23-5 |
Tools and technologies to enhance the quality and safety of fresh produce in the cold-chain |
Y. C. HUNG, Dept. of Food Science & Technology, Univ. of Georgia, 1109 Experiment St., Griffin, GA 30223-1797 To maintain the quality and safety of fresh produce, refrigeration should be maintained all the way from harvesting, packing, distributing, marketing, displaying, to storing at home. Many tools and technologies are available for each segment of the cold-chain. For example, good agriculture practices (GAP) is one of the new programs to help address the safety and quality concerns of fresh produce at pre-harvest and harvesting stages. Several new technologies are also available for air and water treatments during cooling operation to prevent pathogen contamination. New trend on direct-access and large number of small cold rooms instead of one large cold room to ensure good use of the available storage space, rapid cooling and control atmosphere application will be discussed. For transportation, more versatile, multi-compartment, multi-temperature refrigerated vehicles are now being used to achieve optimal filling of the vehicle and help maintain optimal quality of fresh produce. Global positioning system (GPS) has also been adopted for logistics management. On home storage side, average temperature recorded in household refrigerators are usually high and is also one temperature fits all. New development on multi-compartment drawers for household refrigerators will be discussed. Products and technologies to enhance washing efficiency on produce safety before consumption will also be discussed. Complying with the cold-chain in refrigerated areas is usually well maintained; however, it is very difficult to control and prevent temperature rises at interface. Technologies and management tools like time-temperature recorder to provide a traceable record, closed-off air-conditioned docks fitted with insulated doors to prevent temperature rises during loading or unloading, third party auditing, better education and training of workers will all be discussed.
Session 23, Impact of cold-chain management on fresh produce quality and safety
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