POSTHARVEST MANAGEMENT BEYOND QUALITY MAINTENANCE

Most researchers, producers, consumers, marketers, and economists interested in fruit and vegetable quality have a reasonably clear concept of the term quality, although it is rarely defined.
An integration of the different quality definitions through a better appreciation of quality orientations should lead to the development of adequate handling systems more responsive to consumer desires.
Traditionally, fruits have been classified according to their respiration rate and pattern into climacteric and non-climacteric, considering that, unlike climacteric, non-climacteric fruits do not ripen after harvest.
This last assumption should be taken carefully since there are indications it is not so strict.
Thus, non-climacteric fruits may follow an off-plant ripening, although slower and just for some quality attributes, that should be taken into account during postharvest management.
Postharvest operations are currently aimed at maintaining harvest quality as well as possible for as long as practicable.
Different techniques may be used for these purposes that might be, however, detrimental for product quality if reaching certain limits of temperature or gas concentration.
A different point of view for postharvest management is considering it as a way to improve quality, especially organoleptic quality, thus making the product more attractive to the consumer.

V International Postharvest Symposium

C. Sanz

fruits, vegetables, sensory properties, consumer demands, biotechnology

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2005.682.51