Review on the storage structure for longer shelf-life of vegetables

Abstract

India is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world but due to improper storage a huge amount of spoilage and wastage occurs. Proper storage conditions are necessary to enhance the storage life and maintain quality of the harvested vegetables. In order to increase the shelf-life of the vegetables, it is necessary to know about the various factors which affect the shelf-life of the vegetables and methods to control such factors. The major factors or design considerations which needs to be controlled for longer shelf-life of vegetables are: temperature, relative humidity, pressure and gas composition. This paper provides a critical review of different types of storage structures i.e. Modern storage structures, Evaporative Cooled (ECS), Cold Storage (CS), Controlled Atmosphere (CA), Hypobaric Storage (HS). The advantages of these storage structure over traditional storage structures have also been depicted. The design considerations and application of each type of storage structure is also illustrated. An attempt has been made to compile the optimal storage conditions of different vegetables. It is aimed to provide a summary of the storage structure suited for vegetables and to compile the optimal storage condition for vegetables, so that the loss can be minimized.