FRUIT AND VEGETABLE PROCESSING, COLD CHAIN AND

PACKAGING

Dr Mahesh Kumar

Department of Processing & Food Engineering

PAU, Ludhiana

WHY POST HARVEST?

Post harvest operations increase the shelf life of the product and minimize wastages.

Proper handling, storage and cooling of raw material is required to reduce the field heat and for better quality and recovery.

It adds value to the product. Post harvest techniques lower the microbial risks.

Arrival of Raw Material at Pack House

Farmers bring the material to pack house in crates and bags. Sampling of this material is done before accepting it.

QA Check (Sampling & Acceptance Procedure)Samples of raw material are taken from different crates received and checked for quality (length and diameter of cob in case baby corn).

QA Check

Weighing of Raw Material at Pack House

Raw material is weighed at the receiving station after sampling.

Receipt of Raw material at Pack House (maintain temp. < 30°C)

After weighing, the raw material is received at the Packhouse at a temperature of <30° C.

Pre-cooling

After receiving, the raw material is pre-cooled to 2-3º C, stored in cold stores and transferred to packing lines. First In First Out method is followed for packing the material.

PRE-COOLER

HYDRO-COOLER

PRE-COOLING

Baby corn at ACE

RIGID QUALITY CONTROL

Precooling Packhouse/Cold room

Perishable CenterCharters

Logistics

Destination -Supermarkets

5o-12oC

5o-12oC

5o-12oC

5o-12oC

FieldFresh: Integrated Fresh Produce Handling

Peeling

Sorting and Grading

Chopping of Cobs (maintain temp. <=20°C)

Pouch Packing

Punnet Packing

WeighingAfter filling in punnets/pouches, the material is weighed on calibrated

weighing machines.

Wrapping

Quality CheckAfter wrapping, the finished material is checked for any defects and

its quality is checked finally.

Labelling

Secondary Packing

Dispatch of Finished Product

Mobile Post Harvest Operations

Cold Storage

Transportation

Pack House

Stacking in Pre CoolerPre Cooler

Sorting and grading

Fieldfresh : Key milestones

Commenced operations in Punjab in Sept. 2004.

Leading exporter of Babycorn and French beans from Punjab with state of the art processing facility

FieldFresh supplied EurepGap certified fruits & vegetables within 15 months of commencing operations

FieldFresh farm in Ludhiana, Punjab is EurepGap certified by SGS in March 2007

FieldFresh completed shipments of 118 containers – 1700 tons of grapes to EU, South East Asia & Middle East.

Countries 3rd largest grape exporter for the 2006-07 season

Middle East UK/EU

Gulf Food Conference 06

Alphonso at Spinney’s Dubai

Grapes at Tesco, UK

Produce at Spencers

Baby Corn at DelhiGrapes at Geant Supermarket

FieldFresh-Successes in Markets

Snowpeas to Wealmoor

Retail-India

PACKING MATERIAL USED

Primary Packing

Punnets Styrofoam (EPS- Expanded Polystyrene) PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) HIPS (High Impact Polystyrene) Poly Pouches (PP-Polypropylene, PE-Polyethylene) Micro and macro perforated pouches-MAP (Modified

Atmosphere Pouch) Cling Wrap- PVC, LLDPE (Linear low density

polyethylene)

Primary PackingPunnets and Polybags

Secondary Packing

CFB (Corrugated Fiber Box) CFB- Top/Bottom Veg Box Newton Box Gel packs

THANK YOU