Postharvest Ultraviolet Light Treatment of Fresh Berries for Improving Quality and Safety

Ensuring food safety and freshness of fresh produce is always challenging because of a variety of microbial contamination in the field by soil and water, wild or domesticated animals, as well as during harvest and postharvest operations by contaminated workers, tools and packaging materials. A thermal kill process in fresh produce is not practical due to loss of freshness and quality. A nonthermal process to decontaminate and improve food safety is urgently required to improved food safety in fresh produce Industry. Although the Food Safety Modernization act recommends general agricultural practices and farm food safety rules, a kill step for human pathogens and spoilage organisms in food produce will help the fresh produce industry preventing recalls. Ultraviolet light is a promising sanitation technology to enhance food safety in produce industry. The article reviews the principles and applications of germicidal ultraviolet in fresh produce in general and berries in particular. A wide range of research on fresh produce shows promising use of ultraviolet light in berries with significant inhibition of pathogenic and spoilage bacteria and fungi on fresh produce. Innovative design of ultraviolet light delivery equipment that enables exposure of whole surface of produce will promote rapid adoption of this low cost sanitation technology readily available for the produce industry.