COMMON AND COORDINATED ACTION RESEARCH ON THE QUALTIY OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLES IN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

The EEC Agro-Food Programme links intensive crop production to crop quality and is concerned with salad crops, tree fruit - including citrus, and potatoes; the quality of out-of-season crops is a top priority. Consumer dimensions are also included. Factors under study include composition, mechanical damage, handling, and shelf life while methods for evaluating tomatoes, apples and citrus have been agreed. Collective data suggest that the flavour of intensively produced tomatoes is satisfactory; the main conclusion on apples was that modern fruit growing methods are economic and produce heavier yields in the optimum size ranges. However, certain components of modern production systems can impair apple quality. Recent data show that interplanting raises tomato fruit quality in comparison with a monocrop and that laboratory taste panels are more critical of tomato fruit flavour than supermarket panels. Collaborative tests have been carried out on freezing/analysis of tomatoes and on single sample versus paired comparison tasting of tomatoes.

The European COST 91 bis Sub-Group 3 programme covers all aspects of chilled foods. Collaborative studies on chilled strawberries have shown only small changes in flavour and composition over a 5 day period. Tests on the in-flight air temperatures in cargo holds of passenger jets (re transport of chilled produce) showed values ranging from 8 to 27 C; temperatures in the holds generally fell during the flights. Topics discussed at workshops include CA storage and MAP of horticultural produce, ethylene levels during ferry transport, and quality assessment and assurance in the international chilled transport of produce.