System and method for post-harvest treatment of vegetables and fruits
AssigneeSignify Holding B.V.
InventorCeline Catherine Sarah Nicole
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Vitamin C is one of the nutrient for which health claims are allowed. Tomato is, after onion, the most produced and consumed vegetable in the world. It is also for a number of country a very important crop. Increasing vitamin C in tomato can have major health impact. Vitamin C can be increasing with light during the growth of tomato. Disclosed are more practical solutions to increase the vitamin C during transport or storage, simplifying the process and allowing a better logistic in the tomato food chain.
Claims9
A method of post-harvest light treatment for increasing the ascorbic acid content of fruit, the method comprising:
- providing a harvested unripe piece of fruit;
- irradiating at least part of the harvested unripe piece of fruit with radiation with a predetermined minimum radiation intensity and during a predetermined continuous radiation period;
- wherein
- at least 90% of the total number of photons of the radiation are in the range of 380-800 nm, wherein less than 10% of the total number of photons of the radiation are in the range of 700-800 nm, and wherein at least 30% of the total number of photons together provide a white light component of the radiation;
- wherein the average radiation intensity with which the piece of fruit is irradiated by said irradiating over the predetermined radiation period is at least 100 μmol/m2/s for the piece of fruit, and wherein the predetermined radiation period is at least 48 hours.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.