Post-harvest handling

Post-harvest handling

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. Post-harvest 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. [http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/postharvest.html] 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 home 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
*cull (remove damaged items)

ee also

* postharvest physiology


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Harvest — For other uses, see Harvest (disambiguation). Harvesting agriculture in Volgograd Oblast, Russia Harvest is the process of gathering mature crops from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse fo …   Wikipedia

  • History of post-Soviet Russia — With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991, the Russian Federation became an independent country. Russia was the largest of the fifteen republics that made up the Soviet Union, accounting for over 60% of the GDP and over half of… …   Wikipedia

  • Central Food Technological Research Institute — India s Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) is based in Mysore and was opened on 21 October, 1950.CFTRI Mysore is one of the 40 national research laboratories set up under the aegis of the Council of Scientific and Industrial… …   Wikipedia

  • Critical control point — Food safety Terms Foodborne illness Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) Cri …   Wikipedia

  • Market gardening — Market garden redirects here. For the World War II operation, see Operation Market Garden. In agriculture, market gardening is the relatively small scale production of fruits, vegetables and flowers as cash crops, frequently sold directly to… …   Wikipedia

  • Market garden — A market garden on an outlying island of Hong Kong For the Second World War Allied military action, see Operation Market Garden. A market garden is the relatively small scale production of fruits, vegetables and flowers as cash crops, frequently… …   Wikipedia

  • Postharvest — is a field that studies maintaining quality and preventing spoilage of horticultural crops. ee also*Post harvest handling *Postharvest physiologyExternal links* [http://postharvest.ucdavis.edu/ Postharvest Technology Research] *… …   Wikipedia

  • Horticulture — is the art and science of plant cultivation. Horticulturists (or horticuluralists) work and conduct research in the fields of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic engineering, plant biochemistry, and… …   Wikipedia

  • Postharvest physiology — is a field which studies maintaining quality and preventing spoilage of horticultural crops.ee also* Post harvest handling …   Wikipedia

  • New York State Agricultural Experiment Station — The New York State Agricultural Experiment Station (NYSAES) at Geneva, Ontario County, New York State, is an integral part of the New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University. It is a mission oriented experiment… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”