Yield, physicochemical traits, antioxidant pattern, polyphenol oxidase activity and total visual quality of field-grown processing tomato cv. Brigade as affected by water stress in Mediterranean climate.

Background: The 'processing tomato' is an important source of natural antioxidants whose concentration depends, along with other parameters, on water availability. In order to better understand the mechanisms that regulate the response to water stress, a study was carried out in a typically semi-arid Mediterranean environment to investigate the yield, chemical composition and visual quality of tomato cv. 'Brigade' field grown under no irrigation (V0) in comparison with those of the conventional fully irrigated crop (V100).

Viable but nonculturable state of foodborne pathogens in grapefruit juice: a study of laboratory.

Several foodborne human pathogens, when exposed to harsh conditions, enter viable but nonculturable (VBNC) state; however, still open is the question whether VBNC pathogens could be a risk for public health, because, potentially, they can resuscitate. Moreover, cultural methods for food safety control were not able to detect VBNC forms of foodborne bacteria. Particularly, it has not been established whether food chemophysical characteristics can induce VBNC state in contaminating pathogen bacterial populations, especially in food, such as salads and fresh fruit juices, not subjected to any decontamination treatment.