**5. Conclusions**

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations predicts that, globally, about 1.3 billion tons of food is lost per year. A large proportion of this loss is caused by postharvest microbial action. Much of this loss could be averted if more effective procedures and protocols were developed and adopted. Nanotechnology offers a range of novel tools with application in the fight against microbial food spoilage. Silver nanoparticles can act at cell level affecting from the cell wall or finely affecting the DNA. They offer a viable alternative to more traditional methods for the bacterial control. Once bacterial control is achieved using silver nanoparticles, continual bacterial monitoring becomes a critical component of the supply chain. For this, flow cytometry offers an accurate, novel and versatile technology through which to survey bacterial viability in assays of various bacterial control strategies.
