Post Harvest Physiology and Quality Management of Fruits and Vegetables

Contents: Preface. 1. Introduction. 2. Fruits and vegetables in human nutrition. 3. Pre-harvest factors in produce marketing. 4. Perishability and produce losses. 5. Harvesting and field handling. 6. Packaging of fruit and vegetables. 7. Pack house. 8. Transport. 9. Post-harvest treatments and processing of fruits and vegetables. 10. Storage. 11. Pathology and physiological disorders. 12. Marketing systems for selling produces. 13. Marketing strategies. 14. Strategies for improvement in marketing. 15. Post harvest technology of fruits and vegetables. 16. Food hazards. 17. Food quality : an introduction. 18. Quality characteristics of food. 19. Quality control in food processing industry. 20. Food adulteration. 21. Food safety. 22. Food law. 23. HACCP. 24. Grading. 25. Food trade. Appendices I - III. References. Subject index.

"India is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world next only to China. However, the post harvest loss is very high due to poor storage facilities and inadequate processing industries. The total wastage in all food sectors is as high as Rs. 50,000 crores. However, there are only few books to impart some knowledge of post harvest technology to the farmers, entrepreneurs, teachers and students. The present book is designed to deal the post harvest life of horticultural produces and the quality management in detail, spread in 25 chapters. The book is divided into two parts in such a way that the first part deal with the importance of post harvest losses, effect of ethylene and respiration in shelf life of the harvests, different storage methods, packaging of commodities, marketing of produces, post harvest practices for individual crops and food hazards. The second part of the book deals with the quality characteristics to be considered, quality variables, quality control, HACCP, grading, food laws and food trade. This book will be very useful for teachers at Agricultural Universities, under graduate and postgraduate students of horticulture, extension personnel, training institutions, planners and administrators besides stakeholders." (jacket)