椎名 武夫

Ripeness of fruits is one of the factors causing food losses in the supply chain. Food loss increases the environmental burden through additional production undertaken to compensate for the losses. Packaging decreases the losses and consequently, the environmental burden, but itself causes additional environmental burden. This study models the relationship between food loss reduction via packaging for ripened peaches and the environmental burden across their life cycle. The results reveal that the slope of the straight line approximating the relationship increases with transportation distance. Relationship between the slope and transportation distance shows that for transportation up to 100 km, packaging with lower environmental burden is sufficient while above 300 km, packaging that provides a high level of protection for peaches-with the consequent reduction in food loss contributing to the reduction of the environmental burden-is appropriate. We propose packaging with superior environmental-friendly qualities, based on the transportation distance, for ripened peaches.

Nutritional benefits and organoleptic characteristics, including visual, textural, taste, and flavor, are the critical characteristics of economically important fruit. Ripening is a crucial phenomenon in the formation of these quality characteristics in fruits. Therefore, controlling the ripening phenomenon is extremely important not only to maximize the benefits of the fruit but also to avoid food losses caused by over-ripening. Tomato is an important model plant, especially for research on fruit ripening. The metachronous model of tomato ripening is presented in this report. This model predicts the postharvest ripening time of tomato fruit in terms of red color development based on the storage period. A modified sigmoid-type function model was used to develop the prediction model. The observations and analyses were conducted at different storage temperatures and in different tomato cultivars. The result exhibits that the integration of the proposed model and time lag was successfully showing the postharvest ripening time history of tomato fruit at the full range ripening process, from onset to fully ripe. This study provides critical information on postharvest quality control research and supply chain development in eliminating food loss and waste, which leads to the realization of sustainable development goals.

Packaging decreases food losses during transportation and the loss-related environmental load. However, excessive packaging can increase the environmental load for package production. We assessed environmental impacts throughout the peach life cycle and predicted the relationship between food loss reduction via packaging and environmental impact with certain models. Life cycle assessment was employed to evaluate the environmental loads from peach cultivation and package production to waste management. The relationships for certain impact categories indicate that the minimization of food losses did not necessarily lead to a minimization of environmental loads. This highlights the importance of assessing both food loss reduction and environmental influence in producing environmentally optimized packaging. A reusable plastic box and single-use cardboard box were compared on an environmental basis. The environmental loads throughout the life cycle were nearly similar between these two packaging conditions because the environmental load of reusable box production was lower but the associated food loss ratio was higher.

This dataset includes two kinds of data (for inventory analysis in Table A1 to A13, and precondition of waste and recycle for plastic and cardboard in Table A14) for conducting life cycle assessment (LCA) of strawberry-package supply chain with considering food loss during transportation Inventory analysis includes input data for LCA analysis. The data in the inventory was referenced from the publication of Plastic Waste Management Institute Plastic Waste Management Institute, (2017) and calculated based on the damage area ratio measured in our co-submitted article (Sasaki et al., 2022). This data helps to reproduce the article (Sasaki et al., 2022) for inventory analysis and re-analyze the environmental impact through the life cycle of strawberry assessed in the co-submitted article. Data of waste (incineration and landfill) and recycle ratios for plastic was collected from the previous reports of the publication Basic Knowledge of Plastic Recycle 2021 (Plastic Waste Management Institute, 2021), and data of the ratios for cardboard was referenced from Transition of Collect Rate on Cardboard (Ministry of the Environment (MOE), 2016). Ratios in this data show Japan-specialized values and is useful for creating the inventory.

