Problem statement: Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) is one of the most widely consumed fresh vegetables in the world; however, its highly perishable nature limits its postharvest life. Major losses in tomato quality and quantity occur between harvest and consumption. Therefore, the application of new technologies to extend the postharvest life of this commodity is needed. The use of edible coatings appears to be a good alternative. Approach: We evaluated the effect of carnauba and mineral oil coatings on the postharvest quality of tomato fruits (cv. “Grandela”). Stafresh 2505™ (carnauba) and Stafresh 151™ (mineral oil) coatings were applied on fresh tomatoes at two maturity stages (breaker and pink). The quality of tomatoes was evaluated periodically at 0, 5, 10, 15, 21 and 28 days of storage at 10°C, plus 2 days at 20°C. For respiration rate analysis, tomatoes were kept at 20°C for 16 days. Results: At the beginning of the study, CO2 production was reduced by 38 and 46% when applying the mineral oil coating on breaker and pink tomatoes, respectively. In addition, early during the study, the mineral oil coating showed suppression of ethylene biosynthesis at both maturity stages. Both coatings reduced 30% PG activity of tomato tissue. At the end of storage, mineral oil coatings delayed color changes and reduced weight losses for up 70 and 46% at the breaker and pink stages, respectively. Conclusion/Recommendations: Respiration rate, color, weight loss and enzyme activity were positively affected by mineral oil coating at both maturity stages. No effects on firmness, titratable acidity and pH were found by the coating application. We concluded that mineral oil coating could be a good alternative to preserve the quality and extend the postharvest life of tomato fruit.

Effective hand hygiene is essential to prevent the spread of pathogens on produce farms and reduce foodborne illness. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration Food Safety Modernization Act Proposed Rule for Produce Safety recommends the use of soap and running water for hand hygiene of produce handlers. The use of alcohol-based hand sanitizer (ABHS) may be an effective alternative hygiene intervention where access to water is limited. There are no published data on the efficacy of either soap or ABHS-based interventions to reduce microbial contamination in agricultural settings. The goal of this study was to assess the ability of two soap-based (traditional or pumice) and two ABHS-based (label-use or two-step) hygiene interventions to reduce microbes (coliforms, Escherichia coli, and Enterococcus spp.) and soil (absorbance of hand rinsate at 600 nm [A600]) on farmworker hands after harvesting produce, compared with the results for a no-hand-hygiene control. With no hand hygiene, farmworker hands were soiled ...

Intensive horticultural crop production usually involves challenges from excessive application of fertilizer, mainly nitrogen (N). The effect of N fertilizer on the fruit quality and antioxidant status of two cherry tomato cultivars (Caballero and Victoria) under greenhouse conditions was performed. Nitrogen treatments were applied ranging from conditions comprising deficiency to toxicity (0, 15, 30, 45 and 60 mmol•L-1). Yield, weight, diameter, fruit quality, phenols, flavonoids, lycopene, ascorbic acid and antioxidant capacity were measured at physiological maturity of the fresh tomato fruits. N treatment with 30 mmol•L-1 produced the highest yield, fruit weight, firmness and diameter in both cultivars. However, increasing N from 30 to 60 mmol•L-1 increased the concentration of phenolics, flavonoids, and antioxidant capacity by 50, 125 and 33% in 'Caballero' tomatoes and by 60, 95 and 24% in 'Victoria' tomatoes, respectively. Lycopene content increased with increasing N doses (45 and 60 mmol•L-1) for 'Caballero' tomatoes, while vitamin C decreased as N concentration increased, suggesting that ascorbic acid acts by protecting against oxidative stress in tomato. The present work shows how N fertilization considerably influences yield and quality of tomatoes, as well as nutritional and healthy values.