Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Orchards
Sea transport
Wholesaler(s)
Retailers
Consumers
Fig. 14.4
Supply chain for mangoes in the Netherlands
and are subsequently sorted on skin colour and size. Within these harvested fruits
significant variation in the maturity at harvest exists, varying from immature to
mature enough to ripen. Harvesting too early will result in tropical fruits sensi-
tive to chilling injury during sea transport (Gonzalez-Aguilar et al.
2000
) and will
not ripen properly resulting in poor consumer quality. Harvesting tropical fruits
just before the onset of ripening is crucial in determining eating quality (Brecht
and Yahia
2009
). Harvested too late will result in tropical fruit that either cannot
withstand postharvest handling or will be overripe when arriving in Europe to be
discarded in the last part of the supply chain. In total, losses due to no ripening and
over ripe mangoes are very variable but can surmount to 30-50 %. Immature or
overripe fruits that are sold to the consumer will create a disappointment. If these
disappointments occur regularly, this will have a strong influence on the buying
behaviour. This, in turn results in a lower turnover and a lower willingness to pay an
appropriate price (Schepers and Van Kooten
2006
). Figure
14.4
shows a simplified
mango supply chain in The Netherlands.
Tropical fresh fruits take up a significant part of the fruit and vegetable segment
in supermarkets. Turnover of tropical fruits in Dutch supermarkets rises every year
and have now a share close to 10 % of the total fruit turnover in supermarkets.
The main reason for the rapid increase in turnover of mango is the introduction of
the Ready To Eat (RTE) concept that resulted in a yearly increasing mango sales
volume at a 50 % increase price. The RTE concept is based on manipulation of the
ripening process of tropical fruit that have been transported for 2-3 weeks in sea
containers. The RTE concept at wholesalers involves storage for typically a few
days at 21-23 °C. After storage the tropical fruit may be returned for additional time
in the ripening chambers or packaged and marketed as RTE. An increasing percent-
age (up to 50 %) of tropical fruit is ripened and marketed as RTE for domestic con-
sumption. Dutch wholesalers are increasingly ripening for Scandinavian and middle
European markers. The RTE concept adds value to the fresh fruit chain resulting in
increased consumer sales and minimised product waste.
Mango Quality
Apart from blemishes and size, firmness is considered to be the most important
quality attribute and varies widely between batches of mangoes arriving in the Neth-
erlands. Within and between batches there is a large variation in firmness because
of their agronomic history and harvest stage. Manipulating postharvest conditions
is, next to switching of cultivars and origins, the key to produce RTE mangoes in
the retail shelves. Interacting factors are involved in the ripening of mangoes, which