Bell pepper is a popular vegetable and a good source of beneficial elements for the human diet, such as vitamins, minerals, and carotenoids. The environmental condition surrounding the bell pepper is an important factor affecting its external and internal quality. During the external color change phase, the chlorophyll degradation and carotenoid synthesis is an important consumer attribute of green bell pepper after harvest. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of storage temperatures (10, 20 and 30°C) and light irradiation on the quality, respiration rate and gene expression of fresh bell pepper. Measurements were conducted every five days throughout the storage period (25 days). The result showed that low storage temperature reduced the respiration rate and delayed the color development in green bell pepper. Light irradiation, stimulated the color change from green to red, when compared to the dark condition. Higher storage temperature and light irradiation showed high expression of the genes encoding phytoene synthase (CaPsy), ζ-Carotene desaturase (CaZds), β-carotene hydroxylase (CaCrtZ-2), and capsanthin/capsorubin synthase (CaCcs), involved in carotenoid synthesis. These findings indicate that high storage temperature combined with light irradiation stimulated carotenoid synthesis in harvested green bell peppers.

Tomato is a major vegetable crop in the world. It is rich in potassium, Vitamin A, Vitamin B, vitamin C, lycopene and beta-carotene. Tomato is regularly consumed in the diet, having a defensive role for reducing the risk of some types of cancer and ischemic heart disease. It is reported that the huge amount of produce, including tomato, is discarded due to postharvest losses caused by quality deterioration. Low storage temperature and modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) have the potential to keep the quality of tomato after harvest. The objective of this investigation was to analyze the effect of low temperature (15°C) and MAP on the ripening and the transcription profile of 'KEK-1' tomatoes. Mature green tomatoes var. 'KEK-1' were stored at 25°C with MAP or without MAP (perforated film package) or stored at 15°C without MAP. The packaging materials used were low-density polyethylene (LDPE) film (40 μm). The O2 concentration of 3 to 5% in the MA packaged tomatoes was maintained throughout the storage period. Microarray analysis was conducted using total RNA extracted from tomato samples, before storage and from the three different storage conditions for five days. The pericarp color value of the tomatoes and the ripening related genes expression from four treatments confirmed a clear difference between the ripening stages among samples. Comparison of the gene expression profile was conducted by using microarray data analysis software. The effects of storage and storage conditions applied in this study were clearly seen by a profile plot of genes. A principal component analysis using three components showed the clear difference among the four samples. The gene showing a distinctive expression pattern among samples was selected and genes showing a similar pattern were also selected. Four distinctive expression patterns were found and genes that have similar pattern were grouped. There is no overlap among the groups, suggesting these groupings reflect different biological status. The results showed that several ripening related genes (including ACC synthase and ACC oxidase, histidine decarboxylase, alcohol acyl transferase) and defense reaction related genes (including chitinase, pathogenesis related leaf protein 6, PR-1a1 protein) were up/downregulated by low temperature or MA packaging.

This study aims to develop a model predicting the red color development for tomatoes that were harvested at the mature green stage of development as a function of the storage period. The model predicting change in CIE a∗ value based on the storage period was developed by modifying the original sigmoid-type function model with cumulative ethylene production as a free variable based on a previous study. The modification was conducted by changing the free variable from cumulative ethylene production to storage period. However, the modified sigmoid-type function model was only able to describe the change in red color development in the range where CIE a∗ value is greater than zero. Therefore, data were divided into two parts based on the CIE a∗ value, below zero (P1) and greater than zero (P2). For P1, it is possible to know the time lag. This is the time taken for mature green tomatoes to reach the onset of the red color development. For P2, it is possible to apply the modified sigmoid-type function model for the change in CIE a∗ value in time. The typical ripening pattern curve of tomato was obtained by combining all the parameters for P1 and P2. Findings showed that this model can predict the ripening process of tomato clearly compared to our previous model. The previous model developed was based on cumulative ethylene production. Therefore, this typical ripening pattern curve will enable us to predict the ripening process of tomato harvested at the mature green stage based on the storage period.

