https://www.canr.msu.edu/iat/food-processing
INTODUCTION
India is a vast country and a wide range of variety of fruits and vegetables are
cultivated in different regions. There has been a phenomenal rise in production
of fruits and vegetables in our country since Independence. As per the data for
2000-2001, the production of fruit is about 45.37 million metric tonnes and
vegetable about 93.92 million metric tonnes available in India and going to be
doubled by 2011 and is considered to be the second largest producer next to
china in the world. Unfortunately, unlike other horticulture rich countries,
average Indians do not get the basic daily requirement of fruits and vegetables
and our Human Development Index is very low. This is because a considerable
amount of this valuable produce is lost due to improper post harvest
management. High moisture content, living nature and presence of readily
utilizable nutrients make fruits and vegetables highly perishable commodities.
Spoilage mainly occurs due to microbial attack, auto-oxidation and insect pest
attack. According to a study, at least 25 to 30 percent of the production of
fruits and vegetables in the country is lost due to wastage and value
destruction. The wastage cost was estimated to be Rs. 67,500 crores each year.
Even if 1% of this could be saved by converting them into value added
products, there will be a saving of Rs. 67.5 crores annually. Further, the cost of
reducing spoilage is much lesser than the production of the same quantity and
quality produce. Post harvest management of horticultural produce is therefore
the need of the hour in order to feed ever-growing population of the world in
general and India in particular. The most important advantage of post harvest
management and processing is the reduction of post harvest losses of fruits and
vegetables.
NEED & IMPORTANCE OF POST HARVEST MANAGEMENT
- Nutritional Security:
Fruits and vegetables constitute an important part of human's food. Even though they are generally not considered as a staple food yet they help in intake of cereal foods by making them more palatable in nature. Fruit and Vegetables in general, except for a few, are not considered to be the primary source of carbohydrate, protein and fat. However, some of them with storage roots and tubers are rich in carbohydrate, particularly starch, in amounts comparable to the cereal crops, and the leguminous vegetables supply as much as 14 per cent protein, dry seeds supplying still more. The lipid content in most vegetables is less than 0.1 per cent. Most fruit, vegetables and root crops are rich in minerals, carotene (Pro-vitamin A) and vitamin C. Besides, there are some trace elements required by the body like copper, manganese and zinc, which act as coenzymes. These are found in appreciable quantity in fruit and vegetables.
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The amount of nutrient can vary with fruit and vegetables, cultural practices, stage of maturity, post-harvest handling and storage conditions. Once they are harvested, their composition goes on changing as a result of physiological and biochemical activities, which are natural processes. Fruits and vegetables are the rich source of vitamins, minerals, and trace elements, deficiency of which leads many diseases such as scurvy, beriberi, night blindness etc. In addition, most of the fruits and vegetables are also loaded with antioxidants and fibers. Antioxidant neutralizes free radicals produced in the body that is found a possible cause of cancer and also prevents faster aging. At the same time fiber controls many cardiovascular diseases and movement of foods in the digestive system. Several vitamins and minerals that are scarce in cereals and animal products are present in abundance in fruits and vegetables. Beside this, fruits and vegetables also supply carbohydrates and protein and fulfill the essential nutrients in human diet. Therefore, human health is protected if fruits and vegetables or their processed products are consumed regularly. Fruits and vegetables are therefore considered as protective foods. Further, several vitamins, minerals and phyto-hormones found in fruits and vegetables have now assumed the status of functional food. These substances are capable of providing additional physiological benefit, such as prevention or delaying onset of chronic diseases, as well as meeting nutritional requirements. Keeping in view the nutritional quality of fruits and vegetables, post harvest management of these perishable commodities is the only solution for nutritional security to ever growing population of the country.
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Post harvest handling and processing of fruits and vegetables is one such area that can provide great possibility for employment generation. During harvesting season, people can get employment in harvesting, pre-treatments if any, packaging and transportation of fresh produce to towns and cities. The surplus production and cull fruits and vegetables can be converted into pulps and value added products during the season and later it can be used to prepare various tertiary processed products. All these operations require human resources in large quantity. A fruit and vegetable processing factory having a capacity of 10qt/month can engage 4-6 people for the whole year. In addition in order to handle freshly produced fruits and vegetables properly grading and packing stations and quality control laboratory have to be developed to keep the pace of development process. Further, as ancillary industries manufacturing units for food processing machinery, packaging materials both for fresh and processed fruit and vegetable products will also develop side by side and generate employment. Other relevant industries and establishments, such as, retail outlets etc, will also provide additional employment. In our country 90% of fruit and vegetable produced are marketed by the farmers compared to only 20% of cereals/food grains production of India.
