Increasing shelf life of fruits and vegetables through UV Irradiation process

The prospect of treating fruits with UV on a commercial scale is considered. Fruits and vegetables are highly perishable products particularly once they have been harvested. So called post-harvest losses can arise by various means including attack by fungi and other organisms. The term also encompasses premature ripening that may result from physical damage to the fruits during processing or transportation or through incorrect storage. The scale of such losses, recently estimated as constituting one third of all harvested produce, is significant case for concern in developed countries but can be catastrophic for developing countries. The parallel can be drawn between applying UV treatments and various other form of abiotic stress, such as heat stock or draught, that after the chemistry of plants and in some case are known to enhance, so called nutraceutical potential of plant foods.