INTRODUCTION TO POST HARVEST

According to the Food and Agriculture

●​ What are the common Problems in Organization, on a global scale, over 45% of
Post harvest? all fresh produce travelling through the cold
chain system is lost on the journey. In light
The Post Harvest Problem of this, the world is currently
home to over seven billion people in 2020.
• There is a 16-36% post-harvest loss of Within that 7 billion, there are an estimated
fruits every year due to mechanical, 925 million people who are currently
microbial, and physiological causes. There starving.
are various stages after harvest where
things can go wrong, such as handling, Food of Plant Origin
storage, packing, and transportation
Cereals- the edible seeds from certain
- Insufficient infrastructure grains such as wheat, rice, barley, oats and
- Inadequate storage facilities corn.
- Improper handling procedures
- Limited market access Fruits- the matured ovaries of flowers. The
part eaten is the fleshy part around the
Post harvest losses in the Philippines seeds and [Link] include
berries, citrus and stone.
In 2005, Philippine fruits and vegetables
were worth Php 101.5B (BAS, 2005). Vegetables- herbaceous plants which are
usually grown from seed. The classifications
An average loss of 35% thus amounts to are derived from the part of the plant
Php 35.52B annually. eaten-root, stem, leaf, flower, bulb etc.

Common causes of post harvest losses Nuts -an edible kernel surrounded by a
in the Philippines hard shell.

●​ Rough handling Legumes- the seeds of pod bearing plants.

●​ Inadequate cooling and temperature
maintenance
●​ Lack of sorting to eliminate defects Food of Animal Origin
before storage
●​ Inadequate packaging material Meat- the flesh of animals, birds and fish
that humans eat.
The Post Harvest Problem
Dairy Foods- are the milks or products
The current projections in in global produced from liquid milk from cows, goats
population growth, by 2050 if we have not or sheep.
found practical solutions to sustain food
provisions, there simply will not be enough
resources available for everyone.
Eggs- A self contained food from mostly Perishables are food crops whose food
hens, but also ducks, geese, emu's and value is maintained over a short period of
other birds. time after harvest.

What is Post-harvest? PROPERTIES OF DURABLE AND

PERISHABLE CROPS
●​ This is the handling or management
stage immediately following harvest. Durable Crops
●​ It is also the period between maturity ●​ Pronounced seasona; harvest.
of crop and its time of final Long-term storage is necessary
consumption ●​ Harvest time moderately critical over
1-2 weeks
Postharvest handling specifically involves ●​ Processing (other than threshing) to
the movement and the operation that prepare the produce is rarely
commodities undergo harvest to the time necessary
immediately before meal preparation ●​ Often symmetrical in
shape-facilitates handling Small
●​ Its main concern is to keep units mostly weighing less than 1 g
commodities in an acceptable state ●​ Low moisture content, usually in the
from harvest until it reaches the range of 10-15% Slow respiratory
consumer since most commodities activity of stored and thus a low rate
are transported in their perishable of development of heat in stored
state crops to the generation of
considerable heat and moisture,
●​ Poor handling of agricultural particularly in the absence of
commodities can result in quality refrigeration Hard texture, good
deterioration and losses. protection from injury
●​ Physiologically stable, inherent
Classification of Food Crops Bases on storgae life of several years
Their Postharvest Life (2) ●​ Storage losses mostly caused by
external factors (molds, insects and
- Durables vertebrate pests)
- Perishables
Perishable Crops
Durables are food crops or raw products
which can be maintained and are stable as ●​ Continual or semi-annual harvesting
food over a long period of time is often possible; long-term storage
Examples: may therefore be avoided.
• Rice ●​ Harvest windows are very variable.
• Maize Critical periods may be 1-3 days, for
• Wheat semi-durable crops the harvest
• Sorghum period may be over many weeks
• Peanuts ●​ Processing to physiologically stable
• Coffee products often used as an
 alternative to storing fresh produced Cleaning/Winnowing
Many shape, often asymmetrical and ●​ Removing the foreign matter
therefore difficult to handle without ●​ Cleaning/Winnowing
damage ●​ Increases purity and market value
●​ Large units, mostly weighing
between Sg and 5 kg High moisture Storage
content, commonly 50-90% ●​ Protecting the grain with different
●​ Soft textured tissues prone to injury store types
and predation ●​ Keeping the grain untill a good time
●​ Physiologically perishable, inherent for market
storage life of few days or weeks,
although longer for semi-durables, What happens after farm
some of which may be stored for ●​ Sala to different buyers
several months ●​ Transport to warehouse
●​ Storage depreciation caused by both
inherent processes (respiration, PHYSIOLOGICAL PROCESSES THAT
sprouting and composition OCCUR IN HARVESTED COMMODITIES
changes-especially ripening) and
external factors (water loss, Respiration
temperature stress, moulds, -​ Low respiration commodities (onion,
bacteria, insects and vertebrate potato, gabi, sweet potato, yam,
pests) ginger)

