## 3 Results and Discussion
### Microbiological Analyses  
The results of microbiological analysis are also shown in Table 2. The aerobic bacterial mesophilic population (TBC) in the fresh sample was quite low, ranging between 2.68 and 2.88 Log(cfu/g) for the Control and BA samples, respectively. Statistical analysis suggests the pre-harvest treatment did not affect the TBC of the grapes. At end storage, the TBC in BA rose in all packaging conditions, ranging between 5 and 6 Log(cfu/g). On the other hand, the experimental packaging solutions tested were effective in controlling the contamination rate in the Control batch. The Control-BD samples had the lowest contamination, whilst in the Control-OP TBC was considerable, reaching over 6 Log(cfu/g). As expected, TMC results confirm the higher contamination of the BA batch with respect to the Control, which may be due to the in-field treatment. Over the cold storage, the mould growth was unchanged only in the BA-BD batch, whereas it rose to 3 Log(cfu/g) in the BA-SP and BA-OP samples, and experienced the highest value in the ControlBD batch, reaching over 3.5 Log(cfu/g). Analysis of variance carried out showed the highest weight of the packaging (\(p\) = 0.082) rather than the treatment (\(p\) = 0.110) on TMC evolution in the experiment, but the interaction between factors was prominent. The number of aerobic mesophilic bacteria is widely used to evaluate the microbiological quality and safety of ready-to-eat produce, making them one of the most significant food quality indicators. It indicates possible sources of contamination during manufacture and reflects the suitability of temperature and hygienic management during processing, transport, and storage. Although EU Regulation does not limit the TBC in fresh food, several studies and worldwide public guidelines claim the limits are not applicable to fresh F&V [44; 45; 46; 47], due to the wide variety of F&V products and production techniques. Hence, a thorough comprehension of the product type is required in order to completely interpret the TBC (i.e., it is truly ready-to-eat or an ingredient that requires a further heating process before consumption). The stage of shelf-life should also be considered, if sampled at the point of production TBC is likely to categorise foods as \"satisfactory\", whereas if sampled at the end of shelf-life TBC can normally be expected to approach the upper \"borderline\" limit. TBC of less than 6 Log cfu/g is usually associated with a mixed flora. Above this point, a predominant organism often is present and the kind of organism that predominates will determine the acceptability and organoleptic quality of the food. For raw, ready-to-eat food commodities such as salad vegetables, TBC may already be high at harvest, between 6 and 8 Log cfu/g. That microbiological profile shortens their shelf life because spoiling can happen quickly and is usually noticeable [45]. Storage in MAP may hinder microbial growth, upon the CO\({}_{2}\) and O\({}_{2}\) partial pressure in the headspace. [PERSON] et al. [38] stored _Red Globe_ cv. in different MAP conditions, achieving between 30 and 40% CO\({}_{2}\) and anaerobic condition after 21 days of storage at 5 \({}^{\circ}\)C, and they did not find any variation of TBC (averaging 4.5 Log cfu/g), whilst the higher the CO\({}_{2}\) the lower TMC (ranging between 3 and 5 Log cfu/g). In our study, we used 20% CO\({}_{2}\) in order to mitigate the bacterial and mould growth, but the hindrance effect was detected upon the interaction between the packaging solution used and in-field treatment, as only the combination of _A.pullulans_ and 20% CO\({}_{2}\) was effective to slow the fungal growth. This may be due to the high antagonistic activity against _B. cinerea_, mainly associated with the antimicrobial organic volatile compound (ethanol, 2-methyl-1-propanol, 3-methyl-1-butanol and 2-phenylethanol) produced by _A. pullulans_[48] that enhance the oxidative stress and compromise the membrane wall permeability in _B. cinerea_[49].