Friday, March 31, 2006
Proper handling of veggies for food safety pushed
MANY people are not aware that proper handling of vegetables is the key to food safety.
Department of Agriculture (DA) 11 regional director Roger Chio said manual hauling of vegetables from the farm to the market and vegetables carelessly thrown and piled before being transported are ordinary scenes that usually occur in market places.
"At the end, Filipino consumers avail of less than the best quality of vegetables in the market," Chio said.
He said most people are not aware that improper handling incurs post harvest losses and result in lesser income on the part of vegetable growers and traders.
DA is trying to improve post harvest handling and has developed post harvest technologies and systems. These post harvest technologies ensure food safety by transporting farmers' produce from the farm to the market preserving its high quality for the benefit of consumers.
Damage to commodities associated with manual hauling should be avoided. With proper handling of products, this would increase productivity of farmers through optimized utilization of production inputs like fertilizers.
There is also a need for post harvest intervention such as packinghouses, pre-coolers, cold storage rooms, refrigerated transport, refrigerated stalls in the supermarket and restaurants.
"With these facilities, refrigerated handling operation of high value crops from the farm to market provides good environment to perishable crops and preserve its quality and prolong its shelf life," Chio said.
Cold storage rooms reduces post harvest losses and extends the freshness and quality of high value crops and helps farmers meet the demand of the market for a year-round supply of fresh, high quality fruits and vegetables.
"With the help of various government agencies, non-government organizations, state colleges and universities including business groups, various refrigerated or cold storage can be set up to improve the competitiveness of vegetable growers in the country," he said.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (March 31, 2006 issue)
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