ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF) is developing techniques of pre and postharvest treatments of food grade chemicals to improve peach quality and shelf-life.
The main objective of this project is to optimize the different concentrations of food grade chemicals for improving the fruit quality and minimizing the risk of residues.
Talking to APP, Spokesperson PSF, Rehana Batool said it would help to investigate the possible effects of preharvest application of food grade chemicals on postharvest fruit quality.
Peach is the second most important stone fruit crop of Pakistan. Stone fruits are characteristically soft-fleshed and highly perishable and they have a limited market life potential.
Rehana said although fruit quality could only be maintained, not improved, after harvest, little emphasis has been given on the influence of preharvest factors that determine the ultimate postharvest quality of fruits.
Preharvest factors often interact in complex ways that depend on specific cultivar characteristics and growth or development stage sensitivities.
After harvest, rapid ripening in peach fruits is responsible for short shelf life and represents a serious constraint for efficient handling and transportation for local as well as for distant markets.
Peach fruit is highly perishable during storage at room temperature due to rapid ripening and high susceptibility to pathogens which limits the transportation of peach fruits to the foreign markets.
Ripening can be slowed down by cold storage. However, cold storage life of peach is frequently limited by chilling injury (CI) and loss of quality.
The Spokesperson said the search for alternative treatments that would delay fruit ripening is the most important issue for the growers, researchers and exporters.
On the other hand, food safety was a major concern shared by consumers, industry and governments, she said, adding protecting public health was a critical factor associated with the food supply.
A Potential hazards that can cause public health problems have three basic forms, biological, physical and chemical.
Chemical hazards refer to four different agents that are sources of potential food borne illness.
The agents are metals, pesticides, international food additives and other chemical residues.
The residues from these agents, if consumed in a large enough dose, can be harmful to humans. Therefore, the use of food grade chemicals as an alternative treatment is considered to be beneficial to combat the problem.
Rehana said the project would help to extend the storage potential of peach fruit for local, distant, as well as foreign markets by slowing down the ripening process and thus maintaining the quality for longer time.
Comments
Comments are closed.