Fresh-Cut Vegetable Processing: What You Need to Know

Food markets receive products from the fresh-cut industry that facilitate the consumption of healthy fresh F&V, improving the general population's nutritional status. Recently, concerns have surfaced regarding the environmental impacts of fresh-cut industries and human health risks linked to chlorine-based disinfectants.

FREMONT, CA: Fresh-cut produce improves the nutritional status of the general population by supplying the food market with healthy and nutritious fruit and vegetables. Conversely, over the last few years, fresh-cut industry concerns have raised regarding the environmental impacts and human health risks from the exposure to disinfection byproducts and chlorine-based disinfectants used during product processing. Alternative treatments close to widespread commercial application and the advantages and downsides of the mainstream disinfection strategy are discussed. These strategies have limitations when processing organic fresh-cut produce, focusing on food safety and the environment. These multiple and interconnected issues require innovative conceptual tools to address them and overcome their limitations. Multidisciplinary approaches can improve fresh-cut product production.

Increasing the availability of fresh-cut F&V on the market is considered a positive development from a nutrition perspective, as it may increase the intake of F&V in the general population. A healthy diet should consist of 400 grams of fruits and vegetables per person daily, which is the WHO's recommendation.

The contribution of fresh-cut products to global consumption of F&V remains unchanged if they do not significantly alter the nutritional value of the fresh-harvest product. Different species, cultivars, and treatment and storage conditions have been studied to determine how processing and storage affect the content of vitamins and bioactive phytochemicals in fresh-cut produce.

In recent decades, many studies have identified washing/disinfection as the most critical process step because of its crucial impact on the final product's quality, safety, and sustainability. A minimally processed product has a much higher rate of microbial growth than an intact product due to the effects of cutting. Cut produce may develop high microbiological populations, including potentially pathogenic bacteria. Different types of vegetables may be affected differently by these factors.

Disinfecting fresh-cut produce with chlorine is a common practice. This increases the harmful impacts on the environment and food safety issues. The chlorine residue found in the fresh-cut products poses a threat to human health.

The use of chlorine is being reduced or replaced by alternative disinfection methods because of all these disadvantages. The primary approach to disinfecting washing water remains chlorine, intending to add the minimum amount of chlorine necessary to avoid cross-contamination.

Chemical, biological, and physical alternatives are being investigated as alternatives to chlorine.

Presently the focus is only on fresh-cut vegetables and their safety while briefly discussing some unexplored effects of chlorine application during washing on food sensory quality. Sustainability of the environment and economic and social sustainability has been examined, but other aspects of sustainability are beyond the scope of this review.