Articles
EFFECTS OF POSTHARVEST HANDLING PROCEDURES ON TOMATO QUALITY
Color, firmness, flavor, nutritive value, and safety of tomatoes are related to their composition at harvest and compositional changes during postharvest handling.
There are large genotypic variations in tomato quality attributes and it is possible to develop new cultivars which have good eating quality and maintain their firmness when fully ripe so that they can withstand the postharvest handling procedures.
Postharvest losses in quality and quantity are related to immaturity at harvest, inadequate initial quality control, incidence and severity of physical damage, exposure to improper temperatures, and delays between harvest and consumption.
Shortening the time between harvest and consumption can minimize loss of the characteristic tomato aroma and development of off-flavors.
Tomatoes subjected to bruising usually have less "tomato-like" flavor and more off-flavors than those without physical damage.
Exposure to chilling temperatures adversely affects tomato flavor before other symptoms of chilling become apparent.
Temperature also influences color uniformity and softening rate of tomatoes.
Reduced oxygen atmospheres can delay ripening of tomatoes kept within the optimum temperature range (12 to 20°C). Ethylene treatment results in faster and more uniform ripening of green tomatoes by reducing their "green-life". Since ethylene treatment reduces the time between harvest and consumption, it may have positive effects on flavor quality and vitamin C content relative to tomatoes picked green and ripened without ethylene application.
Although significant improvements in tomato quality and its maintenance between harvest and consumption can be made using existing information, additional research is needed to continue to provide solutions to tomato quality problems.
Some examples of such research are discussed in this paper.