Harvesting tomato at the mature green stage is recommended to extend the shelf life. However, a non-uniform color appearance of individual tomatoes at the end of the storage period will occur due to early harvesting. This study aims to analyze the relationship between two important parameters for the determination of the tomato ripening process, ethylene production, and change in color. Batches of 5 tomatoes each were stored at 5, 15, and 25°C for more than 30 days. Color (a* value) and ethylene production were assessed daily. A nonlinear least square method was used to develop a mathematical model estimating the a* value based on Sigmoid function, with cumulative ethylene production as the free variable. The goodness of fit of the proposed mathematical models was evaluated by the coefficient of determination (R2) and root mean square error (RMSE) between the estimated and experimental data. The result showed that 5°C inhibited the ripening process of tomato with the absent of ethylene burst and no red color development until the end of the storage period. On the other hand, tomato stored at 15 and 25°C were undergoing the normal ripening process. Previous research showed that the relationship between a* value and cumulative ethylene production was following the sigmoid function for tomato stored at 25°C. This study found that it is also applicable to other storage temperature as long as the tomato undergoes the normal ripening process. The value of R2 and RMSE for tomato stored at 15 and 25°C were 0.982, 0.989 and 1.889, 1.485, respectively. These values exhibit the proposed model appears to be suitable for describing the change in color of tomato at different storage temperatures based on the cumulative ethylene production.

Purpose: We evaluated the environmental impacts of the peach transportation process using life cycle assessment with the damage area ratio as an indicator to assess both food loss and the environmental burden. A hot spot analysis was also conducted to identify the most relevant impact categories and processes in the peach life cycle. Methods: The environmental burden of the peach life cycle was assessed by using a mass-based functional unit (kg of undamaged peaches). The environmental impact of the packaging scenario (using plastic packaging and cardboard during transportation) in the peach life cycle was compared with that of the nonpackaging scenario (using cardboard only). Vibration tests for transportation were performed for several transportation distances to determine the damage area ratios. An impact assessment of the characterization and a calculation of single score results were followed by LIME2, and 15 impact categories were investigated. Results and discussion: The packaging scenario had lower environmental impacts than the nonpackaging scenario, and the climate change (CC), resource consumption (RC), and urban air pollution (UAP) impacts in the packaging scenario were reduced by up to 94.1% compared with those in the nonpackaging scenario. Packaging decreased food losses related to injury during transportation; in turn, it also mitigated the environmental burden of additional peach cultivation to compensate for food losses. The results of the hot spot analysis indicated that cultivation, package production, peach waste (due to food loss), and transportation from a fruit sorting facility to the wholesale market stage largely formed the life cycle, with the cultivation stage accounting for the largest portion of the cycle (contribution ratios 36.4 to 89.4%). Conclusion: This study shows that packaging can potentially reduce the environmental impacts of peach production; notably, using packaging for peaches effectively decreases the environmental burden of the peach life cycle. This finding suggests that considering the trade-offs between food loss and the environmental burden associated with the peach life cycle is important for achieving a sustainable postharvest process for peaches from an environmental perspective.

An estimation model following the sigmoid function of pericarp color based on the cumulative ethylene production was proposed. In the first part of the experiment, the same quintuplet samples were stored at 15 and 25 °C, respectively. In the second part, 114 tomatoes were stored at 12, 15, and 20 °C, and different triplet samples were used every time. It was concluded that the proposed model well described the behavior of the change in pericarp color in different storage temperatures. Moreover, the goodness of fit was better when the same sample was used. Another estimation method of parameters α, β, and γ of the sigmoid function at 15 °C was performed based on a linear regression using parameters α, β, and γ obtained at 12 and 20 °C. It suggested that the improvement of the goodness of fit will be achieved by the addition of data at different storage temperatures.

