Fresh-cut produce quality: implications for a systems approach

A fresh-cut product is physically altered from its original state during trimming, peeling, washing, and cutting operations. However, it remains in a fresh state and is thus characterized by living tissues that undergo or are susceptible to enzymatic activity, texture decay, undesirable volatile compound production, and microbial contamination, which reduce shelf life. In the fresh-cut industry, shelf life is the time required by a fresh-cut product to lose quality attributes, such as freshness, firmness, texture, color, aroma, and nutritional value, below a level acceptable to the consumer. The success of the fresh-cut industry depends on quality and maintaining consumer confidence. The indicators of vegetable quality include color, texture, flavor, and other attributes, many of which may be influenced by abiotic and biotic factors. Fresh-cut vegetable safety is related to inherent antinutritional substances, such as nitrate and oxalate, which accumulate during growth and external microbial and chemical contamination during postharvest. These critical factors can be controlled throughout the entire chain by implementing targeted cultural techniques and observing sanitation programs. Produce sanitation should start in the field and should encompass all growing, harvesting, handling, and processing areas. One approach could be that growers should provide documentation (a logbook) of the microbial load, of fertilizer and irrigation water usage, and of the workers' hygienic practices.