Strawberry preservation by irradiation and natural anti-microbial compounds

During the past decade the emphasis in post-harvest fruit protection has shifted from using chemicals to various alternative techniques, including biological control, cultural adaptations, controlled atmosphere and irradiation. We can today add to the list natural antimicrobial compounds such as phenolic acids and essential oils. To keep under control strawberry post-harvest decay, we screened: UV-C irradiation, and terpens in different doses and combinations as well as different modalities in packaging. For 8 days we checked the fruit deterioration and the sensory characters (visual aspect, smell, taste and firmness). We found out that: the use of essential oils as anti-microbial compounds prolong strawberry shelf-life even without UV pre-treatment; the anti-microbial compounds have to remain, for whole the storage period, into the packaging atmosphere; the natural anti-microbial compounds maintain the fruit sensorial characteristics; the strawberry shelf-life is related to the packaging modality.