Better utilization of pome fruit production and less food waste

Losses and waste in apple production occur during harvest, storage and after shelf life. Sorted out fruits can be used for juicing, drying, puree, or as parts of sweets depending on the quality of the rejected fruits. It is, however, important to use the rejected fruits timely in food production to prevent growth of Penicillium expansum, which is a secondary fungus that produces a mycotoxin called patulin. A new trend in production is ‘apple leather’, which is produced from pulp waste. Losses and waste in organic production depends on several factors: production system (unprotected, protected, or sprayed), lag time between harvest and storage (0, 20, 50, 96 h), pre-treatment before storage (hot water dipping at 20, 50, 52, 54 and 56 °C for 3 min), and storage method (air or controlled atmosphere). Losses and waste of fruits in storage may be limited due to low temperature in storage. Differences in quality, however, may be pushed forward in the supply chain to retailers and consumers and thus not noticed by growers.

Documents

Better utilization of pome fruit production and less food waste (Danish) Presentation at a Danish organic conference held 29-30 November 2017 in Kolding, Denmark. Merete Edelenbos participated with the presentation ´Bedre udnyttelse af produktionen og mindre spild / better utilization of pome fruit production and less food waste’

Details

Activity type

Participation in scientific conference

Activity work package

Fruit quality; improvement of fruit handling/storage

Activity number

AU-WP4-A4

Activity contact

Merete Edelenbos
Aarhus University, Department of Food Science
Kirstinebjergvej 10, 5792 Aarslev, Denmark
[email protected]

Activity partner

AU

Activity country

Denmark

Last edit

22-05-2018