FB処理が殺菌・除菌に及ぼす影響に関する知見を得ることを目的として，FB水自体の殺菌効果およびFB処理による殺菌・除菌効果について検討を行い，以下の知見を得た。(1)機械攪拌式のホモジナイザーを用いて，殺菌性のない界面活性剤溶液およびそのFB水を菌液に添加し，生菌数の変動を調査した。その結果，FBの有無による生菌数の変動は認められなかった。(2)殺菌性のあるカチオン性界面活性剤溶液およびそのFB水を菌液に添加した結果，界面活性剤の添加による生菌数の低下は認められたが，FBの有無による生菌数の変動は認められなかった。すなわち，FBによるカチオン性界面活性剤の殺菌性向上は認められなかった。(3)二元式(加圧溶解式および高速旋回流式の混合式)のFB作製装置を用いて，植菌した濾紙とカットレタスを担体として空気FB処理とオゾンFB処理の殺菌・除菌効果について検討を行った。その結果，循環槽内のFBには除菌効果が確認されたが，対象により効果が異なること，加圧槽内では溶存オゾン濃度が高まることで殺菌効果が高まることが明らかとなった。

The objective of this research is to propose a new drying technique for increasing drying rate of spinach blades by changes in physiological activity (particularly, avoid water deficits) with heat pretreatment. The physiological activities (cell membrane stability (CMS) as an index of the biological reactions of the cell membrane, and ratio of variable fluorescence to maximum fluorescence (Fv/Fm) an index of life activity) and the drying characteristics (moisture content and surface area) of the spinach were measured. The CMS of samples after pretreatment were evaluated by focused on the shift in the coordinates of the top of the circular arcs of Cole-Cole plots. The correlations between the Fv/Fm ratio and the surface area ratio of dried samples were significant (P < 0.01). We found that the decreased physiological activity of spinach with heat pretreatment is one of the factors that increase the hot air drying rate of spinach. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

In Japan, rice straw is recognised as the most promising biomass for bioethanol production based on the amount and availability. This study examined the energy consumption and the CO2 emissions of the rice straw transport process. Specifically, we investigated the effects of the ethanol conversion efficiency (epsilon) and the ratio of the rice paddy area to flatland (gamma) on the CO2 emission and energy consumption of the rice straw transport process. The energy consumption and the CO2 emissions (epsilon: 0.60-1.0; gamma: 0.050-0.20) were determined to be 0.17-0.37 MJ L-1 and 0.012-0.025 kg L-1, respectively. The predicting model for the energy consumption and the CO2 emissions of the rice straw transport process was constructed, and the energy consumption and the CO2 emissions were proportional to the ethanol conversion efficiency raised to the -1.5 power and gamma raised to the -0.5 power. These results showed that the lower gamma, the higher the energy consumption of the rice straw transport process. Furthermore, the energy consumption of the rice straw transport process increased at large-scale plants because of the higher value of average transportation distance. (C) 2015 IAgrE. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Under osmotic stress, bacterial cells uptake compatible solutes such as glycine-betaine to maintain homeostasis. It is unknown whether incompatible solutes exist that are similar in structure to compatible solutes but have adverse physiological effects on bacterial physiology. The objective of this study was to evaluate solute incompatibility of various amino acids against bacterial growth. Bacterial growth was evaluated by changes in optical density at 595 nm in peptone-yeast-glucose (PYG) broth. Twenty-three amino acids with L and/or D isomers were examined for the effect of bacterial growth inhibition. Among the various amino acids examined, D-tryptophan (similar to 40 mM) in PYG broth supplemented with 0 to 4% (wt/vol) salt inhibited the growth of Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella enterica, and Escherichia coli 0157:117 at 25 degrees C. D-Tryptophan (30 to 40 mM) completely inhibited the growth of E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella in the presence of >3% salt, but the growth of L. monocytogenes was not completely inhibited under the same conditions. Low concentrations of salt (0 to 2% NaCl) with D-tryptophan did not significantly inhibit the growth of all bacteria except L. monocytogenes, which was relatively inhibited at 0% NaCl. The effect of D-tryptophan differed depending on the bacterial species, illustrating the difference between gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. These results indicate that the uptake of D-tryptophan as a compatible solute during osmotic stress may inhibit bacterial growth. The antibacterial effect of D-tryptophan found in this study suggests that D-tryptophan could be used as a novel preservative for controlling bacterial growth in foods.