Reducing losses in the fruit and vegetable chains by the analysis of shelf life dynamics

Abstract

The estimated world population growth of 9 billion people by 2050 provides a major challenge for the next few years, considering the current problems regarding the lack of food safety and provision of healthy food in a world in which most people live in urban areas. The importance of diet in health is unquestionable, and as time goes by, so the consumer is becoming more aware that health is directly related to a balanced and safe diet. Post-harvest technologies for fruits and vegetables, whose metabolisms are still active, have the goal of maintaining the quality by way of the appearance, texture, taste, nutritional value and food safety, and also to reduce qualitative and quantitative losses between harvest and consumption. The combination of technologies such as rapid cooling, refrigeration, and the use of active and passive modified atmospheres applied post-harvest, must be combined with adequate temperature management for each product throughout the whole distribution chain. Thus, according to the temperature history from harvest to the retail locations, the shelf life estimate becomes a highly dynamic variable. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technologies with sensors, can revolutionize the transportation and handling of perishable products through accurate and continuous readings of the conditions of the conservation environment during the logistics, interpreted by mathematical models that estimate the remaining shelf life. This review describes how technology, by way of sensor-integrated RFID chips and associated with the use of mathematical modelling, can be incorporated into the management of Distribution Centres, shifting the emphasis from the classic FIFO (First In, First Out) to a FEFO (First Expired, First Out) strategy. Thus, better knowledge of the shelf life of the products may lead to reduced losses in addition to improving product conservation.