Preserving food after harvest is an integral component of food security

Abstract

Food security has become of increasing concern in recent years. There are many dimensions to food security but the reduction of losses of food between the time of harvest and the moment it is placed in the mouth is a major dimension. The application of food preservation technologies that reduce these losses is a core part of food science. Food must not only be produced, it must be delivered to the ultimate consumer in acceptable form if it is to fulfill its nutritional destiny. In 1975 the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution recommending all countries should make postharvest food loss reduction a matter of priority. Many effective programs were established as a result. That resolution made 37 years ago has been largely forgotten and most of those programs have expired. In 2011 the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN called for renewed interest in reducing postharvest losses in developing countries and added reducing food waste in developed countries. Postharvest losses are still a major cause of food insecurity in 2012 and food technologists have the knowledge to ameliorate this tragic situation.