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ENSURING FRESHNESS AND QUALITY: EXPLORING TRENDS IN POST-HARVEST TREATMENT

INTRODUCTION

Post-harvest treatment involves all those operations and treatments carried out after the harvesting process for the improving the quality and increasing shelf life of agricultural products along with loss prevention. Cleaning, sorting, grading, drying, cooling, chemical and biological treatment are included for preventing pest and diseases along with spoilage. The technique is commonly used in agricultural and food sectors and are used in fruits, vegetables, grains, and flowers for them to stay fresh for longer during storage and transportation. This is particularly helpful for industries that depend on global supply chains, like food retail and export. For common man, post-harvest treatment ensures safe, high quality, and nutritious food while also ensuring zero wastage of food.

GROWTH DRIVERS OF POST-HARVEST TREATMENT MARKET

The growth of the post-harvest treatment market is influenced by several key factors:

Surging demand for fresh produce:

As demand for fresh fruits, vegetables, and grains surges, people are demanding a better post-harvest treatment to maintain freshness. Therefore, the quality requirements of consumers towards shelf life becomes quite challenging. Improved storage, packaging, and transport technologies will improve the shelf life and meet customer expectations, fueling the post-harvest treatment market and thereby reducing waste.

Technological Breakthroughs:

Recent technological developments in post-harvest like controlled atmosphere storage, edible coatings, and smart packaging have driven this market. Such innovations like Internet of Things (IoT) and AI facilitate real time monitoring of conditions inside the stores with optimization on key temperature, humidity factors to increase storage without leading to spoilage.

Rise of Organic and Chemical Free Produce

The need for organic, chemical free food is raising a trend among the consumers. So, this can be the future for the organic and bio based post-harvest treatment because of their increase in demand that follows sustainable products with residue-free production as trends around the globe are seen going green.

Stringent Food Safety and Quality Regulations

 Strict food safety regulations ensure that post-harvest treatment leave no harmful residue and meet health standards. These measures enhance consumer confidence and support the global trade of fresh produce.

POST-HARVEST TREATMENT

LATEST TRENDS IN THE POST HARVEST TREATMENT MARKET

Sustainability and Bio Based Solutions

There is a heightened consumer demand for organic and sustainably produced foodstuffs. Such preference is also being pushed as an incentive to engineer the introduction and implementation of bio based post-harvest treatments from renewable and sustainable origins. Not only does this adhere to concern over environmental damage but also to meet the requirement for chemical free produce. For example, in May 2024, Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc., world leading producer and distributors of quality fresh-cut fruits and vegetables entered an agreement with Vellsam Materias Bioactivas a top-notch bioactive biotechnology developer for turning pineapple wastes into bio fertilizers. As per reports published by World Economic Forum, 2024, AI for Agriculture Innovation (AI4AI) initiative is launched by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with India’s Union Ministry of Agriculture. It revolutionized chili farming by boosting yields by 21%, reducing pesticides and fertilizers usage by 9% and 5% respectively. The use of AI and ML technologies helped improve productivity making farming more sustainable and increase income of farmers.

Integration of Advanced Technologies

Advanced technologies include IoT, Artificial Intelligence, and drone technology and many others revolutionizing the post-harvest treatment landscape. They can be used to monitor and manage conditions in real-time storage, ensuring optimization of temperatures, humidity, and other factors critical to the quality of the produce. A 2023 study by Skye Air shows the potential use of drone technology can cut India’s fresh fruit and vegetable losses from their current annual levels of 30-40%. This would help farmers to economically benefit while offering consumers quality produce.

Focus on Reducing Chemical Residues

With the growing health concerns over food-borne contaminants from chemical residues, there’s a move for post-harvest treatments designed to minimize the presence of such chemicals. This comprises natural preservatives, edible coatings, and all other nonchemical methods that ensure no compromise on the effect of the treatment. Consumers’ preference for cleaner labels and residue-free produce is influencing this trend, leading to innovations in treatment formulations. According to recent reports published by Label Insights, there are closely 3124 and 7373 varied products in cured meat and breads, of which 83% and 75% contains natural preservatives respectively in it. This gradual increase in usage of natural preservatives is boosting the post-harvest treatment industry.

Cold Chain Expansion in Developing Regions

Another factor is the trend of growth of cold chain infrastructure, especially in emerging markets. The improvement of refrigeration technologies, along with a better logistics network, allows more efficient storage and transportation of perishable goods and contributes to the massive implementation of post-harvest solutions such as temperature-controlled storage and transportation. As per recent studies by the European Fluorocarbons Technical Committee (EFCTC) reveal that more than 13% of food is wasted because of a deficiency in refrigeration, and an enhanced cold chain would feed 950 million inhabitants every year. Improvement in the infrastructure of the cold chain is fundamental to the reduction of food waste and will promote the post-harvest treatment market by preserving quality better for perishable products.

Increased Investment in Research and Development

Research and Development (R&D) investments are improving in the post-harvest treatment sector. Companies are trying to make their treatments more efficient and cost-effective. R&D aims to develop more effective and powerful treatment systems, apart from finding innovative treatment methods according to the growing demand of changing market conditions like more durable treatment methods. As per the recent OECD reports, the agricultural R&D spending by the Chinese public sector increases from about $1.3 billion annually to $6.6 billion. China’s annual average public sector expenditures on agricultural R&D were greater than the combined figures for the United States, India, and Brazil. Investments in agricultural R&D are driving innovation in post-harvest treatments, enhancing efficiency, sustainability and the overall quality. Moreover, according to the reports published by the Food and Agricultural department of United Nation, China ranked 1st in the revenue income from agricultural sector, followed by India, US, Brazil and Germany accordingly.

POST-HARVEST TREATMENT

CONCLUSION

The post-harvest treatment market is highly changing due to strong technologies, sustainability and evolving demand from the consumer’s side. The emerging technologies like AI, IoT, etc., are streamlining processes and helping in achieving better efficiency with minimum loss. Sustainable and eco-friendly practices are being followed by the industry, which reflects their concern towards the environment and compliant food safety standards. The growth of post-harvest treatment solutions in developing regions is an indicator of global recognition of the need for them in dealing with food insecurity and agricultural waste. With climate change, resilient treatment methods are now becoming essential in ensuring that crops retain their quality even in adverse conditions. The post-harvest treatment market is at the forefront of forming the future in agriculture and food systems through adoption of innovative, sustainable practices. Its further developments will be of great promise towards progress, because the world has an ever-increasing population demanding fresh, nutritional, and superior quality produce for consumption.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rudra Choudhury

Rudra Choudhury is a passionate and highly enthusiastic researcher with over four years of experience. He is dedicated to assisting clients in overcoming challenging business obstacles by providing actionable insights through exhaustive research. Rudra has a keen interest in various industries, including ICT & Media and Agriculture. He consistently endeavors to deliver valuable perspectives in these areas. In addition to his research work, Rudra enjoys sharing his thoughts and ideas through articles and blogs. During his leisure time, he finds solace in the world of literature and art, often engrossed in reading and expressing his creativity through painting. The author can be reached at [email protected]

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