Employment potential of food processing industries is much higher compared to many other relevant industries. For example per 1,000 crores of investment employment potential in food is 54,000 compared to textiles −48000 and paper −2500. It has been reported that there is a 4 fold indirect employment on investment in food and it provides 60% employment in small towns and rural areas. Our aim is to increase processing from present level of 2% to 10% by 2010 that will involve an investment of Rs.1,40,000 crores generating direct employment 77 lakh and indirect employment 3 crores.
Horticultural produce in general and fruits and vegetables in particular generate
a large amount of valuable waste such as inedible plant parts as such for human
food that end up as garbage. However, if they are gainfully utilised at the proper
time they can produce value added products. Vegetables such as cauliflower,
peas, leafy vegetables, etc. can be primarily/minimally processed so that inedible
parts are removed before being sent on to the metropolitan city markets. They
should be unit packed at packing stations situated at appropriate points in every
district. This process will reduce the transportation and handling cost of inedible
parts and help the consumer by providing a convenience food. The consumers
particularly the working women would be willing to pay higher prices because
these ready to use products save lots of time, in kitchen besides labour and
space. Similarly, bananas should be transported in hands as is done in other
countries. Each packing station should have the facility for processing.
Physically damaged fruit and vegetables that are without infection but would be
spoiled on storage can be made into durable and value added processed products
at this point. Utilization of physically damaged fruits and vegetables into value
added processed product could considerably reduce the price of main product as
a result more processed food products will come within the reach of common
people.
Fruits and vegetables are perishable in nature, it can not be stored for longer
period. It has been observed that about 25-30% of total production are not fit
for fresh marketing and called culled produce. These produce are undersized,
oversized and malformed/deformed and physically damaged fruits and
vegetables but microbiologically sound at the time of harvest. The produce of
this category either sold at throw away prices or left to spoil as such. Thus a
huge quantity of horticultural produce in the form of cull fruits and vegetables
occurs every year which otherwise could be utilized, if processed into various
value added by products.
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Fruits and vegetable processing units also generate large amount of valuable waste such as peel, stones and other inedible plant parts that are generally not utilsed properly and rejected as such in our country and finally end up as garbage. However, if they are gainfully utilised at the proper time they can become value added products. Some of theses waste are rich source of vital constituents like carbohydrates, protein, fat, minerals, edible fibres, etc. and also constituents of commercial use such as pectin, starch, colours/ pigments, essential oils, sugars, vinegar, alcohol, and many compounds useful in food and beverage industries. In addition the waste may be used as cattle feed that is in short supply in our country. These waste processing not only gives value added products but also reduce the price of the primary processed products that are sold at a premium price in our country beyond the means of the common people. In general, it improves the overall economy of the country. Premature fruit drop due vagaries of climate such dust or hailstorm is also a big problem in India. As a result a substantial quantity of fruits and vegetables are lost before they attend proper maturity stage. These produce can be utilized usefully if processed into value added products such as pulp, pickle, chutney, dried powder etc.
India has a wide range of indigenous fruits that are underutilized. Most of these fruits are tropical/subtropical in nature and grow even under adverse agroclimatic conditions. A large number of these fruits are known for their therapeutic/medicinal and nutritive value and have excellent flavour and very attractive colour. Some of these fruits are not easy to eat out of hand e.g. baelfruit that has a hard shell, mucilaginous texture and numerous seeds; as a result it is not popular as a dessert fruit. Kokum is not acceptable as a fresh fruit because of its high acidity, only its thick outer rind is used in beverage industry or for culinary purpose in the dried form. Similarly aonla as a fresh fruit is not liked because of its strong astringent taste. All these fruits have a great potentiality to processing into a value added fruit products of commercial importance. So that the growers get a remunerative price and consumers get the opportunity to enjoy the indigenous fruit products. A shrink-wrapped fruit and vegetable fetches more prices compared to non shrink-wrapped ones because of value addition.
