Post harvest Management of Horticultural Crops (2+1)

Goals of post-harvest handling

The most important goals of post-harvest handling are

• Keeping the product cool, to avoid moisture loss and slow down undesirable chemical changes
• Avoiding physical damage such as bruising, delay spoilage.
After the harvest, post-harvest processing is usually continued in a packing house. This can be a simple shed, providing shade and running water, or a large-scale, sophisticated, mechanized facility, with conveyor belts, automated sorting and packing stations, walk-in coolers. In mechanized harvesting, processing may also begin as part of the actual harvest process, with initial cleaning and sorting performed by the harvesting machinery.
Implementing Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) in production and harvest; Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) especially during post-harvest and Quality and Safety Assurance Systems, such as HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point), throughout the food chain to avoid and to control hazards are of the key factors for the flourishing nature of the post harvest industries.