| Name: | Description: | Size: | Format: | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 727.41 KB | Adobe PDF |
Authors
Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Quality of fruit and vegetables is defined at harvest, and postharvest technologies only ensure that the rate
at which products’ quality decline is minimized. Fruit growers are faced with the problem of producing
enough quantities to be profitable but also to produce with high intrinsic quality. For consumers, flavor and
safety are the most important characteristics of quality. The main factors that affect flavor quality are the
genotype (cultivars/rootstocks), maturity at harvest, environment and cultural practices and the cross effect
between them. Pest and diseases control with pesticides, the use of growth regulators to improve quality
and consumer acceptance also play an important role in cultural practices and are firmly related to safety.
Some examples of preharvest factors influencing quality and safety of fruits will be discussed, given that
postharvest quality is based both on better flavor and safer products, as well as in long shelf life and high
acceptability. In the future, producers will have to identify all factors that influence composition and quality
and to use environmental friendly technologies that are able to increase postharvest quality.
Description
Proceedings of the International Conference “Environmentally friendly and safe
technologies for quality of fruit and vegetables”, held in Universidade do Algarve, Faro,
Portugal, on January 14-16, 2009. This Conference was a join activity with COST Action 924.
Keywords
Cultural practices Environment Flavor Safety