Abstract
Packing of fruits and vegetables is an important step in the long and complicated journey from grower to consumer. Bags, crates, baskets, cartons, bulk bins, and palletized containers are convenient containers for handling, transporting, and marketing of fresh produce. To optimize the shelf life of fruits and vegetables, regardless of the packaging system, maintenance of appropriate temperatures throughout distribution and storage is another key factor as every 10 °C increase in temperature reduces shelf life by two to three times. The active packaging allowing a controlled interaction between the produce, package, and internal gaseous environment, thus, extends shelf life, improves fruit and vegetable safety or provides superior sensory quality, and inhibits pathogens. Fresh or minimally processed fruits and vegetables respire at rates specific to the fruit or vegetable species, variety, growth, harvest and storage history, and conditions of the surrounding environment. Various films provide breathable package that can keep gas levels at an optimum, which significantly improves shelf life. The labels on packaging materials assist buyers to know who, what, and how much as well as quality assurance code that help to find the source of the problem. More than 1,500 different types of packages are used for different produce, and the number continues to increase as the industry introduces new packaging materials and concepts.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Mitchell FG, Guillou R, Parsons RA (1972) Commercial cooling of fruits and vegetables, manual 43. California Agricultural Experiment Station, Davis
Paine FA (ed) (1987) Modern processing, packaging and distribution systems for food. Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, New York
Parsons RA, Mitchell FG, Mayer G (1972) Forced-air cooling of palletized fresh fruit. Trans ASAE 15(4):729–773
Pierce LC (1987) Vegetables: characteristics, production and marketing. Wiley, New York
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer India
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Mandal, G. (2015). Value Addition of Fruits and Vegetables Through Packaging. In: Sharangi, A., Datta, S. (eds) Value Addition of Horticultural Crops: Recent Trends and Future Directions. Springer, New Delhi. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-2262-0_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-2262-0_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New Delhi
Print ISBN: 978-81-322-2261-3
Online ISBN: 978-81-322-2262-0
eBook Packages: Chemistry and Materials ScienceChemistry and Material Science (R0)