Potential of cold plasma pretreatment for preserving biochemical attributes and ensuring the microbiological safety of saffron stigma.

Saffron, similar to numerous other agricultural commodities, is susceptible to microbial contamination during cultivation and postharvest handling. Cold plasma treatment has emerged as an effective method for microbial inactivation while preserving food quality. The aim of this research was to preserve the color integrity and minimize the presence of microorganisms in dried saffron stigma by implementing cold plasma pre-treatment.

Quality preservation and decay reduction of minimally processed seedless barberry fruit via postharvest ultrasonic treatment.

Seedless barberry fruit is one of the important horticultural products of Iran, which has health benefits due to great amounts of phenolic compounds, flavonoids, and antioxidant activity. However, fresh barberry fruit has a short shelf life even at cold storage, mainly due to high water content and thin skin that leads to fungal decay and high postharvest loss. We examined the effectiveness of the postharvest ultrasonic technology on the quality preservation and nutritional value of fresh seedless barberry fruit and their decay reduction during cold storage.