Biotechnological interventions in reducing losses of tropical fruits and vegetables

Paper-based material with hydrophobic and antimicrobial properties: Advanced packaging materials for food applications

The environmental challenges posed by plastic pollution have prompted the exploration of eco-friendly alternatives to disposable plastic packaging and utensils. Paper-based materials, derived from renewable resources such as wood pulp, non-wood pulp (bamboo pulp, straw pulp, reed pulp, etc.), and recycled paper fibers, are distinguished by their recyclability and biodegradability, making them promising substitutes in the field of plastic food packaging. Despite their merits, challenges like porosity, hydrophilicity, limited barrier properties, and a lack of functionality have restricted their packaging potential. To address these constraints, researchers have introduced antimicrobial agents, hydrophobic substances, and other functional components to improve both physical and functional properties. This enhancement has resulted in notable improvements in food preservation outcomes in real-world scenarios. This paper offers a comprehensive review of recent progress in hydrophobic antimicrobial paper-based materials. In addition to outlining the characteristics and functions of commonly used antimicrobial substances in food packaging, it consolidates the current research landscape and preparation techniques for hydrophobic paper. Furthermore, the paper explores the practical applications of hydrophobic antimicrobial paper-based materials in agricultural produce, meat, and seafood, as well as ready-to-eat food packaging. Finally, challenges in production, application, and recycling processes are outlined to ensure safety and efficacy, and prospects for the future development of antimicrobial hydrophobic paper-based materials are discussed. Overall, the emergence of hydrophobic antimicrobial paper-based materials stands out as a robust alternative to plastic food packaging, offering a compelling solution with superior food preservation capabilities. In the future, paper-based materials with antimicrobial and hydrophobic functionalities are expected to further enhance food safety as promising packaging materials.

Fruit ripening under heat stress: The intriguing role of ethylene-mediated signaling

Crop production is significantly influenced by climate, and even minor climate changes can have a substantial impact on crop yields. Rising temperature due to climate change can lead to heat stress (HS) in plants, which not only hinders plant growth and development but also result in significant losses in crop yields. To cope with the different stresses including HS, plants have evolved a variety of adaptive mechanisms. In response to these stresses, phytohormones play a crucial role by generating endogenous signals that regulate the plant's defensive response. Among these, Ethylene (ET), a key phytohormone, stands out as a major regulator of stress responses in plants and regulates many plant traits, which are critical for crop productivity and nutritional quality. ET is also known as a ripening hormone for decades in climacteric fruit and many studies are available deciphering the function of different ET biosynthesis and signaling components in the ripening process. Recent studies suggest that HS significantly affects fruit quality traits and perturbs fruit ripening by altering the regulation of many ethylene biosynthesis and signaling genes resulting in substantial loss of fruit yield, quality, and postharvest stability. Despite the significant progress in this field in recent years the interplay between ET, ripening, and HS is elusive. In this review, we summarized the recent advances and current understanding of ET in regulating the ripening process under HS and explored their crosstalk at physiological and molecular levels to shed light on intricate relationships.

Association of pre-diagnosis specific color groups of fruit and vegetable intake with ovarian cancer survival: results from the ovarian cancer follow-up study (OOPS)

Background: The colors of fruits and vegetables (FV) reflect the presence of pigmented bioactive compounds. The evidence of pre-diagnosis specific FV color group intake contributing to ovarian cancer (OC) survival is limited and inconsistent. Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted between 2015 and 2020 with 700 newly diagnosed OC patients. Pre-diagnosis dietary information was assessed by a validated food frequency questionnaire. We classified FV into five groups based on the color of their edible parts (e.g., green, red/purple, orange/yellow, white, and uncategorized groups). Cox proportional hazard models were used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the association of specific color groups of FV before diagnosis with OC survival. Potential multiplicative and additive interactions were assessed. Results: 130 patients died during a median follow-up of 37.57 (interquartile: 24.77-50.20) months. We observed the improved survival with a higher pre-diagnosis intake of total FV (HRtertile 3 vs. tertile 1 = 0.63, 95%CI = 0.40-0.99), total vegetables (HRtertile 3 vs. tertile 1 = 0.57, 95%CI = 0.36-0.90), and red/purple FV (HRtertile 3 vs. tertile 1 = 0.52, 95%CI = 0.33-0.82). In addition, we observed significant dose-response relationships for per standard deviation increment between total vegetable intake (HR = 0.79, 95%CI = 0.65-0.96) and red/purple group intake (HR = 0.77, 95%CI = 0.60-0.99) before diagnosis with OC survival. Additionally, pre-diagnosis green FV intake was borderline associated with better OC survival (HRper standard deviation increment = 0.83; 95%CI = 0.69-1.00). In contrast, we did not observe significant associations between pre-diagnosis intake of total fruits, orange/yellow, white, and uncategorized groups and OC survival. Conclusion: Pre-diagnosis FV intake from various color groups, especially the green and red/purple ones, may improve OC survival. Further studies are needed to validate our findings.

A review of biowaste remediation and valorization for environmental sustainability: Artificial intelligence approach

Biowaste remediation and valorization for environmental sustainability focuses on prevention rather than cleanup of waste generation by applying the fundamental recovery concept through biowaste-to-bioenergy conversion systems - an appropriate approach in a circular bioeconomy. Biomass waste (biowaste) is discarded organic materials made of biomass (e.g., agriculture waste and algal residue). Biowaste is widely studied as one of the potential feedstocks in the biowaste valorization process due to its being abundantly available. In terms of practical implementations, feedstock variability from biowaste, conversion costs and supply chain stability prevent the widespread usage of bioenergy products. Biowaste remediation and valorization have used artificial intelligence (AI), a newly developed idea, to overcome these difficulties. This report analyzed 118 works that applied various AI algorithms to biowaste remediation and valorization-related research published between 2007 and 2022. Four common AI types are utilized in biowaste remediation and valorization: neural networks, Bayesian networks, decision tree, and multivariate regression. The neural network is the most frequent AI for prediction models, the Bayesian network is utilized for probabilistic graphical models, and the decision tree is trusted for providing tools to assist decision-making. Meanwhile, multivariate regression is employed to identify the relationship between experimental variables. AI is a remarkably effective tool in predicting data, which is reportedly better than the conventional approach owing to its characteristics of time-saving and high accuracy. The challenge and future work in biowaste remediation and valorization are briefly discussed to maximize the model's performance.