Fruits and vegetables are essential for a healthy diet and are often filled with nutrients that are important for humans. Since most vegetables and fruits are highly perishable, there is, therefore, a need to ensure proper post-harvest handling as they move down the supply chain to ensure that the perishable life of the product is improved as much as possible. Nigeria is a rich hub of diverse fruits and vegetables for its different seasons.
The primary objective of post-harvest handling of fruits and vegetables is to maintain the quality by:
- Preventing loss of water which can lead to shriveling, softening, wilting, loss of weight, and aesthetic appeal.
- Reduction of metabolic activity to ensure spoilage does not occur.
- Minimizing bruising and mechanical damage which usually lead to the introduction of spoiling agents.
- Prevent spoilage by decays
Practices for Handling Fruits and Vegetables
Below are some of the guidelines for handling vegetables and fruits after harvest to ensure that their shelf life is prolonged as much as possible.
- Sorting: a preliminary sorting of produce should be carried out to remove unmarketable produce and foreign matter such as plant debris, soil, and stones.
- Washing of fresh fruits should however be avoided if possible as it can lead to fungi infection.
- Produce should be rinsed and washed with only clean water
- Do not wash produce with soap, baking soda, or other cleaning solutions as many fruits and vegetables are porous, and soap and cleaning solutions can be absorbed by the produce and expose consumers to chemical contamination
- A clean and soft brush can be used to clean product with hard exterior
- Dry cleaned fruits with a clean and soft towel as some fungi can be present on washed fruits.
- Package must have sufficient mechanical strength to protect the contents during handling, transport, and stacking.
- Packing material must be free of chemicals that can transfer to the product and be toxic to man.
- The package should allow for an adequate flow of air and cooling of produce.
- The cost of the package should be as low as possible.
- The packaging material should exclude light or be transparent.
Packages can be classified as follows:
- Flexible sacks such as bags and sacks
- Wooden crates
- Cartons
- Plastic crates
- Baskets made of woven strips of leaves.
Points to note when packaging:
- Packaging should be made in such a way that they do not damage fruits examples: nails and splinters in wooden packages should be removed or taken care of.
- Individual fruit items should be carefully placed in the packages to avoid rubbing against each other.
- Overfilling of containers should be avoided.
- Containers should be properly filled to limit damages caused by vibration.
- Loading and unloading should be done as carefully as possible
- Transportation time should be as short as possible.
- Overheating should be avoided
- Water loss should be avoided as much as possible
- Shelter from the elements such as sun and rain should be avoided.
- Load package tightly to reduce movement
- If possible, transportation vehicles should be fitted with cooling mechanisms such as refrigerators.
Conclusion
Post-harvest handling is the final stage in the process of producing high-quality fresh produce. Being able to maintain a level of freshness from the field to the consumer is highly important as it ensures that produce pass grading standards and ensures that the farmer is able to get good rates for his product.
To read more on post-harvest handling of oranges CLICK HERE and more information on horticultural crops follow this LINK
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