24012-QS-Report-02-2019_A4_GB.indd

QS-Report Fruit, Vegetables, Potatoes | Issue September 2019 No touching, just looking How food scanners can evaluate the quality of fruit and vegetables along the supply chain Comprehensive quality assurance – from production to marketing – is very important, particularly in the „Fresh Vegetables and Fruit“ sector. From the start, production has a great influence on the quality of the final product. Damaging processes that may harm quality can start right from the initial harvesting and lead to losses. Since a purely visual inspection cannot provide a satisfactory assessment of product quality, a research project co-fi- nanced by the QS Science Funds is currently developing the concept of using food scanners to record quality parameters for selected fruit and vegetable varieties. Food scanners are handy portable devices that use the principle of near-infrared technology. A research project at the University of Applied Sciences Weihenstephan-Triesdorf is currently evaluating the po- tential of these devices in determining the product qua- lity of fresh fruit and vegetables. This topic will be fur- ther investigated in a follow-up project, funded by the QS Science Funds that will conclude with a cooperative doctorate. The results from the first project phase, in which food scanners were tested on tomatoes, proved the potential of this new measuring technology: at the touch of a button and within a few seconds, variables such as the sugar content, firmness and dry matter con- tent of the fruit could be determined non-destructively with a high degree of prediction accuracy. Similarly good results were achieved in further investigations of other types of fruit: in particular, parameters for determining RANDOM SAMPLE AUDITS FOR HARVEST HYGIENE Also this year, randomly selected companies were checked to ensure that QS hygiene requirements were being implemented, that the com- pany hygiene instructions were fol- lowed during harvesting and that the harvest staff had been trained appropriately. 27 of the 28 audits were carried out successfully. No issues were found at 18 companies (i.e. no C and D evaluations). There was still room for improvement in 10 companies, particularly in the Short & Up to date the degree of ripeness, such as su- gar and dry matter content, could be determined for the selected fruits with a high degree of non-destruc- tive accuracy. In the second phase of the project, supported by the QS Science Funds, the potential of this technology for application throug- hout the entire value chain will be tested. The main focus here is on requirements for toilets for harvest- ers, premises and facilities, as well as hygiene instructions. QS special auditor Pablo Schucht Lessa summa- rises: “The companies are aware of the importance of hygiene issues. Com- pliance with the unannounced hy- giene audits was therefore given. I see the greatest need for improve- ment of the field toilet facilities. The field toilets with integrated wa- ter tank including washbasins and soap dispensers have proven to be a good, practical solution.” the practical possibilities of using food scanners for quality control and quality assurance. The predicti- ve accuracy of valuable ingredients will also be examined in this phase of the project. You can find out mo- re about the QS Science Funds Fru- it, Vegetables, Potatoes poject at https://www.q-s.de/qs-scheme/ qs-science-fund.html In the second phase of the project, the predictive accuracy of ingredients, the analysis of which is currently very costly and time-consuming (e.g. lycopene in tomato), will be evaluated using food scanners. Qualitätssicherung. Vom Landwirt bis zur Ladentheke. ware potatoes. That same year, EU laboratories detected Cms in 29 lots of seed potatoes and in 894 lots of ware potatoes. In Germany, Rs were found in two samples of ware po- tatoes, but in no samples of seed potatoes. For the 2017 harvest, Rs were confirmed in 10 lots of seed po- tatoes and 14 lots of ware potatoes throughout the EU. In 2018, none of the seed potato samples in Germa- ny tested positive for Cms, only two ware potato samples tested positive for Cms, and Rs were not detected at all. Cms and Rs can lead to con- siderable losses in quality and yield. In addition, the measures required by phytosanitary protection services in the event of infestation involve restrictions on affected farms inclu- ding bans on cultivation and sale. Therefore, the focus is on preventing the introduction and transmission of quarantine pests such as Cms and Rs and thus their dissemination in Germany, and on consis- tently implementing appropriate preventive measures. Effective prevention includes, above all, the use of healt- hy, pest-free seed potatoes, because infected tubers are the starting point for infections. Seed tubers should not be cut as this can lead to transmission to healthy potato- es. Other measures include compliance with appropriate crop rotations, the control of previously planted tubers which can turn into weeds and the cleaning of machine- ry, especially when they are used on several farms or pro- duction sites. Furthermore, consistent farm hygiene is im- portant, as the bacteria can survive outside the plants. PUBLISHING DETAILS Editor: QS Qualität und Sicherheit GmbH Dr. Hermann-Josef Nienhoff, Managing Director Schedestr. 1–3, 53113 Bonn, Germany Phone: +49 228 35068-0 Fax: +49 228 35068-10 E-Mail: info@q-s.de www.q-s.de