Fruit Crops and Tree Nuts: Volume 8

About one-third of fresh produce harvested worldwide is lost at various points in the distribution system between production and consumption. While it is impossible and uneconomical to eliminate these losses completely, it is possible to reduce them by at least half and increase food availability for the rising world population. Minimizing postharvest losses is more sustainable and environmentally sound than compensating for the losses by increasing the land and resources devoted to food production.

The goal of the technical editors and the authors of Fruit Crops and Tree Nuts is to describe the current scientific understanding of quantitative and qualitative losses in fruit and tree nuts. The importance of respiration, ethylene, composition, transpiration, growth and development, physiological deterioration, physical damage, and pathological changes is considered here.

The emphasis is on commercially available technologies that have been placed into practice to minimize losses and maintain food safety. While this volume's perspective is based on the postharvest technology used in California and the United States, the principles discussed are applicable to fresh horticultural crops produced anywhere in the world. The information will be useful to people who want to learn about or are involved in growing, harvesting, packaging, transporting, or marketing perishable produce.

This is volume 8 in the 10-volume series, Postharvest Technology of Horticultural Crops, 4th edition.