Current Advances on the Effects of Thermal Processing on Bioactive Compounds in Fruits and Vegetables

Dear Colleagues,

The consumption of fruits and vegetables is associated with several beneficial health effects on different chronic disorders due to the bioactive compounds that they contain, such as flavonoids, vitamins, tocols, carotenoids, and xanthophylls. Thermal processing is one of the most widely employed unit operations in the food industry. The fruit and vegetable industry employs a number of types of heat processing treatments that can be combined and preceded by chemical–physical pre-treatments, depending on the product to be obtained. Drying and cooking are some of the oldest, most common, food processing methods. The basic purpose of the thermal processing of fruits and vegetables is the inhibition of microbial activity and enzyme activity and the promotion of physical or chemical changes to make the food edible and meet a certain quality standard. High temperatures may also modify the natural barriers in which some nutrients can be bio-encapsulated, resulting in an improvement in their extractability and, therefore, their bioavailability. Conversely, thermal treatments can result in damage to texture, colour, taste, and nutritional value. The degradation of bioactive compounds and changes in their structure, such as isomerization, commonly occur during heat treatments of vegetables or fruits, depending on the physical, structural, and nutritional characteristics of the products and the applied pre-treatments and thermal methods.

This Special Issue focuses on the evaluation of the effect of heat treatments on the content, modification, and bioavailability of bioactive compounds in fruits and vegetables. It aims to provide a fundamental understanding and define strategies to improve the nutritional value of thermally processed foods. 

Prof. Dr. Alessandra Fratianni
Prof. Dr. Luciano Cinquanta
Guest Editors

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• fruits
• vegetables
• thermal treatments
• drying
• cooking
• bioactive compounds
• thermal degradation
• isomerization
• bioavailability
• process markers