Spice and herb oil as potential alternative to agrochemicals in postharvest management of fruits and vegetables

AbstractFresh fruits and vegetables are susceptible to several diseases caused by many phytopathogenic microbes which affect their shelf life and quality especially after harvesting. To control these postharvest diseases, the use of synthetic agrochemicals are found to be effective but their phytotoxicity has created a great concern on consumer’s health, environment and food security. The continuous application of synthetic agrochemicals have found to be developing resistance to several pathogen populations. Currently, many importing countries enforce strict regulations on the minimal pesticide residual levels in the edible part of fresh produce. All these reasons mentioned above have necessitated to search for the natural and novel formulations as alternatives to replace the conventional chemical application during postharvest treatments. A novel approach to manage the postharvest losses, while retaining the fruit quality, has been implemented by the use of essential oils like cinnamon oil, thyme oil extracted from spices and herbs. This strategy eliminates the need for the use of synthetic formulations, thereby ensuring the global food security. Therefore, this review aims to emphasize the potential use of spice and herb oils as green alternative and as well as protective agents, their mode of action, method of application and their potential challenges by implementing in postharvest management of fruits and vegetables.