## 4 Conclusions  
In conclusion, to the best of our knowledge, the application of low concentrations of gaseous citral was investigated and validated on table grapes during storage in this paper for the first time. The treatment with citral at both assayed concentrations, properly vaporized through suitable and passive diffusers, proved to be very effective in containing the development of soft rot caused by _R. oryzae_ ITEM 18876 without affecting the quality and sensory characteristics of the product. Thus, the application of low and non-toxic citral amounts could be used directly in the individual packs of table grapes, maintaining its antifungal efficacy even during domestic refrigeration.  
Overall, this natural compound could be successfully exploited in the development of control strategies to extend table grapes' shelf life, whilst also satisfying the consumer demand for natural preservative agents as well as meeting their acceptance.  
**Supplementary Materials:** The following supporting information can be downloaded at: [[https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/foods11162478/s1](https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/foods11162478/s1)]([https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/foods11162478/s1](https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/foods11162478/s1)). Figure S1. Disk diffusion method displaying the antimicrobial activity of citral (0.5 uL) against _R. oryzae_ ITEM 18876 inoculated at \(10^{7}\) and \(10^{6}\) spores/mL on PDA and incubated for 7 days at 25 \({}^{\circ}\)C of incubation.  
Figure 4: _R. oryzae_ ITEM 18876 counts on the inoculated table grapes (cv. Italia) packed in HDPE bags with different citral doses (A equal to MIC value of 0.0125 uL/cm\({}^{3}\) and B equal to 4-fold MIC value of 0.05 uL/cm\({}^{3}\), respectively) and stored at 12 \({}^{\circ}\)C and 85% relative humidity for 15 days. CTR: control without citral. Bars are means \(\pm\) standard deviations (_n_ = 9). Bars with different lowercase letters represent significantly different averages (_p_ < 0.0001; [PERSON]’s test; _F_(9.80) = 38.050, \(p\) = 2.549 \(\times\)\(10^{-25}\)).  
**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, F.F. ([PERSON]), and S.Z.; methodology, L.C., L.Q., F.F. ([PERSON]), S.Z., and V.L.; validation, L.C.; formal analysis, L.C., S.C., and M.C.; investigation, L.Q., L.C., A.S., A.C., and M.C.; data curation, L.C.; writing--original draft preparation, L.Q., F.F. ([PERSON]), S.Z., and L.C.; writing--review and editing, L.Q., L.C.; V.L., F.F. ([PERSON]), S.Z., M.C., F.F. ([PERSON]), and B.P.; visualization, L.Q., L.C., B.P., and M.C.; supervision, M.C.; project administration, B.P., and M.C.; funding acquisition, A.S., S.Z., B.P., and M.C. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.  
**Funding:** This research was funded by the project Prin 2017 \"MultiFFunctional poLymer cOmposites based on groWn matERials (MIFLOWER)\" from the Italian Ministry of Education University and Research Project (grant number: 2017B/MMJ5_001).  
**Data Availability Statement:** Data is contained within the article or Supplementary Materials.  
**Acknowledgments:** The authors thank [PERSON] of ISPA-CNR for the technical support in the laboratory.  
**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.