansion, ultra high-pressure treatment (UHPT), high-pressure high-temperature, hot air drying (HAD), plasma, vacuum freeze-drying, microwave freeze-drying, modified atmosphere packaging treatments and UV-C irradiation technologies], chemical (polyphenol and essential oil treatments), biological (bacteriocin and antimicrobial peptide treatments) and composite technologies (osmotic pre-treatment plus convection drying, infrared radiation heating plus HAD, ultrasound plus enzyme or disinfectant, UHPT plus beneficial microorganism as well as nisin plus radio frequency treatments) have been successfully utilized in the processing of RFVP (consisting of slices, chips, soups, salads and purees), while the sensory quality, nutrition value, microbial load and functional properties of products could be significantly improved by these technologies. Overall, our findings were meaningful for providing new insights into freshness, quality and safety improvement of RFVP.

Fresh food is highly susceptible to contamination by various microorganisms. Alternative approaches are urgent to develop for pork preservation. Herein, we designed a polyvinyl alcohol/silk fibroin (PVA/SF) based photodynamic antimicrobial composite film doped with a copper-based metal organic framework (MOF) material incorporating porphyrin for the preservation of chilled pork. 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(4-carboxyphenyl)porphyrin (TCPP) was fixed on the surface of Copper(II) benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylate (CuBTC) with polydopamine (PDA) as the intermediate layer to obtain CuBTC-PDA-TCPP. Then, CuBTC-PDA-TCPP was loaded into PVA/SF matrix to prepare the PVA/SF-MOF film for packaging fresh chilled pork. The inhibition rates on Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus reached 99.99 % by the prepared material under photodynamic stimulation. The bacterial inhibition rate of PVA/SF-MOF film packaging was 79.6 %, showing good preservation and antimicrobial effect. Importantly, the films had low cytotoxicity and low possibility of Cu2+migration into pork. This work proposed a promising strategy for the development of light-activated smart antimicrobial food packaging.

The disease resistance and defense mechanisms induced by ursolic acid (UA) in apple fruit were studied in this paper. UA was directly mixed with potato dextrose agar and broth media to assay its antifungal activity in vitro. The results showed that UA exerted inherent antifungal activity and directly inhibited the in vitro growth and spore germination of Penicillium expansum. Its half-maximal inhibitory concentration for hyphal growth was 175.6 mg L−1. Apple fruit were immersed in UA solution, followed by inoculation with P. expansum, to measure their disease response. The results demonstrated that UA induced significant disease resistance in apple fruit and that its mechanisms are multifaceted and associated with defensive and antioxidative enzymes and the phenylpropanoid pathway. Chitinase, β-1,3-glucanase, peroxidase, and polyphenol oxidase were activated and maintained at relatively high levels. The activities of enzymes and their metabolites in the phenylpropanoid pathway, including phenylalanine ammonia-lyase, cinnamate-4-hydroxylase, and 4-coumarate coenzyme A ligase were significantly increased; accordingly, total phenolics, flavonoid, and lignin contents were significantly increased. The activities of superoxide dismutase, ascorbate peroxidase, and glutathione reductase were enhanced upon UA treatment, while catalase activity was suppressed, which regulates hydrogen peroxide accumulation to defend against pathogens. These results suggest that UA induces defense responses against postharvest blue mold rot in apple fruit and that it may be a promising elicitor to induce fruit disease resistance to control postharvest decay.

The taste, aroma, and sensory characteristics of cherries are key factors influencing consumer acceptance. In this study, the sensory evaluation, biochemical characteristics, and their relationships with consumer satisfaction of several representative cherry cultivars were analyzed during cold storage to establish systematic quality evaluation parameters. Targeted metabolomics analysis revealed significant differences in physiological quality and metabolic profiles among the tested cultivars. Specifically, ‘Benitemari’ demonstrated more contents of soluble solids and titratable acid, while ‘Tieton’ and ‘Skeena’ showed higher concentrations of volatile organic compounds and polyphenolics. Furthermore, hexanal and (E)-2-hexenal were identified as the dominant VOCs, while cyanidin-3-O-rutinoside was confirmed as a major phenolic component across the cultivars. Finally, the comprehensive score of the principal component model was significantly positively correlated with the scores of firmness, chewiness, sweetness, sourness, and taste and bitterness in the sensory evaluation. The results were expected to provide valuable guidance for standardizing the sweet cherry supply chain and cultivating high-quality sweet cherry cultivars.

