Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
animal feed, as feedstock for anaerobic digester (AD) plants and as soil amend-
ments applied to land. It is clear that no successful grower intentionally grows lower
grade products as the returns are less and they will endeavor to utilize crop where
there is an economic gain in doing so.
Underpinning each of the quality tiers is a specification which is usually much
more detailed than the EU or other international marketing standards. These speci-
fications are usually commercially sensitive. Inevitably, however, there is often
some degree of commonality between specifications used by many retailers, es-
pecially when considering a specific product in a single quality tier. Indeed, many
suppliers supply more than one retailer and the differentiation between specifica-
tions is less than might be assumed. In developed economies, specifications are
fundamentally based on visual appearance (e.g. size, shape and color uniformity)
and freedom from defects (e.g. disease, blemish, bruising or even susceptibility
to bruising physiological disorder); however cultivar and other attributes such as
taste and flavor which are also related to consumer preference (for some products)
are also important e.g. apples attaining threshold firmness and total soluble solids
content. Specifications are enforced by internal quality control inspections by sup-
pliers and retail customers. This said, the statistical validity of these inspections
is questionable. There is typically little tolerance for severe aesthetic defects even
for basic/value tiers. Specifications determine the assignment of products to each
quality tier, yet it is true that some specifications for certain product types are
solely based on physical attributes such as appearance. This does not mean that
these specifications are not useful as the importance of appearance should not be
underestimated (Terry et al. 2013 ).
It is easy to criticize specifications, but it should be acknowledged that non-
adherence to most specifications can markedly influence consumer preference and
purchasing decisions (Terry et al. 2013 ). Customer complaints and increasingly oth-
er feedback mechanisms are used to judge whether specifications reflect consumer
purchasing behavior. Yet, the accuracy of customer complaints is questionable.
Research Needs and Impact on Sustainability
There is a misconception that extending postharvest life always will reduce waste
and loss. The relationship is more complex and is related to appreciation of the
influence that management practices have on postharvest biology. For example,
where demand is predictable then waste and loss levels will be minimized even if
a product has a short shelf life (e.g. post climacteric bananas). On the other hand,
where demand is unpredictable because of weather influencing consumption (e.g.
unforeseen cold weather reducing strawberries and salad consumption even when
hot weather has been forecast) then there may be a propensity to oversupply such
that the residence time of product in store (often at sub optimum conditions) is in-
creased leading to greater risk of waste (Terry et al. 2011 ). Thus, although the use
of innovative postharvest technologies is often needed it is their implementation
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