It is believed that about 25-50% of the fruits and vegetables produced are spoiled between harvest and the consumer's table due to many reasons. Low temperature transportation in refrigerated trucks on the roads and reefer containers in overseas freight carrying vessels give protection to some commodities though optimum storage conditions for many others are still to be worked out. Though Modified Atmosphere Storage(MAS), which is becoming the industry standard for global trade in perishables, it has not yet become universal due to inadequate availability of such specialized carriers for meeting the demand. While use of a mixture of air and CO2 in varying proportions can regulate respiration and transpiration in live commodities, microbiological damage due to many spoilage organisms is also controlled to varying extent depending on the commodity. Purfresh, one of the industry leaders in fresh food transport business has come up with a new technology where ozone is used to retard microbial spoilage.
"Purfresh Transport, the industry`s only ozone-based, active
atmosphere management solution, constantly monitors
and dynamically manages the environment inside
the refrigerated container throughout the voyage-providing
the ability to ship even highly sensitive fruits and vegetables
long distances. Using powerful ozone molecules
to kill molds, yeasts, and bacteria in the air and on surfaces,
Purfresh Transport provides superior decay control without
impacting the product`s natural characteristics".
How far this technology will be effective on different varieties of fruits is not known though claims are being
made that it works for Mangoes, Cherries, Ginger and Papaya. Though technology trials were carried out using
Mexican mangoes and even after 22 days the fruit remained firm, how some of the premium Indian
mango varieties like Alphonso will behave in presence of ozone is not known. It is worthwhile to explore
the relevance of this technology for some of the tropical fruits produced in abundance in many developing
countries like India, for which there is good demand in the international market is worth exploring.
V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com
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