Study on the Effect of Intermittent UV-C Irradiation on Fruit Preservation

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-910-0_21How to use a DOI?

Keywords

UV-C treatment; raspberries; strawberry; retain freshness

Abstract

This study systematically investigated the mechanisms underlying the effects of UV-C LED irradiation on the preservation of fresh fruits. High-power 270–280 nm gallium nitride (GaN)-based UV-C LED chips were employed, with device performance enhanced through optimized heat dissipation structures and a matrix arrangement design. Experimental results demonstrated that, under ambient conditions (22–27℃), a 75% duty cycle UV-C irradiation (45 s on/15 s off) achieved the most effective suppression of mold growth on apple slices and raspberries, completely inhibiting mold proliferation. The 25% duty cycle (15 s on/45 s off) provided a better balance between antibacterial efficacy and maintaining fruit freshness. In a 4℃ refrigerated environment, the 25% irradiation mode (15 s on/45 s off, 40 cm distance) reduced the spoilage rate of raspberries from 100% to 20%. For strawberries, while UV-C irradiation completely suppressed mold growth, it induced significant oxidative damage (44.4% of fruits exhibited water-soaked spots) and a higher weight loss rate (14% compared to 6% in the control group). These findings confirm that UV-C irradiation effectively controls postharvest microbial spoilage in fruits, but optimization of irradiation parameters is necessary to balance antibacterial efficacy with fruit quality preservation.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Eason Liao
AU  - Xiaoxiao Wang
AU  - Qing Zhang
AU  - Shuzhong Li
AU  - Jiancheng Wang
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/15
TI  - Study on the Effect of Intermittent UV-C Irradiation on Fruit Preservation
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 2nd International Symposium on Agricultural Engineering and Biology (ISAEB 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 194
EP  - 201
SN  - 2468-5747
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-910-0_21
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-910-0_21
ID  - Liao2025
ER  -