Production Practices and Quality Assessment of Food Crops: Volume 3: Quality Handling and Evaluation (Production Practices and Quality Assessment of Food Crops)

Food quality is becoming an ever-increasing important feature for consumers and it is well known that some food crops are perishable and have a very short shelf and storage life. An effective quality assurance system throughout the handling steps between harvest and retail display is essential to provide a consistently good quality supply of fresh food crops to the consumers and to protect the reputation of a given marketing label. Food manufacturing companies all over the world are incre- ingly focussing on quality aspect of food including minimally processed food to meet consumer demands for fresh-like and healthy food products. To investigate and control quality, one must be able to measure quality-related attributes. Quality of produce encompasses sensory attributes, nutritive values, chemical constituents, mechanical properties, functional properties and defects. Successful postharvest handling of crops requires careful coordination and integration of the various steps from harvest operations to consumer level in order to maintain the initial product quality. Maturity at harvest is one feature of quality of perishable products, it has great influence on their postharvest behavior during marketing. Safety assurance can be part of quality assurance and its focus on minimizing chemical and microbial contamination during production, harvesting, and postharvest handling of intact and fresh-cut of commodities. Essentially, electromagnetic (often optical) prop- ties relate to appearance, mechanical properties to texture, and chemical properties to flavor (taste and aroma). Preliminaries......Page 1 CONTENTS......Page 6 Preface......Page 8 List of Authors......Page 10 Enzymes and Quality Factors of Fruits and Vegetables......Page 12 Volatile Flavours in Strawberries......Page 38 Methods to Evaluate the Antioxidant Activity......Page 66 Essential Oil Drugs – Terpene Composition of Aromatic Herbs......Page 84 Integral Handling of Banana......Page 140 Economics and Organisation of Horticultural Postharvest Production......Page 180 Handling Machinery and Damage Inflicted to the Product......Page 210 Mechanical Damage During Fruit Post-Harvest Handling......Page 244 Harvest and Postharvest Conditions for Apples and Pears......Page 264 Rapid Quality Evaluation Techniques of Horticultural Crops......Page 306 Table Grape Postharvest Management and Safety Issues......Page 318 Fruit Postharvest Technology......Page 332 Developmental Changes During Strawberry Fruit Ripening and Physico-Chemical Changes During Postharvest Storage......Page 352 Processing of Horticultural Crops in the Tropics......Page 382 Quality Dynamics and Quality Assurance of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables in Pre- and Postharvest......Page 412 Modification of Fruit Ripening by Genetic Transformation......Page 462 Quality of Equilibrium Modified Atmosphere Packaged (EMAP)......Page 484 REFERENCES......Page 524 An effective food quality assurance system is essential throughout during harvest and retail display to provide a consistently good quality supply of fresh food crops to the consumers and to protect the reputation of a given marketing label. This book covers various aspects of quality handling and assessment, including handling parameters, quality evaluation, CA and MAP storage conditions in a broad sense

this Book Covers Various Aspects Of Quality Handling And Assessment, Including Handling Parameters, Quality Evaluation, Ca And Map Storage Conditions In A Broad Sense. It Emphasises On Developing Better Methods Of Monitoring Quality And Safety Attributes Of Fresh Produce As Part Of A Quality Assurance System And Quality Assessment And Maintenance.

In harvested plant products, quality is the composite of those characteristics that differentiate individual units of the product and have significance in determining the units' degree of acceptability to the user (Arthey, 1975; Kramer and Twigg, 1970). v. 1. Preharvest practice v. 2. Plant mineral nutrition and pesticide management v. 3. Quality handling and evaluation.