## 1 Introduction  
According to EUROSTAT (ec.europa.eu) surveys, half of the EU population eats at least one portion of fruits and vegetables on a daily basis and this trend is increasing (the southern states are in the top three EU Member States in daily intake of fruit: Italy (85%), Portugal (81%) and Spain (77%)) [1]. Unsurprisingly, the WHO/FAO Joint Expert Consultation Report on Diet, Nutrition and the Preventionof Chronic Diseases states that at least 400 g of fruits and vegetables per day are needed to prevent heart disease, certain types of cancer, diabetes and obesity [2]. Given these statistics, important food quality and food safety issues emerge. Fruits and vegetables are rich in humidity and carbohydrate content and hence characterized as ideal habitats for bacterial and fungal growth [3]. Among others, factors such as the presence of various parasites and the quality and origin of manure, harvest and postharvest treatment and skin lesions are of utmost importance for their contamination with pathogens and spoilage microorganisms. Various studies have shown the presence of _Salmonella_ spp., _E. coli_ O157:H7, _Listeria monocytogenes_, _Basillus cereus_, _Campylobacter_ spp., _Yersinia enterocolitica_, _Clostridium botulinum_ and other pathogens, in addition to some viruses and parasites in fruits and vegetables [4; 5]. Spoilage bacteria such as _Erwinia carotivora_ and _Xanthomonas campestris_ cause various types of lesions regarding texture and color thus reducing their quality and commercial value [6]. There are modern trends in food processing concerning food safety and prolonging shelf life. Consumers prefer minimally processed foods that are free of chemical preservatives. Given these demands, and the increasing resistance of pathogens and spoilage bacteria to antibiotics and other chemicals, the food industry is seeking alternative means of food preservation [7; 8].Consequently, there is an increasing interest in so-called \"green technologies,\" including novel approaches to the minimal processing of food as well as the use of microbial metabolites such as bacterioxins on an industrial scale for \"biopreservation\" [9]. In order to control, or even prevent, the growth of such microorganisms, the application of bacterioxins-producing lactic acid bacteria (LAB) has been proposed [10]. LAB can be isolated from many raw wild fruits, vegetables and flowers [11; 12]. Moreover, lactic and acetic acid bacteria can promote the spoilage of fruits, vegetables, fruit juices and beverages as residents at the outer layer of the skin of fruits and vegetables [6]. These bacteria are known for the fermentation of carbohydrates and the production of various organic acids such as lactic acid, which significantly lower the pH of fermented foods [12]. They also produce other compounds with antimicrobial action such as hydrogen peroxide, acetaldehyde and bacterioxins [13; 14; 15]. Bactericons are peptides with natural antibacterial activity, and there is a reason for their comparison to antibiotics. Many researchers propose the term \"biological preservatives of foods\" and stress the fact that bacterioxins are not used for clinical therapeutic purposes as antibiotics are [16]. They are synthesized in the ribosomes of the bacterial cell and secreted extracellularly. Bacterioxins are most effective against Gram-positive bacteria. The spectrum of their activity varies from narrow (against one species) to broad (against several species) [17; 18]. The main advantage of bacterioxins is that their presence does not change the sensorial characteristics of foods. Their usage enables the reduction of the intensity of other means of preservation such as heat. These two characteristics make bacterioxins' application compatible with modern consumer demands for the minimal and more natural treatment of foods [19]. Bacterioxins can be preferably added to foods as compounds rather than cultures of bacteriocin LAB because, in the latter case, LAB can ferment the carbohydrates of foods [20].