Abstract
Postharvest handling systems move produce from the grower to the consumer with minimal losses in quality and quantity providing a uniform, year round supply of fresh fruits and vegetables. The postharvest handling phase includes all stages of processing immediately following harvest and is characterised by various methods of pre-cooling, washing, cleaning, trimming, sorting, grading and packing. Postharvest handling and sorting has been in practice for as long as plants have been consumed by man. The earliest forms of handling systems would have simply involved dividing fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts and other produce into those which were fully ripe and/or damaged and require immediate consumption and those which could be put aside and stored for future use. Removal of rotten and inedible plant material immediately postharvest would have been carried out with the objective of preventing contamination of any produce to be stored, further ripened or processed by drying. Washing, cleaning and trimming are the postharvest operations which have been in use the longest. For much of agricultural history, fresh fruits and vegetables were harvested and consumed within a short time frame, thus the requirement for extensive grading, packaging, cooling and transportation was minimal. However, since the 1940s there has been a shift from consumers buying mostly fresh seasonal locally grown produce, to a vast international trade in a wide range of horticultural commodities. Some, such as apples and kiwifruit, may be stored for up to a year at a time before sale and consumption. This shift in produce handling has meant an increased reliance on postharvest handling systems to grade, sort, treat, classify and store produce in the correct way to standardise sizes, colours and maturity levels in order to maximise storage life and quality. Produce is often transported over large distances, passing through many handling systems before sale. Thus, attention to sanitation and food safety has become an increasing concern in the postharvest industry. Modern packhouses incorporate many standards and procedures to ensure produce is of the highest compositional and safety quality for consumers. The use of strict guidelines for packhouse and field food handling systems, GAP process (good agricultural practices), correct storage, grading out of reject product and classification into maturity levels have all assisted with this.
Chlorination and Postharvest Disease Control