It has already been mentioned that less than 2% of production of fruits and vegetables in India goes for processing. As a result, value addition in food sector is low at 7%. The production of fruits and vegetables in our country is now 66% of food grains. It is expected that this figure is likely to be 80% by 2010. With proper infrastructure facility for post harvest handling and processing, value addition will correspondingly go up from 7% to 35 % resulting in increases in GNP.
It is known that about 84 different fruits and 63 items of vegetables are traded in world market. In addition a large number of fruit and vegetable products are also marketed. India by virtue of its varied agro-climatic conditions has the advantage of producing most these fruits and vegetables and processing them into products that can be traded in the world market. In order to achieve export potential, following fruits have been identified as having good market potential viz. Mango, Grapes, Banana, Lychee, Exotic fruits Chikoo, Ber, Pomegranate, Amongst vegetables the items identified as having good export potential are - Onion, Potato, Green vegetables. The following two categories of vegetables also has great potentiality: a) Traditional - okra, bitter gourd, chili and other seasonal vegetables; b) Non-traditional - asparagus, celery, broccoli, bell pepper, sweet corn and baby corn; green and lima beans.
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Hardly there is any fruit that is not cultivated in this country. At present only few established fruits and vegetables are exported. Government has already recognized it as one of the major thrust for augmenting the countries export. Lack of proper post harvest management and infrastructure facilities are the major hurdles for export of horticultural produce. Countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand etc. are far behind in production of fruits and vegetables compared to India but their exports are many folds higher than our country. It is mainly because of good post harvest management practices, quality maintenance through out the marketing channel and basic infrastructure for export.
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In a country like India, transportation facilities are not so good, rural
electrification is also in infancy stage and huge production of horticultural
produce occur in different parts of the country particularly in the rural areas
and under developed areas. There is always abundance of produce at the
production site but scarcity of the same produce at consumption places.
Growers at production site sale their produce at the lowest minimum price due
to fear of spoilage. However, the consumers purchase the same commodities at
a very high price in cities and urban areas due to involvement of middle man.
In this way, both producers and consumers suffer and middle man only get
advantage. To overcome this situation, growers should be trained properly
about post harvest management, storage and processing of fresh Fruits and
vegetables. There must be on farm storage facilities viz. pusa zero energy cool
chamber for short duration storage. Cottage and small scale level fruit and
vegetable processing unit must be encouraged so that cull fruits and Fruits and
vegetables can be converted into value added products, properly stored and
processed products can be transported to the places of scarcity during their
harvesting season and after the season is over. In this way a glut like situation
can be avoided in production areas. Growers will get a good price for their
produce and consumer will have to pay a reasonable price only.
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Let us sum up:
Fruits and vegetables are highly perishable in nature that results in rapid spoilage and deterioration in quality. However, proper post harvest management can reduce this spoilage. The cost of reducing spoilage is much lesser than the production on additional land. A good post harvest management reduces spoilage by preserving seasonal surplus and cull fruits and vegetables, which often lie rotting on the roadside. Processing and value addition increases food availability, generates cattle feed by converting factory waste thus reduces garbage accumulation. Growers get remunerative price of their produce and consumers buy it at reasonable price. Many indigenous fruits and vegetables, which are not generally marketed, as fresh can be processed into value added products for export. These products are in demand in national and international market due to its medicinal and therapeutic properties. Fresh as well as processed fruits and vegetables is rich source of vital nutrients like vitamins, minerals, fibers etc. It gives nutritional security forever growing population and protects their health.
References:
1. Cruess, W.V. (1997) Commercial Fruit and Vegetable products, Allied
Scientific Publishers.
2. Lal, G., Siddapa, G.S. and Tandon, G.L. (1986) Preservation of Fruits and
Vegetables. India Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi.
3. Ranganna, S. (2000) Hand Book of Canning and Asceptic Packaging, Tata
McGraw Hill Publishing Company Limited New Delhi.
4. Srivastava, R.P. and Kumar, Sanjeev (1998) Fruit and Vegetable
preservation, (Principles and Practical), International Book Distributing
Co: Lucknow.
5. Verma, L.R. and Joshi, V.K. (2000) Post harvest Technology of Fruits and
Vegetables. Volume 2, Indus Publishing Company: New Delhi.
6. Woodroof, J.G. and Luh, B.S. (3rd Ed.) (1986) Commercial Fruit
processing, AVI Publishing Company; Westport.
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