POST-HARVEST MANAGEMENT -​ Intermediate rates commodities

ACTIVITIES (lanzones, rambutan, pineapplr,
guava, lemon, calamansi, guyabano,
Harvesting papaya)
●​ Collecting in the crop at the right
time -​ High rates commodities are organs
●​ Avoiding bad weather at immature stage (asparagus, snap
●​ Avoiding contamination with soll beans, cauliflower, okra, young corn,
bean sprout)
Drying
●​ Give value add to the grains Physiological Processes that Occur in
●​ Retain maximum quality of crop Harvested Commodities
●​ Reduce moisture levels for safe
storage All fruits and vegetables are living
organs.
Threshing/Shelling
●​ Reduce required storage capacity They use oxygen and produce carbon
●​ Removing the foreign matter dioxide during respiration, the process by
which carbohydrate and other substrates,
such as organic acids, proteins and fats, are
metabolized.
 produce to avoid control of
undesirable contents. Both dry
(dusting) and wet (washing)
methods

4. Washing
●​ Washing should be done with clean
water mixed with neutral detergent
of 0.1% (Iml/liter) should take 5
minutes and room temperature.

[Link] & grailing

●​ Sorting is removing undesirable
products like diseases, damage,
Post Harvest Changes
deformed. Grading is categorizing
according size, weight, oslor
●​ Wilting
maturity etc
●​ Softening
●​ Shriveling
6. Packaging
●​ Stem and rind breakdown
●​ Putting products in an enclosure is
●​ discoloration
important. Packaging eases
handling and transportation as well
POST HARVEST MANAGEMENT
protection from further damages
FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
shrinkage etc to increase shelf life
Stages of post-harvest handling
7. Storing
1. Harvesting
●​ Vegetables require different storage
●​ Harvest at cooler times of the day
conditions. Most fruits and
●​ Don't harvest during rain
vegetables require cool environment
●​ Pick only mature fruit leaves
mean while others like onions
require moderate temperatures of
2. Curing this involves leaving a product
about 15-21°C
in a shade for a while until desired
period.
8. Transport
●​ This is specifically meant to reduce
●​ Transport of vegetables and fruits
water loss for hardy crops like
contributes to much of post harvest
onions, garlic and potatoes Curing
losses especially market produces.
provides protective film on bulbs to
Transport temperatures should be
increase shelf life
maintained normal good stacking
should be done
3. Cleaning
-​ This is a treatment given to remove
adhering dast, dirt, extraneous
matter, pathogens ets from the
surface of the produce it sanitizes
 Secondary Processing

●​ Methods used to convert primary

processed foods into other food
products either on their own or
mixed with other ingredients. The
physical form can change quite
significantly as a result of secondary
processing.

Examples: juicing, peeling, stewing, dicing,

mixing, canning, kneading, cooking, baking

What is Post- harvest technology?

So...why Post-harvest?
Post-harvest technologies constitute an
inter-disciplinary science and techniques
●​ Solution to food security and poverty
applied to agricultural commodities after
●​ Enhances potential for exporting
harvest for the purpose of preservation,
traditional crops
conservation, quality control/enhancement,
●​ Improves and increases a farmer's
processing, packaging, storage, distribution,
chances of making profits
marketing, and utilization to meet the food
●​ Makes produces to last longer
and nutritional requirements of consumers
–grain shelf life
in relation to their needs.?
●​ Incidences of food poisoning is
lowered like aflatoxin
The three main objectives of applying
●​ Consumers get access to wider food
postharvest technology:
varieties
●​ Adds value to farm produce and
●​ Maintains quality (appearance,
traditional food products
texture, flavor and nutritive value)
●​ Slows down undesirable changes
●​ Protects food safety
Primary Processing
●​ Involves a range of processes to
●​ Reduce losses between harvest and
make food safe to eat so that it can
consumption
be consumed individually or used in
the manufacture of other food
products. The physical form changes
very little.

Examples: harvesting, picking, washing,

sanitizing, grading, sorting, milling,
packaging, weighing and distribution