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4. Catalano A.E., Sapienza M., Peluso O., Spagna G. (2008) Miglioramento qualitativo degliortofrutticoli di IV gamma: ruolo dei principali enzimi degradativi. Industrie Alimentari, 408,479-485.The market demand for minimally processed fruits and vegetables has undergone an important rise during recentyears because of busy lifestyles, increasing purchasing power, and increasingly healthconscious consumers.Minimal processing for vegetables has been defined as a combination of procedures, such as washing, sorting,trimming, peeling, and slicing or chopping, that do not affect the fresh quality of the food. Furthermore, it wouldseem that the cut provokes a stress reaction of increased enzyme production. There are numerous works in literatureconcerning enzyme alteration in fresh-cut vegetables. In particular, in this review we selected and describedthe enzymes relating to the main alteration of fresh cut productions: softening (PME, PG) and browning (PAL,PPO).5. Catalano A.E., Licitra C., Peluso O., Mauromicale G., Spagna G. (2009). Shelf-life and qualityaspects of chilled coocked Artichocks (Cynara cardunculus subsp. Scolymus. ItalianJournal of Food Science (in press).Cook-chill foods can be defined as perishable foods which have undergone a mild heat or pasteurisation processand which, to extend the time during which they remain wholesome, are intended to be kept in the temperaturerange of 0-4 ° C. Products include pre-prepared meals, pasta, rice, vegetable, soups and sauces. In this work thesuitability and shelf-life of different Artichockes (Cynara cardunculus subsp. Scolymus) cultivars (Violetto diProvenza, Violetto di Sicilia , Madrigal e Harmony) to chilled cocked production was tested to set up a technologicalprocess and to formulate a new commercial item. There were individuated the best solutions of time andtemperature of treatment to preserve sensory quality and microbiological safety. There were selected some enzymaticmarkers to describe the main product alterations: polyphenoloxidase (PPO, E.C. 1.14.18.1), Phenylalanineammonia-lyase (PAL, EC 4.3.1.5) related to browning, and pectinmethylesterase (PME, EC 3.1.1.11), polygalacturonase(PG, EC 3.2.1.15) related to softening. There was selected the most suitable cultivar on the basisof the previous biological (enzymatic) and chemical-sensorial markers (PPO, PAL; PME, PG,) analyzed on rawplant material before processing and on processed vegetable during shelf-life.SISTAL - SOCIETA’ ITALIANA DI SCIENZE E TECNOLOGIE ALIMENTARIDipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Agroalimentari, Università degli Studi della TusciaVia San Camillo de Lellis, 01100 ViterboTel.: 0761- 35 74 94/7 , Fax: 0761- 35 74 98, e-mail: mmoresi@unitus.it89