Raw Materials for the Markets

Raw Materials for the Markets Both conventional breeding and more particularly the promise of direct genetic modification of genotype offer the potential for changing the marketing dynamic of fresh produce, milk and meat.  

Fruit and vegetables marketed to the consumer are still predominantly producer led; what is offered is what can be grown. Quality criteria reflect, not what is desired but the limits within which a product is acceptable or tolerated. 

By using advanced breeding techniques the food industry would want the potential to match a fruit or vegetable to the consumers’ preference and the consumers’ mode of using the product. This would be true of fresh produce for manufacture, too. 

The dream is to be able to specify the ideal quality criteria of a fruit or vegetable and know that a grower is able to match the characteristics accurately and consistently. The desirable characteristics would include flavor, sweetness, texture, nutrient content and durability in storage. No doubt the growers would want to specify such characteristics as yield drought tolerance, insect resistance and ease of harvest. 

Similar scenarios can be imagined for milk and meat. As the market demand for butter fat, casein and whey protein moves, one or other component is in surplus, another is dearth. Although some changes in gross composition have been achieved through conventional breeding and feed regimes, could milk composition be more closely tailored to market demand by a better understanding of feed conversion or by altering the genotype? 

In the livestock market, the demands for the different cuts of meat must be managed. Chickens yield a fairly steady ration of leg to wing to breast meat. However, the market does not necessarily reflect this balance. Beef muscle is selected from different parts of the animal according to the desire for leanness, tenderness and flavor, but the market for hind and fore quarter does not necessarily reflect the fat that for every forequarter there is exactly one hindquarter. Raw Materials for the Markets

Pest Control of Fruits and Vegetables

Pest Control of Fruits and Vegetables
Insects, rodents, plant disease, and weeds can devastate food crops, and human history is filled with famines attributable to these scourges. Large scale agricultural production tends to increase the susceptibility of crops to these hazards. Pesticides are currently an integral component of an agricultural system that produces increased yields of fresh fruits and vegetables with good visual quality. Pesticides have become a major cost of production of fruit and vegetable farmers. The use of pesticides is associated with risks of increase pest resistance, environmental contamination, exposure to farm workers, and escalating costs. With mounting regulatory pressure on pesticides it is likely that fewer compounds will be available to the farmer and that these compounds will be available for only a few crops of high economic value.

Damage to fruits and vegetables by pests is not limited to loss of visual quality. Insects and rodents can inoculate plants in the field with microorganisms that can present a health hazard, particularly if the product is not properly washed and is eaten raw. These dangers are compounded if untreated animal wastes such as manure, a potent source of human pathogens, are used for fertilization, particularly with vegetables grown close to the ground. Mold, which can be held in check by fungicide, can infect fruits and vegetables products. Mycotoxins produced by molds, such as patulin in apple products and ochratoxin in citrus fruits, present additional concern. The potential danger of these naturally occurring mycotoxins has been documented but the practical implications of decreased fungicide use are not clear.
Pest Control of Fruits and Vegetables