Course Details

Fresh Produce Quality and Shelf-Life Management Training Course

Introduction

The fresh produce industry plays a vital role in global nutrition and economic well-being, but it faces unique and often challenging hurdles in maintaining quality and extending marketability. Unlike processed foods, fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs are living organisms with dynamic physiological processes that continue post-harvest. They are highly perishable, susceptible to rapid deterioration, microbial spoilage, physical damage, and environmental stresses. Consequently, effective Quality and Shelf-Life Management are paramount for ensuring consumer satisfaction, minimizing waste, maximizing profitability, and safeguarding public health. This involves a comprehensive understanding of pre-harvest factors impacting quality, meticulous post-harvest handling, precise temperature and humidity control, optimized packaging, and strategic inventory management. The goal is to preserve the sensory attributes (flavor, texture, appearance), nutritional value, and safety of produce from the farm gate to the consumer's plate. Without robust strategies for managing quality and extending shelf-life, fresh produce businesses face significant losses due to spoilage, reduced market value, increased customer complaints, and potential food safety incidents. Many professionals in this sector understand individual aspects of produce handling but may lack a holistic, scientific, and integrated approach to managing quality and shelf-life throughout the entire supply chain.

Conversely, mastering Fresh Produce Quality and Shelf-Life Management equips professionals with the essential knowledge and practical skills to optimize the quality, safety, and marketability of fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs throughout the entire supply chain. This critical skill set is crucial for minimizing post-harvest losses, enhancing consumer satisfaction, ensuring food safety, and maximizing profitability in the highly perishable fresh produce sector. Our intensive 5-day "Fresh Produce Quality and Shelf-Life Management" training course is meticulously designed to equip growers, packers, processors, distributors, retailers, quality control personnel, food safety managers, and supply chain professionals with the comprehensive theoretical knowledge and extensive practical, hands-on insights required to confidently understand, apply, and monitor robust quality and shelf-life management strategies.

Duration

5 Days

Target Audience

The "Fresh Produce Quality and Shelf-Life Management" training course is ideal for a broad range of professionals and individuals involved in the production, handling, processing, distribution, and retail of fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs. This includes:

• Growers and Farm Managers: To understand post-harvest impacts on their produce.
• Packhouse Managers and Supervisors: Directly involved in sorting, grading, and packing.
• Fresh-cut/Minimal Processing Facility Managers/Personnel: Focusing on value-added produce.
• Quality Control (QC) and Quality Assurance (QA) Personnel: Monitoring produce attributes.
• Supply Chain and Logistics Managers: For optimizing transport and storage conditions.
• Retail Produce Managers: To minimize shrink and ensure display quality.
• Food Safety Managers: Integrating quality and shelf-life with food safety.
• Exporters/Importers of Fresh Produce: Navigating quality standards for trade.
• Agronomists and Horticulturists: Understanding post-harvest physiology.
• Anyone seeking to improve the quality, reduce waste, and extend the market life of fresh produce.

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion of the "Fresh Produce Quality and Shelf-Life Management" training course, participants will be able to:

• Understand the physiological and biological factors influencing fresh produce quality and deterioration.
• Identify critical quality attributes and defects in various types of fresh produce.
• Implement effective pre-harvest and post-harvest practices for quality preservation.
• Master temperature, humidity, and atmospheric management techniques for shelf-life extension.
• Select appropriate packaging solutions to maintain quality and extend shelf-life.
• Develop robust quality control programs for fresh produce at various supply chain points.
• Understand the principles of shelf-life determination and management for fresh produce.
• Contribute to minimizing post-harvest losses and enhancing the value of fresh produce.

 Course Modules

Module 1: Fundamentals of Fresh Produce Post-Harvest Physiology

• Understanding fresh produce as living biological systems.
• Key physiological processes: Respiration, transpiration, ripening, senescence.
• Factors influencing deterioration: Temperature, relative humidity, atmospheric composition, ethylene.
• Common post-harvest disorders: Chilling injury, physiological breakdown, mechanical damage.
• Impact of pre-harvest factors (e.g., genetics, climate, agronomy) on post-harvest quality.

Module 2: Quality Attributes and Defect Identification

• Defining fresh produce quality: Appearance, texture, flavor, nutritional value, safety.
• Objective and subjective quality assessment methods.
• Common physical defects: Bruising, cuts, abrasions, chilling injury, freezing injury.
• Common pathological defects: Fungal rots, bacterial soft rots, internal browning.
• Grading standards and specifications for various produce types.

Module 3: Pre-Harvest and Harvest Practices for Quality Preservation

• Optimal maturity indices for harvesting.
• Harvesting techniques to minimize damage and contamination.
• Field heat removal and initial cooling strategies.
• Importance of hygiene during harvest operations.
• Crop protection and residue management considerations impacting quality.

Module 4: Post-Harvest Handling and Packinghouse Operations

• Receiving and sorting raw produce.
• Washing and sanitizing produce: Importance of water quality and sanitizers.
• Trimming, cutting, and minimal processing considerations for fresh-cut products.
• Grading, sizing, and packing line operations to minimize damage.
• Equipment selection and maintenance for hygienic handling.

Module 5: Temperature, Humidity, and Atmospheric Management

• The critical role of temperature management: Field heat removal, hydro-cooling, forced-air cooling, cold rooms.
• Recommended storage temperatures and relative humidity for different produce types.
• Controlled Atmosphere (CA) storage and Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) principles.
• Ethylene management: Ripening, senescence, and removal strategies.
• Monitoring and controlling environmental conditions during storage and transport.

Module 6: Packaging for Quality and Shelf-Life

• Functions of packaging for fresh produce: Protection, containment, communication, quality preservation.
• Types of packaging materials and their properties (e.g., permeability, strength).
• Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) systems for different produce types.
• Active packaging technologies (e.g., ethylene scavengers, moisture absorbers).
• Sustainable packaging considerations for fresh produce.

Module 7: Shelf-Life Determination and Extension Strategies

• Defining shelf-life for fresh produce: Commercial shelf-life, physiological shelf-life.
• Factors limiting shelf-life: Respiration, transpiration, microbial spoilage, enzymatic browning.
• Methods for shelf-life testing and evaluation.
• Strategies for shelf-life extension: Optimal storage, packaging, coatings, pre-treatments.
• Analyzing spoilage patterns and identifying root causes.

Module 8: Quality Control Programs and Loss Reduction

• Developing and implementing comprehensive QC plans for fresh produce.
• Visual inspection, sampling, and analytical testing at various supply chain points.
• Root cause analysis for quality defects and spoilage.
• Implementing corrective and preventive actions.
• Strategies for minimizing post-harvest losses and maximizing yield from farm to retail.

CERTIFICATION

• Upon successful completion of this training, participants will be issued with Macskills Training and Development Institute Certificate

TRAINING VENUE

• Training will be held at Macskills Training Centre. We also tailor make the training upon request at different locations across the world.

AIRPORT PICK UP AND ACCOMMODATION

• Airport pick up and accommodation is arranged upon request

TERMS OF PAYMENT

Payment should be made to Macskills Development Institute bank account before the start of the training and receipts sent to info@macskillsdevelopment.com