Post fruit harvesting protection

• Grant number: 00/07590-8
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Innovative Research in Small Business - PIPE
• Start date: April 01, 2001
• End date: July 31, 2004
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy
• Principal Investigator: Antonio José Gomes Bettega
• Grantee: Antonio José Gomes Bettega
• Company: Cyrbe do Brasil Indústria Química Ltda
• City: Sumaré

Abstract

The goal of the proposal is to create post-harvesting protection processes to perfect the means by which fruits are presently stored or transported in Brazil, aiming to preserve to the maximum its quality for the consumer. The processes can be active or passive, depending on the type of fruit. In the active process, the fruit will remain, temporarily, immersed in a gaseous medium, with chemical agents that selectively impede the growth of the main micro organisms that are the catalysts of their premature ripening. In the passive process, the fruit will suffer a surface treatment which will retard dehydration and will make the contact with micro organisms difficult, even if they are already present in the storage environment. During the first phase, the intention is to set up distinct processes for slowing down the rotting of some fruit during the post-harvesting stage. Brazil, despite being among the largest producers of fruit worldwide, suffers considerably when one takes into account the volume of losses that occur between fruit collection and consumption. In the case of certain products, losses are close to 40 per cent of production, when typically loss should not exceed 10 per cent. (AU)