Post-harvest diseases of fruit and vegetables have to be controlled because of the high added value of commodities and the great economic loss related to spoilage. Synthetic fungicides are the first choice worldwide to control post-harvest diseases of fruit and vegetables. However, several problems and constraints related to their use have forced scientists to develop alternatives control means to prevent post-harvest diseases. Physical and biological means, resistance inducers, and GRAS (generally recognized as safe) compounds are the most important alternatives used during the last 20 years. Recently, nanomaterial treatments have demonstrated promising results and they are being investigated to reduce the utilization of synthetic fungicides to control post-harvest rot in fruit and vegetables. The collective information in this review article covers a wide range of nanomaterials used to control post-harvest decays related to each selected fruit crop including grape, citrus, banana, apple, mango, peach, and nectarine. Other examples also used are apricot, guava, avocado, papaya, dragon, pear, longan, loquat, jujubes, and pomegranate fruits.

Recently, interest and demand for healthy and useful food products have become a global requirement. Thus, the production of functional foods with high polyunsaturated fatty acids and antioxidants is very challenging. In this study, four functional spreadable oleogels based on canola oil and milk proteins were developed. These spreadable oleogels were used as an innovative model for the preparation of candy gummies. The chemical composition, oxidative stability, and effects of storage conditions were studied. The results showed that the fat content in spreadable oleogels and gummies ranged from 35 to 47 and 2.40–4.15%, respectively. The protein content in spreadable doum and carrot was 7.41%, while it was 6.15% in the spreadable plain and ranged from 10.25 to 12.78% in gummies. The hardness of spreadable oleogels and gummies ranged from 0.3 to 0.9 and 6.22–16.30 N, respectively. Spreadable carrot and spreadable doum had peroxide values greater than 8 meqO₂/kg after storage, whereas spreadable plain and spreadable canola oleogel had better oxidative stability. The antioxidant activity of spreadable oleogels and gummies ranged from 66.98–46.83% to 51.44–40.37%, respectively. In addition, transmission electron microscopy and polarized light microscopy micrographs showed the presence of a coherent entangled network between oleogels and nutritional polymers. The oil binding capacity of spreadable carrot oleogel had a maximum value of 97.89%, while formed gummies were higher than 99%. This study showed a promising way to make functional spreadable oleogels as a model for food products that are good for health and nutrition.