Preface
The produce industry is a complex and integrated network of agricultural enterprises
associated with the production, transportation, processing, shipment, and storage of
fruit and vegetable products. The challenges in bringing produce to supermarkets
and restaurants are invisible to consumers, who expect convenience, consistency,
and freshness, along with year-round abundance. This challenge is not new. Produce
inherently breaks down at maturity, often before harvest. Product deterioration
continues after purchase by consumers, until it is consumed. The fresh produce
market remains one of the major global markets. It includes fresh fruit and vegeta-
bles; prepared salads, vegetables and dips; and fresh-cut fruits and vegetables. Annual
global production of fruits and vegetables exceeds 1 trillion kg, and the economic
impact is considerable.
Most books on fruits and vegetables currently on the market generally address
pre- and postharvest management and handling as they relate to quality. Coverage
of processes that result in the deterioration of produce quality is scattered. This book
comprehensively focuses on the mechanism of produce degradation and addresses
mechanisms of reactions that affect produce quality from the farm to the table.
Degradative changes and conditions that favor these undesirable processes and their
prevention are exhaustively reviewed from the standpoints of biochemistry, micro-
biology, physiology, polymer and cellular science, and genetics. The book is intended
as a reference source for senior undergraduate and graduate students, and scientists,
engineers, and economists in academia, government, and industry. Food scientists,
plant physiologists, microbiologists, chemists, biochemists, chemical engineers,
industrial engineers, nutritionists, and molecular biologists will rely on the book as
an interdisciplinary resource publication.
Olusola Lamikanra
Syed H. Imom
Dike O. Ukuku