Implementation of hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) system, primarily based on good agricultural practices (GAP), good manufacturing practices (GMP), standard operating practices (SOP) and good hygiene practices (GHP) is to ensure high quality product that is safe to consume as the biological, chemical and physical hazards in food chain are overcome. Importance of FFVs for human consumption is well known.
Possible hazards deteriorating quality of FFVs and making them unsafe to use are unknown to great majority of our population. Application of best agricultural practices for high quality FFV products and appropriate post production management operations of these products are essential for their safety that would satisfy the products standards.
In Pakistan the area under fruits and vegetables, including condiments, is 1.5 million hectares, with their total production at 14.1 million tonnes. Fruits and vegetables output in terms of their production and value per unit area and time is considerably higher as compared to any other field crop when grown, harvested. And their products are handled adopting recommended practices.
A country like Pakistan, with a rural-based economy needs to make a shift from low-return agriculture products to high value products. Fruits and vegetables being high value, labour intensive commodities are the better choice for progressive as well as small farmers to grow.
Fruits and vegetables are protective food as these are a rich source of vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates and fibers. Consumption of FFVs and their products in Pakistan is about one third of the recommended level.
Unscientific production, harvesting, storage, shipment and market distribution cause considerable postharvest losses, affect quality of FFVs and make their products unsafe to use. Resultantly, all those involved in FFVs production, handling, processing, market distribution and retailing receive low, or sometimes no return, on their investment. Consumer suffers the most.
Therefore, it is imperative to maintain high quality attributes of FFVs products. Hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) based good agricultural practices, good manufacturing practices, standard operating practices and good hygiene practices are pre-requisites for high quality and safety of FFVs.
Quality characteristics of FFVs that determine the product value and acceptability by consumer include appearance, texture, colour, flavour, taste, nutrition, accessibility & affordability, and postharvest shelf life. For safety, FFV products when consumed must be free of all kinds of health hazards. The produce/product should have desirable characteristics, free of microbial contamination, free of chemical residue and free of physical impurities.
It should be very close to its natural characteristics. In other words we must be careful about physiological and biological disorders, chemical residue, toxicants and physical contaminants for optimum quality and safety of FFVs. The cultivars (varieties/hybrids) are grown according to the consumer preference in local, distant and/or export markets for fresh, minimal processing or processed products.
The cultivars are grown in areas which are suitable for their cultivation. The production practices should be variety/hybrid specific. Good agricultural practices which are agro-ecology specific are essential to attain the best quality product, high productivity and profitability. Clientele quality and safety standards are to be observed and therefore standard operating practices are to be followed.
Integrated crop management practices; planting, fertigation, integrated pest management, etc yield the best results ensuring no chemical residue in FFV products. Environment friendly production practices should be given due consideration. There is a good example of environmental friendly intercropping rapeseed vegetable "Karam Saag" with leafy mustard variety, "Khumbal" having spiny trichomes on its leaves that repel insects and keep the main crop growing successfully without application of any toxic insecticide in the hilly areas of Pakistan and Azad Jammu & Kashmir.
Harvesting good quality produce at the right stage of maturity, cleaning and field heat removal, timely supply to collection centre, sorting, grading, packaging and preparation for storage/shipment for fresh, minimal processing (reducing the volume by cutting, trimming, dehydration, drying, development of semi-prepared food products, etc) or industrial processing (development of by-products) all need to be carried out on scientific lines.
In order to avoid microbial contamination risk, physical injuries to fresh products must be avoided. Necessary measures may be adopted to avoid product contamination during the whole food chain. Working personnel must be healthy and trained to observe hygienic procedures.
High quality FFVs are liked the most and are demanded world over round the year. The diversified agro-ecologies of Pakistan permit growing a variety of fruits and vegetables. Production, handling, market preparation and market distribution provide plenty of opportunity to engage labour, technicians, middlemen, orchard contractors, traders, industrialists and exporters besides letting small and medium enterprises flourish.
Besides fulfilling domestic requirements, Pakistan is exporting fruit and vegetables, including juices, worth Rs 9927 million. The sector has a lot more potential to grow primarily due to added advantage of seasonality, high quality FFV products, availability of sea ports and great market demand in neighbouring countries.
Quality assurance in fruits and vegetables is linked with HACCP based good agricultural practices and postharvest operations that involve sanitary and phytosanitary measures. Availability of true-to-type fruit plants or seed of known potential varieties/hybrids of vegetables for different seasons, ecologies and growing conditions (controlled, semi-controlled or natural) is the basic requirement.
Integrated crop management practices require different levels of physical inputs like fertiliser, pesticides, etc and human skill. Harvesting of fruit and vegetable products at the right stage of maturity is very important and requires special techniques and tools to determine the maturity and for harvest.
The consumer would not like products having uneven maturity. Maturity indices established for different fruit and vegetable products are to be followed. Immature produce is tender and has shorter postharvest life and sometimes has alkaloids and other toxic compounds.
Harvesting techniques involve quite often application of pre-harvest treatments, such as application of chemicals for uniform ripening and extending storage of fresh produce. For example, application of maleic hydrazide @ 2000 to 3000 ppm two weeks before onion harvest inhibits onion sprouting during storage.
For better quality fresh carrot products, it is recommended that carrots grown on the beds may be given mechanical jerks by plowing or running tractor-driven blades underneath beds to lift and detach, the carrot roots from the soil a night before the harvest.
This causes the stomata to close and keeps the carrot leaves fully turgid. Resultantly, the shelf life of fresh carrots in super markets is prolonged. Postharvest production operations like sorting, grading (onion), waxing/edible coating (citrus), packaging (product specific, market specific), storage and product labelling may be carried out on scientific lines and as per cliental demand.
Marketing involves produce/product procurement, market preparation, transit storage and market distribution, marketing agents/traders/exporters who directly deal with the clients are to give feedback to producers and produce handlers to ensure quality and safety of FFV products.
Shortcomings in hazard analysis and critical control points based on quality and safety of FFVs include the following:
-- Quality standards (grades) for fresh fruit and vegetable products are yet to be established/enforced.
-- The existing laboratories to carryout physico-chemical analysis, microbiological tests and for chemical residue analysis do not meet the requirements.
-- Quality assurance at all levels (production to retailing) is relatively tough and complex.
-- Skilled manpower at all levels is deficient.
-- Institutional co-ordination is weak.
-- There is a lot of investment involved in coming up with HACCP-based quality and safety of FFV products.
-- The suggested measures to ensure quality and safety of FFVs products in Pakistan are listed below:
-- Government institutions responsible for and associated with quality and safety of FFVs need to be strengthened.
-- Inter linkages between education, research and extension institutions should be more formal and result-oriented towards quality and safety assurance of FFVs.
-- Conducive environment for business/investment require liberal investment policy, legal protection of rights of local/foreign investors.
-- Finance may be granted to investors on easy terms and conditions.
-- Necessary infrastructure for the purpose of imparting training and education for capacity building at all levels need to be established.
-- Private public partnership in production and trade of fruit and vegetables need to be promoted on extensive scale.
-- Agro-based centres should be established in production areas and these should be operated under the technical supervision of quality control auditors.
-- Establish quality and safety standards for different fruits and vegetables products in accordance with international standards. Producers and traders must be aware of these standards.
NARC scientists have played a significant role in improving yields and quality of fruits and vegetables besides determining their optimum harvesting time/stage, storage temperature and use of low density polyethylene packaging for extending shelf life of FFV products. Technical assistance related to quality and safety issues of FFV products is available with the Centre.
(The writer is Principal Scientific Officer/Postharvest Horticulture expert at National Agricultural Research Centre, Islamabad.)