Managa Millicent G, Tinyani Peter P, Senyolo Grany M, Soundy Puffy, Sultanbawa Yasmina, Sivakumar Dharini
Phytochemical Food Network Research Group Department of Crop Sciences Tshwane University of Technology Pretoria South Africa.
Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation Center for Food Science and Nutrition The University of Queensland Brisbane QLD Australia.
Food Sci Nutr. 2018 Jul 4;6(6):1527-1536. doi: 10.1002/fsn3.685. eCollection 2018 Sep.
This study was initiated to investigate the impact of transportation, storage, and retail shelf conditions on lettuce quality and phytonutrients losses in the urban fresh produce market supply chain. Reducing postharvest losses is a priority to reduce the loss of the dietary-based phytonutrients and to improve the health of the consumers. Limited information is available in South Africa related to the postharvest and nutrition loss in the urban fresh produce market supply chain. In this study, we quantified the postharvest losses, changes in phytochemicals, and loss of minerals in lettuce at different points of Tshwane Fresh Produce Market supply chain. Lettuce supply to the Tshwane Fresh Produce Market from two different provinces, Gauteng and North West, were included in this study for comparison. Lettuce from the two provinces was collected from five different farms. The loss of fresh weight, changes in visual quality, phytonutrition properties, and economic loss of lettuce at the supply chain points: (a) transport; (b) storage; (c) and at the retail shelf was investigated. Five boxes of lettuce per supply chain point from Gauteng and North West provinces were randomly selected. The results indicated that the high temperature (25°C) and low RH (40%) at the retail shelf affected the weight, overall quality, and phytonutrition properties of lettuce. Cumulative economic loss was higher at the retail shelf due to the inferior quality of lettuce. The study identified where major quality and phytonutrition losses occur during marketing. The study demonstrated to identify the where major food and nutritional loss losses occur during marketing. This information will significantly benefit food sustainability by introducing technologies to manage food and nutrition losses.
本研究旨在调查城市生鲜农产品市场供应链中运输、储存和零售货架条件对生菜品质和植物营养素损失的影响。减少采后损失是减少基于膳食的植物营养素损失和改善消费者健康的优先事项。在南非，关于城市生鲜农产品市场供应链中的采后和营养损失的信息有限。在本研究中，我们量化了茨瓦内新鲜农产品市场供应链不同环节生菜的采后损失、植物化学物质变化和矿物质损失。本研究纳入了从豪登省和西北省这两个不同省份供应到茨瓦内新鲜农产品市场的生菜进行比较。来自这两个省份的生菜从五个不同的农场采集。对生菜在供应链各环节（a）运输；（b）储存；（c）零售货架的鲜重损失、视觉品质变化、植物营养特性和经济损失进行了调查。从豪登省和西北省的每个供应链环节随机选取五箱生菜。结果表明，零售货架上的高温（25°C）和低相对湿度（40%）影响了生菜的重量、整体品质和植物营养特性。由于生菜质量较差，零售货架上的累计经济损失更高。该研究确定了销售过程中主要的品质和植物营养损失发生在哪里。该研究表明能够确定销售过程中主要的食物和营养损失发生在哪里。这些信息将通过引入管理食物和营养损失的技术，对食物可持续性产生重大益处。
