Ozone as an alternative means to control postharvest diseases on strawberries

Strawberries are popular fruit mainly appreciated for their red color, sweet taste, and fruity flavor. However, they suffer from a short shelf-life principally due to the development of fungal diseases and sensitivity to mechanical damages. Strawberries are therefore generally commercialized rapidly after harvest to limit high fruit losses, although retailers and consumers are nevertheless regularly confronted with rotten fruit. This rapid post-harvest degradation of the berries’ quality results in substantial economic losses, in particular in organic production where development of rot is more likely to appear. The increasing demand for organic products together with novel restrictive regulations on the use of chemical treatments urge the European fruit industry to implement alternative methods and means to prolong the storage of strawberries after harvest while maintaining fruit quality. We wanted to evaluate the impact of treating stored berries with gaseous ozone on the development of microbes and on key fruit quality parameters. We showed that treating berries with 2-3 ppm gaseous ozone slowed down microbiological growth without altering skin color, total soluble solids, and acidity. These promising results indicate that ozone can be an alternative method to limit fruit losses after harvest and that further studies must be conducted to confirm these findings.