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Heat treatments have been used to extend storability of several fruits, although no information is available about their effects on nutritive and functional properties in pomegranates, which was the objective of this research. Thus, pomegranate fruits were heat treated (dips at 45 degrees C for 4 min) and stored at 2 degrees C for 90 days. Every 15 days, samples were taken and further stored 2 days at 20 degrees C for shelf life study. Arils from heat-treated pomegranates exhibited higher total antioxidant activity than controls, which was correlated primarily to the high levels of total phenolics and to lesser extent to ascorbic acid and anthocyanin contents. Additionally, the levels of sugars (glucose and fructose) and organic acids (malic, citric, and oxalic acids) remained also at higher concentrations in arils from treated fruits. With this simple and non-contaminant technology, the functional and nutritive properties, after long periods of storage, could then be even greater than in recently harvested fruits, thus providing a high content in health-beneficial compounds to consumers after the intake of these fruits.

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Pomegranate fruits were treated with putrescine (Put) or spermidine (Spd) at 1 mM either by pressure infiltration or by immersion and then were stored at 2 degrees C for 60 days. Samples were taken biweekly and were further stored 3 days at 20 degrees C for shelf life study. The treatments were effective on maintaining the concentration of ascorbic acid, total phenolic compounds, and total anthocyanins in arils at higher levels than in control samples. In addition, the two ways of polyamine application increased the levels of total antioxidant activity (TAA) during storage, especially when polyamines were applied by pressure infiltration. Moreover, Spd showed the best results on increasing TAA through maintenance of total phenolic compounds.

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Aloe, eugenol, and thymol were combined in package for improving the quality and bioactive components of tomato during storage. Packaged tomatoes with these compounds were stored at 10 ± 1 o C and 85 ± 5% relative humidity for 16 days and lycopene, phenolics, ascorbic acid, antioxidant activity, microbial spoilage (counts), and total soluble solids of tomatoes were evaluated. Higher levels of lycopene, phenolics, and ascorbic acid were observed for aloe-, thymol-, or eugenol-incorporated to modified atmosphere packages, from which the aloe gel showed the highest efficiency. High and significant correlation was found between antioxidant activity and total phenolics content (R 2 = 0.72**, p < 0.01) of stored tomatoes. Beside this, aloe gel was the most effective treatment in reducing the microbial counts of tomato inside the package followed by thymol and eugenol during storage.