Fungi that spoil foods or infect crops can have major socioeconomic impacts, posing threats to food security. The strategies needed to manage these fungi are evolving, given the growing incidence of fungicide resistance, tightening regulations of chemicals use and market trends imposing new food-preservation challenges. For example, alternative methods for crop protection such as RNA-based fungicides, biocontrol, or stimulation of natural plant defences may lessen concerns like environmental toxicity of chemical fungicides. There is renewed focus on natural product preservatives and fungicides, which can bypass regulations for ‘clean label’ food products. These require investment to find effective, safe activities within complex mixtures such as plant extracts. Alternatively, physical measures may be one key for fungal control, such as polymer materials which passively resist attachment and colonization by fungi. Reducing or replacing traditional chlorine treatments ( e.g. of post-harvest produce) is desirable to limit formation of disinfection by-products. In addition, the current growth in lower sugar food products can alter metabolic routing of carbon utilization in spoilage yeasts, with implications for efficacy of food preservatives acting via metabolism. The use of preservative or fungicide combinations, while involving more than one chemical, can reduce total chemicals usage where these act synergistically. Such approaches might also help target different subpopulations within heteroresistant fungal populations. These approaches are discussed in the context of current challenges for food preservation, focussing on pre-harvest fungal control, fresh produce and stored food preservation. Several strategies show growing potential for mitigating or reversing the risks posed by fungi in the food supply chain.

A commonly occurring type of yellowing is described that typically takes the form of bright yellow patches or bands on the folded edges of nylon garments stored for long periods in cardboard boxes; it can also occur on other substrates and in other modes of storage not associated with cardboard. It can be distinguished from other types of yellowing by chemical and physical tests and is shown to be caused by the interaction of atmospheric nitrogen oxides with certain phenolic substances present in, for example, storage materials. The resulting compounds, which are almost certainly nitrated phenols, are colourless in acid media but yellow in alkaline; they can sublime in the acid form and migrate at room temperature through protective plastic films, to be fixed in the yellow, alkaline form on nylon fabric., or on other substrates contaminated by alkaline residues. In unbleached cardboard the phenolic precursors appear to be decomposition products of lignin. In the absence of cardboard the yellowing is attributed to other substituted phenols such as antioxidants that may have been added deliberately, or may be present as residual traces in, for example, dyed fabrics. The most likely source of nitrogen oxides is exhaust fumes from motor vehicles. Methods of preventing this type of yellowing are outlined.

Olive pomace oil can be used as an alternative carbon source for clavulanic acid production by 3 Streptomyces clavuligerus