Post-harvest handling
Encyclopedia
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
, postharvest
Postharvest
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...
handling is the stage of crop
Crop (agriculture)
A crop is a non-animal species or variety that is grown to be harvested as food, livestock fodder, fuel or for any other economic purpose. Major world crops include maize , wheat, rice, soybeans, hay, potatoes and cotton. While the term "crop" most commonly refers to plants, it can also include...
production immediately following harvest
Harvest
Harvest is the process of gathering mature crops from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper...
, including cooling, cleaning, sorting and packing. The instant a crop is removed from the ground
Soil
Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...
, or separated from its parent plant
Plant
Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...
, it begins to deteriorate. Post-harvest treatment largely determines final quality, whether a crop is sold for fresh
Freshness
Freshness may refer to:* Post harvest freshness* Freshness , a 1995 album by Casiopea* Freshness , certainty that replayed messages in a replay attack on a protocol will be detected as such...
consumption, or used as an ingredient in a processed food product. Effective handling decreases postharvest losses
Postharvest losses
The postharvest sector includes all points in the value chain from production in the field to the food being placed on a plate for consumption. Postharvest activities include: Harvesting, handling, storage, processing, packaging, transportation and marketing...
.
The most important goals of post-harvest handling are keeping the product cool, to avoid moisture
Moisture
Humidity is the amount of moisture the air can hold before it rains. Moisture refers to the presence of a liquid, especially water, often in trace amounts...
loss and slow down undesirable chemical changes, and avoiding physical damage such as bruising, to delay spoilage.http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/postharvest.html Sanitation
Sanitation
Sanitation is the hygienic means of promoting health through prevention of human contact with the hazards of wastes. Hazards can be either physical, microbiological, biological or chemical agents of disease. Wastes that can cause health problems are human and animal feces, solid wastes, domestic...
is also an important factor, to reduce the possibility of pathogen
Pathogen
A pathogen gignomai "I give birth to") or infectious agent — colloquially, a germ — is a microbe or microorganism such as a virus, bacterium, prion, or fungus that causes disease in its animal or plant host...
s that could be carried by fresh produce, for example, as residue from contaminated
Contamination
Contamination is the presence of a minor and unwanted constituent in material, physical body, natural environment, at a workplace, etc.-Specifics:"Contamination" also has more specific meanings in science:...
washing water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...
.
After the field, post-harvest processing is usually continued in a packing house
Packing house
A packing house is a facility where fruit is received and processed prior to distribution to market.Bulk fruit is delivered to the plant via trucks or wagons, where it is dumped into receiving bins and sorted for quality and size...
. This can be a simple shed
Shed
A shed is typically a simple, single-storey structure in a back garden or on an allotment that is used for storage, hobbies, or as a workshop....
, providing shade and running water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...
, or a large-scale, sophisticated, mechanized
Mechanization
Mechanization or mechanisation is providing human operators with machinery that assists them with the muscular requirements of work or displaces muscular work. In some fields, mechanization includes the use of hand tools...
facility, with conveyor belt
Conveyor belt
A conveyor belt consists of two or more pulleys, with a continuous loop of material - the conveyor belt - that rotates about them. One or both of the pulleys are powered, moving the belt and the material on the belt forward. The powered pulley is called the drive pulley while the unpowered pulley...
s, automated
Automation
Automation is the use of control systems and information technologies to reduce the need for human work in the production of goods and services. In the scope of industrialization, automation is a step beyond mechanization...
sorting and packing stations, walk-in cooler
Cooler
A cooler, cool box, portable ice chest, chilly bin , or esky most commonly is an insulated box used to keep food or drink cool. Ice cubes are most commonly placed in it to help the things inside stay cool...
s 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
Temperature
Temperature is a physical property of matter that quantitatively expresses the common notions of hot and cold. Objects of low temperature are cold, while various degrees of higher temperatures are referred to as warm or hot...
and humidity
Humidity
Humidity is a term for the amount of water vapor in the air, and can refer to any one of several measurements of humidity. Formally, humid air is not "moist air" but a mixture of water vapor and other constituents of air, and humidity is defined in terms of the water content of this mixture,...
. Also, certain crops cannot be effectively stored together, as unwanted chemical interactions can result. Various methods of high-speed cooling, and sophisticated refrigerated
Refrigeration
Refrigeration is a process in which work is done to move heat from one location to another. This work is traditionally done by mechanical work, but can also be done by magnetism, laser or other means...
and atmosphere-controlled environments, are employed to prolong freshness, particularly in large-scale operations.
Regardless of the scale of harvest, from home
Home
A home is a place of residence or refuge. When it refers to a building, it is usually a place in which an individual or a family can rest and store personal property. Most modern-day households contain sanitary facilities and a means of preparing food. Animals have their own homes as well, either...
garden
Garden
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has...
to industrialized farm
Farm
A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...
, 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
- cull (remove damaged items)
See also
- postharvest physiology
- Postharvest lossesPostharvest lossesThe postharvest sector includes all points in the value chain from production in the field to the food being placed on a plate for consumption. Postharvest activities include: Harvesting, handling, storage, processing, packaging, transportation and marketing...
- Post-harvest losses (Fruit and vegetables)Post-harvest losses (fruit and vegetables)For a discussion of grain losses, see: Post-harvest losses The post-harvest sector includes all points in the value chain from production in the field to the food being placed on a plate for consumption. Postharvest activities include harvesting, handling, storage, processing, packaging,...
Further reading
Dixie, G.; Horticultural Marketing. FAO, Rome, 2005[ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/008/y4893e/y4893e00.pdf Lopez-Camelo, Andres. Manual for the preparation and sale of fruits and vegetables – from farm to market. FAO, Rome 2004]