Abstract:
Citrus fruits belong to the Rutaceae family, which comprises sweet oranges, sour and bitter oranges, mandarins,
lemons, limes, grapefruit, pomelo, citrons, etc, and a wide range of hybrids and cybrids. The presence of vitamin
and flavonoid enhance the nutritional and medicinal properties. Hesperidin, found in citrus fruits is one of the
major flavonoids which binds with the active protein site of the severe acute respiratory syndrome, SARS-CoV-2
(Corona Virus-2). Citrus also helps to boost immunity. Fruits cannot be kept for a longer period under normal
conditions due to postharvest decay which causes heavy economic losses of up to 30% of the total production and
can go up to 50% in underdeveloped countries. This post-harvest loss causes non-utilization and wastage of citrus
and the world need nutritional security to prevent the pandemic and hidden hunger. So, it is required to process
the fruit in the form of canned products, squash, juice, juice concentrate, puree, essential oil, pickle, vinegar, etc
and enriched & fortified products such as fortified vermicelli or cookies with orange peel powder can help to
enhance immunity and prevent respiratory issues for utilization of citrus. The by-product obtained after processing
can be used to extract the essential oil and pectin from the waste. This value addition, enrichment, and
fortification help the citrus to reach the people for consumption and develop immunity. Hence, it could help to
reduce the activity against the COVID virus; and help to resolve the issue of hidden hunger.
