High quality of vegetables

The primary goal of the vegetable grower is to produce a product of such quality that it is attractive to the potential consumer in both appearance and taste.

High quality vegetables are free from damage or symptoms caused by disease and insects.

Plant diseases normally cause problem during period of cultivation, but there may problems also found during the time of marketing.

The profitable of qualities requires adequate growth, development, and yield of vegetable crops. In order to produce quality vegetables, plants must be supplied with the proper mineral nutrients.

However, the perception of quality changes as the product moves along the distribution chain.  Therefore, the maintenance of quality after harvest is an important issue to growers.

For leafy vegetables, the customer wants to buy a product with fresh, clean and green appearance, free from obvious defects and decay, not split or bolted and without pesticide residues.

The color probably contributes more to the assessment of quality than any other single factor.

Consumers have developed distinct correlations between color and the overall quality of specific products.
High quality of vegetables

Nutritive Value of Fruits and Vegetables: Minerals and Vitamins

Nutritive Value of Fruits and Vegetables: Minerals and Vitamins
The nutritional advantage of fruits and vegetables is that they offer high concentration of micronutrients for a low expenditure of calories and fat. Virtually every national report of diet and health recommendations, recommend an increase in fruit and vegetable consumption to replace foods higher in calories and fat.

Fruits and vegetables are rich sources of vitamins, particularly A and C. It has been estimated that these crops provide 91% of the vitamin C and 62% of the vitamin A consumed in US alone. It should be noted that the importance if a fruit and vegetable as a source of a nutrient is a function of both the concentration of that nutrient and the amount of that item is consumed. Thus carrots, leafy greens vegetables, and sweet potatoes are good sources of vitamin A by virtue of their high concentration of the nutrient. Likewise, citrus fruits, pepper and tomatoes are good sources of vitamin C because of high concentrations. Potatoes while lower in vitamin C concentration are also good source of the nutrient because of the large amount of potatoes consumed. In addition, certain crops are good sources of folic acid, niacin, thiamin, and vitamin B6.

Fruits and vegetables are relatively high in mineral content, particularly potassium, magnesium, iron and calcium. Unfortunate, the amount of these minerals in plant products is not good indication of their nutritive value. The bioavailability of these micronutrients is more important that the actual concentration and the bioavailability of minerals in fruits and vegetables tend to be low, primarily because of the presence of interfering substance. Bioavailability of nutrients depends on the chemical form of the nutrients and the presence of interfering substance.
Nutritive Value of Fruits and Vegetables: Minerals and Vitamins

Damages of fruits and vegetable during storage

Damages of fruits and vegetable during storage
Certain fruits and vegetables are damaged by storage at refrigerated temperatures. These crops develop a disorder known as chilling injury. Symptoms include failure to ripen (bananas and tomatoes), development of brown sunken areas known as pitting (cucumbers, melons, and organs), increased susceptibility to decay (beans and cucumbers) and off flavor development (tomatoes). In many cases, the evidence of chilling injury does not become apparent until the susceptible item is returned to a typical room temperature.

Although the cellular mechanism for chilling injury is not clear understood, most investigators attribute it to physical changes in the membrane lipids. Prevention of chilling injury is best achieved by not storing the item at refrigerated temperatures. For example, for best quality a banana or tomato should not be stored below 12.5 degrees C, either during distribution or within the home. Such a practice, however, accelerates normal deterioration of the product. Some evidence shows of that intermittent warming or cycling the storage temperature above and below critical chilling temperature for a product will extent its shelf life.
Damages of fruits and vegetable during storage

Quality of Fruits and Vegetables

Quality of Fruits and Vegetables
Fruits and vegetables products are the enigma of foods in modern society. Readily available locally in the fresh state on a seasonal basis, the same fresh quality is desired on a year round basis. Purchased and served on a basis of visual appeal, they are criticized for lacked of adequate flavor. Praised as a cornerstone of a nutritious diet, they are condemned as unsafe carriers of pesticide residues. Highly sought for specific attributes, they are susceptible to wide variation in composition as raw agriculture commodities.

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”. 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.

Other less-tangible characteristics, such as nutritional value, wholesomeness, and safety of a product, which required sophisticated equipment to measure are not readily determined by most consumers, but the perceptions of these attributes by the consumer affect both differentiation and acceptability of the product.
Quality of Fruits and Vegetables