Healthy fruit

This means that fruit which is rotten or mouidy shouid never be sent for processing. Apart from an insipid, putrid flavour, this type of fruit contains a iarge number of unwanted microorganisms (yeasts, mouids and bacteria) and thus a iot of enzymes. This increased microbiai count can subsequentiy iead to difficuities in ciarification, pasteurization or fermentation. 

Fruit for processing is often fruit that has faiien from the tree or bush. It is usuaiiy heaviiy contaminated with leaves, grass, stones or soil (1 ml of soil contains more than a thousand million microorganisms). 

The fruit should therefore be cleaned before processing if possible. 

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Fig. 2.133. HPLC chromatogram of pigment extracts from table olives cv. Gordal (a) healthy fruits and (b) altered fruits. Peaks 1 = 15-glyoxilic acid pheophorbide-b 2 = 15-glyoxilic acid pheophorbide-a 3 = Cu-15-glyoxilic acid pheophorbide-a 4 = pheophorbide-b 5 = pheophorbide-a 6 = pyropheophorbide-a 7 = 15-glyoxilic acid pheophytin-b 8 = Cu-15-glyoxilic acid pheophytin-b 9 = 15-glyoxilic acid pheophytin-a 10 = Cu-15-glyoxilic acid pheophytin-a 11 = 15 -OH-lactone-pheophytin-b 12 = 15 -OH-lactone-pheophytin-a 13 = 15-formylpheophytin-b 14 = pheophytin-b 14 = pheophytin-b 15 = 15-formylpheophytin-a 16 = pheophytin-a 16 = pheophytin-a 17 = pyropheophytin-b 18 = Cu-pheophytin-a 19 = Cu-15-formylpheophytin-a 20 = pyropheophytin-a 21 = Cu-pyropheophytin-a. Reprinted with permission from B. Ganul-Rojas el al. [304].

Practically all the coffee planted commercially comes from seed, except in the rather limited Robusta-growing region of Java where grafted plants are used. Coffee seeds are planted in seedbeds and are treated in about the same way all over the tropics. The mature and apparently healthy fruits are selected and the seeds are pressed out, washed and dried in the shade, and planted rather soon, because coffee seed viability is lost within a comparatively short while. Handled in this manner, the chances are lessened that coffee diseases will be carried by seeds. However, it has been proved experimentally that infected plants can be produced from seeds contaminated with both the coffee Colletotrichum and the coffee Cercospora from either field material or artificial inoculation. This contamination is probably not uncommon in plantation practice and thus far it is not of extreme importance. The Hemileia rust is probably not carried on the seed (93). The American leaf spot is not carried on seed (97). 

The best approach to maintaining healthy fruit crops is to make regular checks on how plants are growing. In this way, signs of any problems are seen early on, and can be dealt with before they become serious. Incipient infections can often be pinched or pruned out and pest colonies dispatched with a swipe of the thumb. 

By keeping ethylene concentrations to less than 0.8 ul/1 of air, stem-end decay caused by a species of Fusarium, green mold, loss of orange flavor, and development of off-flavors were minimized. Other volatiles present with and without the ethylene absorber apparently had no effect on quality. Ethylene, produced in copious quantities by rots, enhances respiration and senescence of healthy fruit within the storage facility (281). The importance of ethylene removal has been illustrated also in recent storage studies of lemons in Australia (282, 283, 284, 285). 

CM imposes specific constraints anatomic integrity of the berries and healthy fruit as well as special requirements for harvesting, transportation, and temperature control. It also requires a CO2 saturated atmosphere at the beginning and throughout the first step of fermentation. 

Causes considerable damage if there is wet weather during harvesting. Apparently healthy fruits can become rotten after a short period in storage, especially if they are wet when picked. 

In Timisia, the olive oil sector plays an important role in the economy, providing both employment and export revenues. Olive trees cover an area of 1.6 million ha with an annual oil production of 170 000 t (Rigane et al., 2011). The last decade, Timisian autochthonous varieties were extensively studied for their potential with regard to VOO quality characteristics. The oils obtained from healthy fruits using laboratory scale extraction, most of the time with the aid of an Abencor type mill and extractor (Oueslati et al., 2009). Thus, the amoimts of bioactive phytochemicals reported are rather high in comparison to what is reported for VOOs from the main producing coimtries. This illusive picture does not reflect necessarily the real content of this nutrient in the commercial products sold locally or of those exported. 

Since fruit and vegetable consumption is recommended as part of a healthy lifestyle, it could be argued that there is no need to obtain detailed safety data on individual phytochemicals that are present in these items of the diet. This ignores the fact that ... 

Tesoriere, L. et al.. Supplementation with cactus pear (Opuntia ficus-indica) fruit decreases oxidative stress in healthy humans a comparative smdy with vitamin C, Am. J. Clin. Nutr, 80, 391, 2004. 

Considering the concerns of consumers for synthetic colorants and interest in natural formulas, many food manufacturers seek alternative healthy solutions to replace colorants, even the regulated ones from positive lists (like p-carotene), with colored fruit and vegetable extracts to be used as functional food ingredients or nutraceuticals (food supplements). ... 

Several studies have suggested a positive association between fruit and vegetable intake (particularly fmit) and pulmonary function (Walda and others 2002 Watson and others 2002 Celik and Topcu 2006). Fruit and vegetable consumption has been suggested to maintain a healthy pulmonary function in well-adult populations, and improving lung... 

In a study with 40 healthy men and women, average age 63.7 years, who were randomized to either an alkali diet (meat plus fruits and vegetables) or an acid diet (meat plus cereal grains) (Jajoo and others 2006), altering the renal net acid excretion over a period of 60 days affected several biochemical markers of bone turnover and calcium excretion. The acidity of the diet had a significant effect on increasing NTX, a urinary marker of bone breakdown, and increasing the amount of calcium excreted in the urine. 

Schijlen E, Ric de Vos CH, Jonker H, van den Broeck H, Molthoff J, van Tunen A, Martens S and Bovy A. 2006. Pathway engineering for healthy phytochemicals leading to the production of novel flavonoids in tomato fruit. Plant Biotechnol J 4(4) 433-444. 

Miller and others (1998) used ethane analysis to study the effect of a diet rich in fruits and vegetables on lipid peroxidation. On the other hand, Stewart and others (2002) used the formation of pentane to evaluate the antioxidant status of healthy young children in response to a commercially available fruit- and vegetable-based antioxidant supplement. 

Dragsted LO, Pedersen A, Hermetter A, Basu S, Hansen M, Haren GR, Kail M, Breinholt V, Castenmiller JJM, Stagsted J, Jakobsen J, Skibsted L, Rasmussen SE, Loft S and Sandstrom B. 2004. The 6-a-day study effects of fruit and vegetables on markers of oxidative stress and antioxidative defense in healthy nonsmokers. Am J Clin Nutr 79(6) 1060-1072. 

Jacob RA, Aiello GM, Stephensen CB, Blumberg JB, Milbury PE, Wallock LM and Ames BN. 2003. Moderate antioxidant supplementation has no effect on biomarkers of oxidant damage in healthy men with low fruit and vegetables intakes. J Nutr 133(3) 740-743. 

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