Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Keywords
Postharvest
·
Quality
·
Transport
·
Distribution
·
Refrigeration
·
Fruits
·
Vegetables
·
Food waste
Introduction
Postharvest handling encompasses operations at harvest, transport to a packing fa-
cility, storage and transport technologies to preserve horticultural products until
delivery to a customer whether they be local, national or international. The best
possible outcome that can be achieved in postharvest operations is the preservation
of the quality of the fruit or vegetable in its original condition at harvest. While that
is the optimal goal, it can rarely be achieved in reality.
The final consequence for inadequate postharvest care is the loss or waste of that
fruit or vegetable. Extent of postharvest loss varies depending on the industry con-
text, i.e. whether we are discussing practices in developing or developed economies
and whether we are discussing local/regional or international distribution/marketing
chains. It is interesting to note that total losses of fruits and vegetables are generally
40-50 % in both developed and developing economy countries, with the exception
of industrialized Asia where losses are estimated at less than 40 % (Gustavsson et al.
2011
). It is instructive to analyze where the losses occur in the postharvest con-
tinuum. Generally, losses in postharvest handling, processing and distribution are
greater in the developing world, where much greater proportional losses are found
at the marketing/distribution/consumer level in developed economies, including in-
dustrialized Asia (Gustavsson et al.
2011
). This observation leads to the conclusion
that the postharvest care challenges and issues facing the developing world econo-
mies versus the developed world are quite different in nature and more importantly
are produce and even cultivar specific.
A number of technologies have developed over the last century which has en-
abled remarkable quality retention for most products. The greatest impact has been
due to implementation of refrigeration technologies. The widespread use of modern
mechanical refrigeration systems has allowed for longer term storage and transport
of most commodities from local to international scales. Refrigeration still continues
to be a challenge to successful postharvest care of fruits and vegetables in develop-
ing economies where lack of infrastructure is a constraint on access to refrigeration
(Anon
2011
). This issue will be discussed further later in this chapter.
Other technologies have been employed to augment refrigeration in modern
postharvest handling chains. These technologies include ethylene control (either
treatment with or methods to remove), ethylene action inhibition (1-methylcyclo-
propene), modified atmosphere packaging, controlled atmosphere storages, con-
trolled atmosphere transport trailers, coatings and waxes, and postharvest disease
and insect control (Yahia
2009
). Such technologies have been important largely for
long term storage and/or long distance shipping in national and in international mar-
keting chains. In fact, without the development of these other technologies, a large
component of international trade in fruits and vegetables would not be possible.
