Fruits and vegetables are very important by day to-day living. They are valuable sources of vitamin, minerals, fibers, and antioxidants, which are essential for a healthy and well balanced diet.
The demand for all year round supplies, the same fresh quality is desired on a year round basis.
In harvested plant producer, quality is the composite of those characteristics that differentiate individual units of the product and have significant in determining the units’ degree of acceptability to the user.
Consumers prefer to buy fruits and vegetables of high quality based on their appearance, sensory, and nutritive values.
Quality has been defined as “the composite of those characteristics that differentiate individual units of a product, and have significance in determining the degree of acceptability by the buyer”.
The specific qualities required in vegetables will depend on their end-use and the selection of appropriate cultivars for particular products of paramount importance.
External quality characteristics, those that can be perceived by the senses of sight and touch without ingesting the product, are important in product differentiation, particularly in purchase decision and food preparation.
Internal quality characteristics, those that can perceived by the sense of taste, smell, and touch (mouthfeel), combine with the visual appearance in determine acceptability and presumably decision to repurchase that product.
The degree of acceptability of fresh fruits and vegetables and their products is a combination of attributes, properties, or appearances that give each commodity value in terms of human food.
Several factors such as environmental conditions, cultivars, cultural practices, susceptibility to pests and disease, time of harvest and postharvest conditions, determine the quality of these commodities.
How to define quality of fruits and vegetables?
