Nissen R., Bound S., Adhikari R., Cover I. Factors affecting post-harvest management of apples: a guide to optimising quality

Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, Fruit Growers Tasmania, and Department of Agriculture and Water Resources, 2018. — 128 p.Historically the Australian apple industry has exported to over 30 countries, but following a slump in apple exports due to loss of several markets in the mid 1970’s, exports have been growing steadily in recent years.
Information provided in this manual is to assist and improve the knowledge of Australian apple growers who are considering sending their fruit to export markets. The aim of the manual is to assist growers to achieve the highest possible fruit quality to optimise the eating experience for consumers of Australian apples and ensure continued market access.
Fruit quality can be lost at any stage in the supply chain, including during harvesting, handling, storage and transport. So to maintain quality, attention to detail is important at all levels in the supply chain. Engineering aspects of constructing and fitting out cold rooms and storage facilities are not covered in this guide. This is due to the wide array of storage facilities in terms of construction, age, coolers, scrubbers and equipment to control the atmosphere used in the storage facilities. Therefore, we assume that apple growers and exporters meet the requirements to cool fruit, maintain temperatures and controlled atmosphere conditions accurately as per the market access protocols for each country they wish to service.
Quality assurance systems are increasingly important to allow market access, however handling and storage conditions appropriate for each cultivar require careful monitoring. It is critically important to maintain strategies to preserve quality of harvested apples by reducing respiration and ethylene production during the postharvest phase. Good postharvest management maintains quality by reducing the ripening and metabolic (biochemical) processes that result in unwanted changes in colour, texture, flavour, composition and nutritional status. In addition, good postharvest practices also reduce water loss and gas production which results in shrivelling and shrinkage, softening, and change in appearance (the good; the not so good; the down-right ugly).Introduction
Section 1: General
Customer requirements
Consumer requirements
Good agricultural practice
Section 2: Apples grown in Australia
Apple production regions in Australia
Australian apple export cultivars
Australian apple cultivar harvest and availability periods
Section 3: Optimising fruit quality in the orchard
Anatomy of the apple
The ripening processes of apples
Understanding fruit quality
Quality attributes
1. Fruit size
2. Shape
3. Colour
4. Skin finish
5. Flesh firmness
6. Starch and sugar content
7. Organic acids
Pre-harvest factors influencing fruit quality
1. Crop load management
2. Pruning and light management
3. Nutrition
4. Irrigation
5. Spray application
6. Orchard hygiene
Fruit maturity
Determining harvest maturity
Maintaining quality postharvest
Factors affecting post-harvest management of apples: a guide to optimising quality
Section 4: Postharvest handling
Postharvest handling in the field
Avoiding fruit damage
Harvesting your fruit
Curing and pre-conditioning
Heat treatments
Pre-cooling
Hydrocooling
Tipping/Dumping
Preparation of fruit for market
Quality Standards
Sorting
Waxing
Grading
Minimising bruising in the packing shed
Cleaning and sanitising program
Sanitation
Storage technologies
Controlled atmosphere storage
Calculating refrigeration load
Calculating air flow requirements
Other storage technologies
Postharvest treatments
1. DPA
2. Edible coatings
Section 5: Packaging
1. Distribution
2. Customer/Consumer
3. Legal
GAP and environmental concerns
Packaging from a grower’s perspective
Pre-packaging / consumer / unit packaging
Transport Packaging
Unit load packaging or transport containers, pallets/bins etc.
Types of packaging and materials
Contents (cont.)
5 Factors affecting post-harvest management of apples: a guide to optimising quality
Labelling
1. Labelling for export
2. Fruit stickers
3. IFPS PLU code
4. QR Codes
5. Point-of-Sale and Consumer Items
6. GS1 DataBar Code for Loose Fresh Produce
7. Grower/packers identification labelling
Brands and branding
Transportation
Section 6: Supply chain practices
The importance of a good cool chain
Planning and strategies to maintain cool chain
Temperature effects on rate of deterioration
Reducing damage from excessive temperatures - field and packing shed
Compatibility with other products
Monitoring temperature
In-store management
Handling and transport
1. Stacking and palletising
2. Strapping of pallets
3. Stacking patterns for pallets
4. Bracing the load
5. Transport trucks
Section 7: Quality Assurance
Understanding quality assurance
Food safety
Categories of food safety
Quality assurance and food safety in Australia
1. HACCP
2. SQF - SQF 1000 and SQF 2000
3. GlobalGAP (formerly EurepGap)
4. Freshcare
5. QA systems for Australian Supermarkets
Critical points for food safety
6 Factors affecting post-harvest management of apples: a guide to optimising quality
Pre-harvest process model of growing the crop
Packing shed process model
Section 8: Improving postharvest management
Gap analysis process
Value added analysis
Cause and effect / root cause analysis
Packing shed operations
Benefits of using a packing shed
Packing shed design
Packing shed fruit receiving area
Appendix 1: Fruit defects, disorders & diseases
1. Pre-harvest physical & physiological defects/disorders & diseases
2. Storage disorders
Appendix 2: Web links and references
1. Weblinks
2. References
Appendix 3: Codex Standards for Apple