Fruit and Vegetable Quality

mographic shifts toward an aging population and major changes in
household composition (Meulenberg and Viaene, 1998).
Generally, the consumer is better educated and expects a wider range
of products. Further, consumers are less predictable in their purchase be-
havior, eat more outside homes and are more conscious about health-
related aspects of fresh fruits and vegetables (Popcorn, 1992). Also
the perception of product quality is no longer restricted to the physical
properties of the product but also other agents including production prac-
tices. In addition, scientific progress such as developments in biotech-
nology or new processing technologies will result in product innovation
while improved analytical methodology will lead to demands for im-
proved product safety and quality.
As a result, there is a continual need for new products and a more
differentiated food product assortment. Related to this development,
product life cycles are becoming shorter (Meulenberg, 1997), hence the
efficiency and flexibility of food production systems become even more
important. Currently the development and introduction of new food
products requires large investments in money and labor with only a rel-
atively small chance of success. Fuller (1994) has estimated that the
period from idea until product introduction is roughly between 4–7
years. Fifty percent of the new products will not survive the test mar-
ket phase, more than 20% of newly launched products will disappear
from the market within three years and after five years less than 20%
is still on the market. Thus, product innovation is still primarily a mat-
ter of trial and error.
The history of product development shows that over successive gen-
erations of products, quality demands increase in complexity. For first-
generation products, storability and the prolongation of shelf life
and prevention of spoilage were the most important criteria. In the
second generation, the need to meet good nutritional standards is in-
cluded. Flavor and convenience characterized the third generation
while the fourth also carried the health-promoting capacity as a qual-
ity attribute.
The interdependency between consumer desires, on the one hand, and
development of technologies and research on the other hand has been
recognized by many food-producing companies but it has not been im-
plemented systematically yet and requires more attention. This chapter
will focus on these interrelationships and a more systematic means of
integrating them into the supply chain.

4 FOOD SUPPLY CHAINS: FROM PRODUCTIVITY TOWARD QUALITY