Dynamic Changes in Health‐Promoting Properties and Eating Quality During Off‐Vine Ripening of Tomatoes

Abstract

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicon L.) fruit is rich in various nutrients, vitamins and health‐promoting molecules. Fresh tomatoes are an important part of the Mediterranean gastronomy, and their consumption is thought to contribute substantially to the reduced incidence of some chronic diseases in the Mediterranean populations in comparison with those of other world areas. Unfortunately, tomato fruit is highly perishable, resulting in important economic losses and posing a challenge to storage, logistic and supply management. This review summarizes the current knowledge on some important health‐promoting and eating quality traits of tomato fruits after harvest and highlights the existence of substantial cultivar‐to‐cultivar variation in the postharvest evolution of the considered traits according to maturity stage at harvest and in response to postharvest manipulations. It also suggests the need for adapting postharvest procedures to the characteristics of each particular genotype to preserve the optimal quality of the fresh product.

Inside and Beyond Color: Comparative Overview of Functional Quality of Tomato and Watermelon Fruits

“…Besides the genetic potential, many authors highlighted a large variability in lycopene and β-carotene concentrations and ratios in dependence of environmental factors, agro-technical processes, ripening stage, harvest and postharvest manipulations both in tomato and watermelon fruits (Abushita et al, 2000; Dumas et al, 2003; Perkins-Veazie and Collins, 2004; Lenucci et al, 2009; Siddiqui et al, 2018).…”

“…In the ordinary tomato cultivar Rio Grande, for instance, a significant variation of AsA and DHA concentrations in the range 67.8–108.0 mg/kg fw and 73.4–152.0 mg/kg fw was reported during ripening (Ilahy et al, 2011), while HLY tomato cultivars showed broader intervals (55.8–180 mg/kg fw and 37.8–213 mg/kg fw for AsA and DHA, respectively). The dynamic of change of total vitamin C (AsA + DHA) was also genotype-dependent, with some cultivars (Rio Grande, HLY18, and HLY13) peaking at the orange-red ripening stage, while Lyco2 showing two peaks at the green–orange and red-ripe stages (Siddiqui et al, 2018). Differences in the total vitamin C and AsA accumulation profiles during ripening were also reported between the “low-AsA” tomato cultivar Ailsa Craig and the “high-AsA” cultivar Santorini, although both displayed a characteristic peak at the breaker stage (Mellidou et al, 2012).…”

“…It has been reported that storage influence tomato health-promoting properties negatively or positively according to storage duration and conditions. Ascorbic acid content was found to decrease during storage and the greater the levels of different bio-actives initially accumulated in the fruits, the lower is the effect of the storage on ascorbic acid content (Siddiqui et al, 2018).…”

“…However, this is not always the case as many natural compounds found in several commonly consumed plants are potential deleterious for health, especially if assumed in excessive amount. Most plant bioactive compounds are plant secondary metabolites and some exert potent antioxidant activities and/or disease-combatting abilities when consumed within specific doses (Bruno et al, 2018; Siddiqui et al, 2018).…”

Pre- and Post-harvest Factors Affecting Glucosinolate Content in Broccoli

“…Pulsed electric fields (PEF) have been also proposed as a non-thermal food-grade technology to improve bioactive compounds biosynthesis and reduce microbial load without deleterious effect on the processed product ( 161 , 187 , 188 ). An increase of 187–212% in GL content in broccoli florets and 111–203% in stalks was reported after exposure to 4 kV/cm for 525 and 1,000 μs ( 161 ).…”