Possibilities and constraints of postharvest treatments for quality assurance of fruits and vegetables in chain management

Chain management implies the consideration of postharvest treatments being optimized in respect to consumer concerns of healthy, safe and convenient food and to environmental issues. Various postharvest treatments are in the process of improvement to meet these requirements, such as heat treatments, UV irradiation, ozone treatment, modified atmosphere packaging, biodegradable film packaging and natural coatings, and to guarantee a continuously high quality during an extended postharvest life of perishable horticultural products within a quality oriented chain management. In the present paper first of all an overview of the recently most discussed postharvest treatments will be presented for fresh fruits and vegetables. Exemplarily, a study on radishes demonstrate the extend of effects of postharvest treatments, such as biodegradable cellulose film packaging, starch and sucrose based coatings on sensory, nutritional and health promoting quality compounds.