Abstract:
Fruits and vegetables are living “organs” of plants and are subject to damage by physical, physiological, and microbiological processes leading to rapid deterioration. Poor harvesting practices, lack of sorting to eliminate defects before storage, and the use of inadequate packaging materials further add to the problem. In general, minimizing physical bruising, sorting to remove damaged and diseased products, and effective temperature management will help considerably in maintaining product quality and reducing storage losses. If the temperature during the postharvest period is kept as close to the optimum as possible for a given commodity, storage life could be enhanced considerably. Thus to obtain products of optimum quality for processing, good preharvest, and postharvest technology practices are essential. In this chapter, we will discuss the general properties of fruit and vegetables, how deterioration may occur and ways of controlling it, general methods of preservation, some important method.
