Quality Assurance in Tropical Fruit Processing

Tropical and subtropical countries have become well aware of the fact, that they must make better use of their fruits. In spite of the favourable climatic conditions for the production of varieties of delicious fruits in such countries, continuously high tempemtures shorten the shelf-life of most fruits and fruit products. A tropical climate provides ideal conditions for mpid growth of spoilage microorganisms and for chemical reactions. Most of such reactions in fruits and fruit products are deteriomtive in nature causing high respiration rates, texture softening and spoilage of fruit. This causes loss of colour, flavour and vitamins, and browning of fruit products. Even though a fruit product has been rendered microbiolo- gically stable, these chemical reactions continue to occur in storage, and they occur much more mpidly in a tropical climate. The processing of fruits and soft drinks is a predominate food industry in tropical and subtropical countries. Some of the large companies in such industries are partly foreign owned. They seem to be efficiently operated with adequate capital, good management, and technological competence, all of which are usually imported from the parent company. However, most of small and medium companies are locally owned, and are deficient in technology and management ability. The products are generally fair. It is rare to find a trained quality assurance manager in these companies. Processing of good fruit products, especially for export, requires sound fruit processing lines as well as good managementthat achieves internationally accept- ed standards of quality.