In this study, water-soluble fraction (WSF), chelator-soluble fraction (CSF), and sodium carbonate-soluble fraction (NSF) were sequentially fractionated from pear pulp, of which physicochemical properties and hypolipidemic activities in vitro were evaluated. They showed distinct monosaccharide composition, surface morphology, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrums. WSF and NSF were identified as high methyl-esterified pectic polysaccharides with degrees of methyl esterification (DM) of 85.71 % and 66.67 %, respectively, whereas CSF was low methyl-esterified pectic polysaccharides (47.83 %). WSF, CSF, and NSF all demonstrated low molecular weight, desirable rheological, thermal, antioxidant, and hypolipidemic effects in vitro. It was remarkable that WSF displayed the most excellent inhibition capacity of cholesterol micelles (26.63 %), pancreatic lipase (PL) (91.13 %)/cholesterol esterase (CEase) (53.10 %) activity inhibition, attributed to its highest DM and roughest morphology. CSF and NSF exhibited stronger cholate-binding capacity than WSF, inseparable from higher apparent viscosity and gel ability. On these grounds, different bonding state pectic polysaccharide fractions from pear presented some distinctions in their structural characteristics and functional properties, which might endow them with exploitation in health promotion and dietary supplements.

Maintaining the quality of postharvest nectarine fruit is considerably challenging owing to their vigorous metabolism processes. This study explored the effectiveness of the natural preservative caffeic acid in extending the shelf-life and improving the flavor quality of nectarine. The decay rate of caffeic acid-treated fruit was only 40.00 % but 73.33 % in control group at the end of storage. Other results showed that caffeic acid inhibited fruit quality deterioration, reflected in weight loss, peel color, pulp softening, respiration rate, malondialdehyde accumulation and ethylene biosynthesis. Findings might be attributed to increased levels of antioxidant compounds, such as ascorbic acid, simple phenols and flavonoids, which maintained high antioxidant capacity and metal reducing power of fruit cells. Notably, the content of phenolics was maintained at 241.11 mg kg(-1) in caffeic acid-treated fruit by 8 d, which was only 138.21 mg kg(-1) in control. Importantly, nectarine treated with caffeic acid possessed a suitable sugar-to-acid ratio, imparting the fruit with an excellent taste. Additionally, caffeic acid facilitated the effective release of esters and lactones, especially gamma- and delta-decalactone with fruity aroma, and prevented green aroma and alcoholic off-flavor. The level of lactones in caffeic acid-treated fruit reached 126.76 mu g kg(-1) during mid-storage, giving the fruit an attractive flavor quality, while was only 50.61 mu g kg(-1) in control. Overall, caffeic acid exhibited the potential to preserve the quality of nectarine, ensuring both nutritional and edible value for fruit.

Postharvest collision bruising during handling often leads to significant quality deterioration in perishable fruits. This study developed an optimized pectin/diatomite (PT/DT) composite film and investigated the synergistic effect of methyl jasmonate (MeJA) and PT/DT coating on regulating ROS homeostasis in bruised pears. The PT/DT composite film demonstrated superior mechanical strength (tensile strength of 41.01 MPa) and improved barrier properties (21.3 % reduction in water vapor permeability), attributable to the uniform DT dispersion within PT matrix. The synergistic application of MeJA and PT/DT coating effectively mitigated oxidative stress for bruised pears, as evidenced by 32.7 % decrease in malondialdehyde content and 22.2 % reduction in H2O2 accumulation at their peaks compared with control. This was achieved by enhancing the antioxidant enzyme activities, with SOD, CAT, APX, and GR at levels 15.8 % to 115.1 % higher than the control on day 30. Meanwhile, the combination treatment also sustained non-enzymatic antioxidant capacity via ascorbate-glutathione cycle, maintaining higher levels of AsA (75.71 mg/kg FW) and GSH (13.28 mg/kg FW). This dual intervention significantly maintained fruit quality and accelerated wound healing in bruised pears, offering a promising approach for postharvest quality preservation using biodegradable coatings combined with phytohormone treatment.

Asian pears are a group of widely distributed and consumed fruits that have attracted growing scientific interest because of their functional activity against various diseases. Therefore, it is important to explore the applications of Asian pears in food and pharmaceutical industries. The current advances in Asian pear research discussed in this review focused on understanding their active ingredients, exploring their health benefits, and describing their processed products. Polyphenols in Asian pears exhibit excellent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, lung-protective, antihyperglycemic, and antimicrobial activities, while dietary fiber plays an essential role in the hypolipidemic, hypoglycemic, gut microbiota-regulating, and anti-obesity effects. To utilize their nutritional and functional value, Asian pears are processed into various products, including pear juice, paste, wine, powder, and slices. Finally, the challenges hampering the development of the Asian pear industry in terms of processing and marketing as well as possible directions and prospects are discussed. Future research should further investigate the efficacy mechanism, improvement in pear quality, and development of pulp processing by-products and peel by-products of Asian pears. These investigations could promote the global utilization and appreciation of Asian pears and satisfy the critical needs of both consumers and the industry.

