Abstract Postharvest fungal decay threatens fruit and vegetable quality and safety, and the movement of produce across borders facilitates the spread of cosmopolitan pathogens. Comprehensive molecular data from such cross-border supply chains remain limited. A total of 78 symptomatic and asymptomatic samples of tomato, capsicum, grape, strawberry, zucchini, lemon, apple, pear, and banana were collected from an international produce market. Fungi were isolated on PDA (Rose Bengal dye) and characterized through sequencing of the ITS rDNA region, followed by phylogenetic placement against type and epitype sequences. Pathogenicity was assessed on corresponding healthy hosts using wounded and non-wounded inoculations. Lesion diameters were analyzed non-parametrically: Kruskal–Wallis (10,000-permutation p) with Dunn–Benjamini–Hochberg, and exact Wilcoxon with Cliff’s δ (95% CI) for wounded vs non-wounded within isolates. Twenty-seven isolates were resolved into 19 species across nine genera. Penicillium (9 isolates), Aspergillus (5), Fusarium (4), and Talaromyces (4) dominated. Some taxa infected intact tissues, including Mucor irregularis on zucchini and Fusarium inflexum on banana. Others, such as Penicillium expansum (apple), Talaromyces aculeatus and Fusarium falciforme (lemon), required wounds. On tomato, Penicillium oxalicum produced the largest lesions regardless of wounding. Significant effects were host‑ and isolate‑specific; a wounding effect was detected for grape (GL88). Fruits and vegetables act as vehicles for fungal pathogens that cross borders and establish themselves in new environments. Molecular characterization revealed a diverse set of cosmopolitan taxa with distinct host and wound dependencies. Effective biosecurity measures and careful handling are critical to limit the transboundary risks of postharvest fungal decay.
Al-Maaini et al. (Mon,) studied this question.