Blanke Michael M
INRES - Horticultural Science, University of Bonn, D-53121, Bonn, Germany.
J Sci Food Agric. 2014 Sep;94(12):2357-61. doi: 10.1002/jsfa.6660. Epub 2014 Apr 30.
Excessive waste along the food supply chain of 71 (UK, Netherlands) to 82 (Germany) kg per head per year sparked widespread criticism of the agricultural food business and provides a great challenge and task for all its players and stakeholders. Origins of this food waste include private households, restaurants and canteens, as well as supermarkets, and indicate that 59-65% of this food waste can be avoided. Since ∼50% of the food waste is fruit and vegetables, monitoring and control of their natural ripening gas - ethylene - is suggested here as one possible key to reducing food waste. Ethylene accelerates ripening of climacteric fruits, and accumulation of ethylene in the supply chain can lead to fruit decay and waste. While ethylene was determined using a stationary gas chromatograph with gas cylinders, the new generation of portable sensor-based instruments now enables continuous in situ determination of ethylene along the food chain, a prerequisite to managing and maintaining the quality and ripeness of fruits and identifying hot spots of ethylene accumulation along the supply chain. Ethylene levels were measured in a first trial, along the supply chain of apple fruit from harvest to the consumer, and ranged from 10 ppb in the CA fruit store with an ethylene scrubber, 70 ppb in the fruit bin, to 500 ppb on the sorting belt in the grading facility, to ppm levels in perforated plastic bags of apples. This paper also takes into account exogenous ethylene originating from sources other than the fruit itself. Countermeasures are discussed, such as the potential of breeding for low-ethylene fruit, applications of ethylene inhibitors (e.g. 1-MCP) and absorber strips (e.g. 'It's Fresh', Ryan'), packages (e.g. 'Peakfresh'), both at the wholesale and retail level, vents and cooling for the supply chain, sale of class II produce ('Wunderlinge'), collection (rather than waste) of produce on the 'sell by' date ('Die Tafel') and whole crop purchase (WCP) to aid reducing food waste.
食品供应链中人均每年产生71（英国、荷兰）至82（德国）千克的过量废弃物，这引发了对农业食品行业的广泛批评，并给所有参与者和利益相关者带来了巨大挑战和任务。这种食物浪费的源头包括私人家庭、餐馆和食堂以及超市，并且表明其中59 - 65%的食物浪费是可以避免的。由于约50%的食物浪费是水果和蔬菜，因此本文建议监测和控制它们的天然催熟气体——乙烯，这可能是减少食物浪费的一个关键因素。乙烯会加速跃变型水果的成熟，供应链中乙烯的积累会导致水果腐烂和浪费。虽然过去是使用配备气瓶的固定式气相色谱仪来测定乙烯，但新一代基于传感器的便携式仪器现在能够沿食物链对乙烯进行连续的原位测定，这是管理和维持水果质量与成熟度以及识别供应链中乙烯积累热点的一个先决条件。在首次试验中，沿着苹果从收获到消费者的供应链测量了乙烯水平，其范围从配备乙烯洗涤器的气调库中的10 ppb，果箱中的70 ppb，到分级设施分选带上的500 ppb，再到苹果穿孔塑料袋中的ppm级别。本文还考虑了源自水果本身以外来源的外源乙烯。文中讨论了一些应对措施，例如培育低乙烯水果的潜力、乙烯抑制剂（如1 - 甲基环丙烯）和吸收条（如“It's Fresh”、Ryan）的应用、包装（如“Peakfresh”），涵盖批发和零售层面，供应链的通风和冷却，销售二级农产品（“Wunderlinge”），在“保质期”收集（而非浪费）农产品（“Die Tafel”）以及整作物采购（WCP）以帮助减少食物浪费。