Long-term cold storage usually induces chilling injury of pear fruits. This study investigated the effects of CTS/SiO2-GABA (Chitosan/Silicon dioxide-γ-Aminobutyric acid) coating on alleviating chilling injury in pears during long-term refrigeration (1 °C). Results showed that GABA significantly improved the mechanical properties of CTS-based films, attributable to amidation, Maillard reaction, and non-covalent crosslinking between CTS and GABA, which offset the undesirable effects of SiO2. Specifically, the values of tensile strength and elongation at break of CTS/SiO2-GABA film increased to 23.95 MPa and 78.13 %, respectively. These enhanced crosslinked structures also contributed to the water resistance behavior of CTS/SiO2-GABA film, that is, the moisture content, water solubility and water vapor permeability reduced to 20.38 %, 25.49 % and 0.86 g·s-1·m-1·Pa-1·10-7 respectively, and the water contact angle increased to 50.47°. Additionally, CTS/SiO2-GABA coating effectively maintained the quality of pears, including weight loss (4.38 %), firmness (6.24 kg·mm-2), peel yellowing (1.40 of Δa*), core browning, sugars/acids balance. Mechanistically, CTS/SiO2-GABA coating regulated the metabolic flux in respiratory pathways of pears (suppress glycolysis and tricarboxylic acid cycle, enhance pentose phosphate pathway), by inhibiting ethylene biosynthesis and enhancing GABA shunt metabolism. This study provides a novel perspective on the regulatory mechanism of functional coatings to improve postharvest fruit quality.

A novel adsorbent beta-cyclodextrin-modified pectin was synthesized for removing cholesterol and bile salts from the gastric-intestinal passage. Different amounts of beta-cyclodextrin were cross-linked to pectin by aldol condensation reaction via glutaraldehyde. The prepared beta-cyclodextrin-modified pectins were successfully confirmed by characterization, showing a higher specific surface area and improved thermal stability with satisfactory cellular compatibility. The introduction of beta-cyclodextrins dramatically improved the cholesterol adsorption capacity of pectin due to their hydrophobic cavities. Meanwhile, the modified pectins exhibited superior adsorption for sodium cholate than beta-cyclodextrin or pectin itself, which was attributed to hydrophobic interactions. P-10:1 displayed the strongest adsorption performance, with a maximum adsorption ability of 44.21 mg/g for cholesterol and 21.38 mg/g for sodium cholate. Furthermore, their adsorption favored the Langmuir isotherm model and pseudosecond-order kinetic model. These results indicate that modified pectin has potential as a nature-based adsorbent for removal of cholesterol and bile salts in the health food industry.

Fresh buds of daylily flowers (Hemerocallis citrina) have been consumed as a nutritious vegetable, but they are very perishable after harvest. In this study, the freezing point of daylily buds with different lengths was detected and compared. Then, the buds were stored at a controlled temperature higher than the freezing point but less than 0 °C. The controlled freezing storage (CFS) set at −0.95 ± 0.25 °C remarkably maintained the edible quality and extended postharvest life of daylily buds, compared to the storage at 1 ± 0.5 °C. CFS preserved vibrant color by hindering chlorophyll reduction and fostering carotenoid accumulation. CFS notably inhibited the decline in soluble protein and the accumulation of malondialdehyde content. Additionally, CFS maintained a robust level of radical scavenging ability and energy charge, and effectively delayed the reduction in unsaturation of fatty acids. Thus, CFS can effectively mitigate the senescence progression of daylily buds in practice.

The incidence of urolithiasis has been rising worldwide for several decades, but the main aetiological factors remain unknown. It was found that the prevalence of urolithiasis was correlated with intakes of high fat plus fruits rich in tannins through questionnaire-based dietary consumption surveys and epidemiological analysis. Cholesterol and polyphenols were also found in various renal stones of human. Cholesterol could co-precipitate with polyphenols extracted from various food materials in vitro, particularly condensed tannins. Therefore, prepared tannins from fruit were isolated by gel filtration column and characterized by high performance liquid chromatography. Mice gavaged with apple tannins and cholesterol caused remarkable cholesterol/tannins deposits, glomerular atrophy as well as increasing urine proteins, creatinine and electrolytes. Mice gavaged with ethylene glycol, tannins and cholesterol showed stronger nephrotoxicity, caused urine solute supersaturation in renal tubules, less urine and more deposits in urinary system, forming bladder stones (41.6% morbidity). Molecular dynamics simulation suggested that tannins and cholesterol formed complexes through van der Waals forces and hydrogen bonds. These findings indicated that interaction of cholesterol and tannins is a key factor in the formation of urinary stones, providing a clear explanation of urolithiasis formation. This study should help to design the strategies for prevention and control of various urinary stones as well as reveal the crucial reason for the increasing prevalence of urinary stones.