FRESH VEGETABLE QUALITY IN THE UNITED STATES: CURRENT ISSUES

Abstract

The purpose of this review article is to point out some of the challenges we face in the United States of America in relation to quality of fresh vegetables. It is impossible in this review to cover all of the quality-related issues being addressed through current research. Rather, food safety and textural quality, two of the issues and challenges the author feels are most critical and of higher priority are considered. It is clear that the single most important problem facing the fresh produce industry is one of food safety. This has become a major problem recently, and the various types of human pathogens and problems associated with them are discussed. The pathogens of primary concern are Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella spp., Listeria monocytogenes, Shigella spp., Clostridium perfringens, Campylobacter, and Cryptosporidia. The issue of the microbiological safety of the fresh produce consumed in the United States has been heightened lately due to the increased import of fresh produce from other countries where regulations may not be as tightly controlled, as well as the increasing percentage of produce consumed in a fresh-cut, pre-packaged form. Other important issues of fresh vegetable quality and food safety are alternative methods to control various pre-harvest and postharvest diseases without the use of pesticides, particularly methyl bromide and fungicides, while maintaining yield and quality. We must also address ways to maintain or increase further the nutritive quality of fresh vegetables, and evaluate how the nutritional quality of fresh-cut vegetables compares with that of vegetables not minimally-processed by cutting, slicing, or dicing. Another serious problem currently being addressed is the roughly 20% loss of fresh produce that occurs after harvest. There is a need to develop a greater understanding of what contributes to deleterious changes in texture after harvest that lead to these losses, and how the important physiological and structural factors contributing to the texture of any given vegetable can be measured and related to the human perception of textural quality. The understanding between the subjective human perception of quality and the objective methods used to measure quality are unclear and must be addressed.