Postharvest Loss: Global Collaboration Needed to Solve a Global Problem

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Keywords:
Postharvest loss, prevention, congress overview, roadmap

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Matthew Niewiara
Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Abstract

In early October 2015, the First International Congress on Postharvest Loss Prevention was held in Rome, Italy. Individuals from more than 62 countries were in attendance representing academia, corporations, and various governments. Postharvest loss has a large impact on quantity of available food in the world; estimates say approximately 30% of food is lost to postharvest loss. Postharvest loss can be traced to many components of the supply chain including harvesting, drying, storage, processing, and transportation to markets. This paper discusses some of the technologies that were presented at the congress. Most of these technologies focus on improving methods of food storage and preservation techniques. This paper also will provide an overview of the presentations given at the congress regarding public-private partnerships that will hopefully lead to reductions in losses. Additionally, a summary of the “roadmap” document is provided. This document was created towards the end of the congress in order to describe specific short and long term goals regarding postharvest loss prevention.

Article Details

Issue
Vol. 2 No. 1 (2016): i-ACES: Reflection Papers from the First International Congress on Postharvest Loss Prevention in Rome, Italy, 2015
Section
Reflection Papers

References

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