Food Hygiene & Quality Control Horticulture Production: Global Trends The world population would top eight billion by the year 2030(FAO) FAO estimated that the world production of fruits and vegetables over a three- year period was 489 million tons for vegetables and 448 million tons for fruits. This trend in production is expected to increase at a rate of 3.2 percent per year for vegetables and 1.6 percent per year for fruits. Asia is the leading producer of vegetables with a 61 percent total volume output and a yearly growth of 51 percent. the U.S. continues to lead in the export of fresh fruits and vegetables worldwide with orange, grapes, and tomatoes. Brazil dominates the international trade of frozen orange juice concentrate, while Chile has become the major fresh fruit exporter with a production volume of 45 percent. The top six fruit producers, in declining order of importance, are China, India, Brazil, USA, Italy, and Mexico. China, India, and Brazil account for almost 30 percent of the world's fruit supply TRADITIONAL CONSUMPTION
Fruit and vegetable consumption per capita showed an increase of 0.38
percent for fresh fruits and 0.92 percent for vegetables per capita from 1986 to 1995. The highest consumption of fresh fruits was registered in China (6.4%), as the apparent per capita consumption of vegetables in China went from 68.7 kg per capita in 1986 to 146 kg in 1995 (53.8% growth rate), while African and Near East Asian countries showed a decrease in fresh fruit consumption. The lowest consumption of vegetables per capita was registered in Sub- Saharan Africa. post harvest
In agriculture, postharvest handling is the stage of crop
production immediately following harvest, including cooling, cleaning, sorting and packing. The instant a crop is removed from the ground, or separated from its parent plant, it begins to deteriorate. Postharvest treatment largely determines final quality, whether a crop is sold for fresh consumption, or used as an ingredient in a processed food product. The most important goals of post-harvest handling are keeping the product cool, to avoid moisture loss and slow down undesirable chemical changes, and avoiding physical damage such as bruising, to delay spoilage. Sanitation is also an important factor, to reduce the possibility of pathogens that could be carried by fresh produce, for example, as residue from contaminated washing water. After the field, post-harvest processing is usually continued in a packing house. This can be a simple shed, providing shade and running water, or a large- scale, sophisticated, mechanized facility, with conveyor belts, automated sorting and packing stations, walk-in coolers and the like. In mechanized harvesting, processing may also begin as part of the actual harvest process, with initial cleaning and sorting performed by the harvesting machinery. Initial post-harvest storage conditions are critical to maintaining quality. Each crop has an optimum range for storage temperature and humidity. Also, certain crops cannot be effectively stored together, as unwanted chemical interactions can result. Various methods of high-speed cooling, and sophisticated refrigerated and atmosphere- controlled environments, are employed to prolong freshness, particularly in large-scale operations. Regardless of the scale of harvest, from domestic garden to industrialized farm, the basic principles of post-harvest handling for most crops are the same: handle with care to avoid damage (cutting, crushing, bruising), cool immediately and maintain in cool conditions, and cull (remove damaged items). Postharvest Shelf Life Once harvested, vegetable and fruit are subject to the active process of senescence. Numerous biochemical processes continuously change the original composition of the crop until it becomes unmarketable. The period during which consumption is considered acceptable is defined as the time of "postharvest shelf life". Postharvest shelf life is typically determined by objective methods that determine the overall appearance, taste, flavor, and texture of the commodity. These methods usually include a combination of sensorial, biochemical, mechanical, and colorimetric (optical) measurements. A recent study attempted (and failed) to discover a biochemical marker and fingerprint methods as indices for freshness Postharvest Physiology Postharvest physiology is the scientific study of the physiology of living plant tissues after they have denied further nutrition by picking. It has direct applications to postharvest handling in establishing the storage and transport conditions that best prolong shelf life. An example of the importance of the field to post- harvest handling is the discovery that ripening of fruit can be delayed, and thus their storage prolonged, by preventing fruit tissue respiration. This insight allowed scientists to bring to bear their knowledge of the fundamental principles and mechanisms of respiration, leading to post-harvest storage techniques such as cold storage, gaseous storage, and waxy skin coatings. Another well known example is the finding that ripening may be brought on by treatment with ethylene. Post-harvest technology involves all treatments or processes that occur from time of harvesting until the foodstuff reaches the final consumer. Efficient techniques for harvesting, conveying/transportation, handling, storage, processing/preservation, packaging, etc are components of the post- harvest chain. Harvesting is normally included as a component of the although post-harvest strictly means 'after harvest' because how produce are harvested have a large bearing on the post-harvest life of the produce. Post harvest technology is inter-disciplinary "Science and Technique" applied to agricultural produce after harvest for its protection, conservation, processing, packaging, distribution, marketing, and utilization to meet the food and nutritional requirements of the people in relation to their needs. Importance of Post-harvest technology lies in the fact that it has capability to meet food requirement of growing population by eliminating avoidable losses making more nutritive food items from low grade raw commodity by proper processing and fortification, diverting portion of food material being fed to cattle by way of processing and fortifying low grade food and organic wastes and by-products into nutritive animal feed. Post-harvest technology has potential to create rural industries. In India, where 80 percent of people live in the villages and 70 percent depend on agriculture have experienced that the process of industrialization has shifted the food, feed and fibre industries to urban areas. The purpose of post harvest processing is to maintain or enhance quality of the products and make it readily marketable. Post Harvest Industries
The post harvest industry includes the following main components
Harvesting and threshing Drying and storage Processing (conservation and / or transformation of the produce) Utilization by consumer including home processing. Other components of the system include.
Transportation and distribution.
Marketing. Grading and quality control. Pest control. Packaging. Communication among all concerned. Information, demonstration and advisory systems. Manufacture and supply of essential equipment and machinery. Financial control. Price stabilization Management and integration of the total system.