Qualità degli agrumi in seguito a disinfestazione contro la mosca mediterranea (Ceratitis capitata) mediante quarantena a regime di freddo o con calore.

Various citrus importing Countries require quarantine security against Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata) (Medfly) and fruits must be certified Medfly-free. Therefore, disinfestation is necessary before marketing in fly-free areas. Hot moist air treatment for 100 or 50 min at 44 or 46 °C (it is specified that the timing starts only when fruit in the coolest part of the chamber reaches the set temperature) and cold quarantine treatments (12 to 17 days at 0.5 to 2 °C) are accepted by the regulatory agencies of most importing countries and are widely used on a commercial scale as an alternative to chemical fumigants (ethylene dibromide, ethylene oxide, methyl bromide). Unfortunately, these technologies cannot be generalised and should be optimised to each cultivar as the conditions lethal to Medfly may be close to the treatment threshold tolerance of fruit to avoid adverse effects to fruit quality (treatment damage, decline of organoleptic and nutritional characteristics) or increase susceptibility to chilling injury and decay. In this report an account will be given on the impact of cold quarantine and heat treatment for fruit fly disinfestations on quality characteristics of citrus fruit.