Resumo O objetivo do artigo é identificar etapa da cadeia de abastecimento de alimentos (CAA) com maior perda e desperdício de alimentos (PDA), os fatores que influenciam e os impactos econômicos, sociais e ambientais nos países da América Latina. Realizamos revisão de escopo de estudos observacionais, relatos de caso e estudos intervencionais em janeiro de 2023. As buscas foram realizadas em bases de dados científicas e busca manual de listas de referências. Os dados dos estudos incluídos foram resumidos com síntese narrativa. No total, 16 artigos atenderam aos critérios de elegibilidade. As maiores PDA ocorrem nas fases inicial e intermediária do CAA, principalmente durante o armazenamento. Principais causas das perdas eram financeiras, gerenciais e operacionais relacionadas a técnicas de colheita, instalações de armazenamento e resfriamento, infraestrutura e sistemas de comercialização. Desperdício é resultado da falta de instalações de armazenamento adequadas e sistemas de transporte eficientes, flutuações de mercado e de sistemas. Um estudo apresentou resultados sobre o impacto ambiental das perdas. Há maior ocorrência de perdas alimentares, caracterizadas pela diminuição da quantidade e qualidade dos alimentos nas etapas iniciais da CAA.

Abstract The article aims to identify stage of the food supply chain (FSC) has the greatest food loss and waste (FLW), the factors that influence and economic, social and environmental impacts in Latin America countries. We carried out a scoping review of observational studies, case reports and interventional studies in January 2023. Searches were performed in scientific databases and hand-searching of reference lists. Data on the included studies were summarized with narrative synthesis. In total 16 articles met the inclusion criteria. The greatest FLW occur in the early and middle stages of the FSC, mainly during storage. The main causes were connected to financial, managerial and operational limitations related in harvesting techniques, storage and cooling facilities, infrastructure and marketing systems. Food waste (FW) is also a result of lack of appropriate storage facilities and efficient transport systems, market fluctuations and systems. Only one study presented results on the environmental impact of FW. There is a higher occurrence of food loss, characterized by decrease in the quantity and quality of food in the first three stages of FSC.

Abstract Washing and sanitization are considered particularly critical steps for the microbiological quality of fruits. At this stage, it is important to select the sanitizer which must have microbiological effectiveness. In the literature, there is a great interest on alternative sanitizers for microbiological quality control of food. This study aimed at verifying the effectiveness of sodium hypochlorite, ozone, ultrasound and citric acid as well as associations of ultrasound to the other techniques mentioned above in the microbiological quality control of strawberries cv. Oso Grande. In these trials, the fruits were initially subjected to artificial contamination by a strain of Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 and thereafter part of them was reserved as control samples; the remainder was submitted to different kinds of sanitization treatment. Then, some microbiological analyses of coliforms counts at 45 °C were performed with those present in the control samples and in the post-sanitization samples, through the enzymatic technique of chromogenic substrate. The three most efficient treatments for maintaining the microbiological quality of the fruit were 2% citric acid, 2% citric acid associated with ultrasound and ozone.