Postharvest biology

Ensuring food production has the capacity to meet the needs of populations worldwide requires not only innovative production methods, but also strategies to minimize food waste. Currently, around one third of the harvested fruits and vegetables ends up being wasted before consumption, due to multiple factors, such as overproduction or accidents during distribution. Once harvested, fresh produce remain biological active and undergo a series of reactions that alter their composition, nutritional value, maturation stage, and make them vulnerable to pathogen infections. Understanding the biological processes that take place after harvest will thus enable the development of new strategies to prolong the shelf-life of fresh produce and ultimately contribute to the increase food security.

This Collection considers submissions of original research on vegetable and fruit postharvest biology, including postharvest physiology, senescence, and pathology.