Newsletter #20 – ARC Innovative Hort Centre No Images? Click here In this newsletter - December 2018
What makes organic products stand out? Almost half of Australia’s organic food consumers have increased the organic portion of their food budgets this year. But how do consumers decide which product to pull off a shelf and drop into their trolley? To find out, Maria Massey designed an online experiment simulating supermarket shopping scenarios, which over 400 Australian consumers took part in. “Consumers of organic food are more likely to buy a product if it has a certified organic label, is locally sourced and is in sustainable packaging like paper, cardboard or glass,” Maria said. “Out of these three factors, local origin has the biggest impact on choice.” Maria will submit her PhD thesis at the end of this year. She has already published a paper that outlines why consumers purchase organic food and two more are underway. Above: Tomatoes were one of the fresh food products in the experiment, which also included minimally processed foods (flour and sugar) as well as highly processed foods (chocolate and pasta sauce). Top: PhD candidate Vongai Dakwa Above: Bagged baby spinach products Stopping slime on spinachConsumers expect their leafy salad vegetables to be bright and fresh, not yellow or slimy. If they are the latter, chances are there were some bruised or damaged leaves in the bag. These can halve the shelf life of the whole packet. Vongai Dakwa has found that intact leaves (with no damage) have up to two times longer shelf life. Other factors such as higher storage temperature and more surface moisture also reduce shelf-life. Damage to leaves can occur during machine harvesting, transportation or processing (washing, drying and packing), resulting in a cuts, tears, folds, impact damage or bruising. A participant checks out watermelon quality. Left is Michelle. Keeping cut watermelon fresh is a challenge, which PhD candidate Michelle Mendoza-Enano is helping to solve. Sniffing for 'fresh-cut' watermelon freshness Watermelons are the largest fruit in the supermarket and at 3-5 kg each, are pretty inconvenient to carry and eat on-the-run. A solution is to sell it pre-cut in sealed containers. The best packaging often imitates the conditions the cut watermelon would be under if it was still surrounded by a rind. This means using technologies that can alter packaging conditions such as oxygen and carbon dioxide levels. After being stored for a week at 3 degrees, a panel of consumers were given watermelon products to evaluate. They sniffed, looked up close, and tasted the fruit to assess the overall quality and acceptability. Michelle linked these results to volatile organic compounds (things people can smell) using mass spectrometry to figure out the scientific reason for the desirable 'fresh' or unacceptable Michelle is now developing a tool that integrates the consumer response and scientific smell measurements (volatiles) to be able to develop better fresh-cut products. This tool could also be applied to other food industries, so they can efficiently check the perceived freshness of their fresh food products. Bananas high in the stack at risk of damageIndika Fernando has been studying factors affecting mechanical damage in Cavendish bananas along the post-harvest supply chain. His recent findings reveal that one of the major causes of cosmetic damages in bananas is vibration up the column of stacked packages, during interstate transport. These skin abrasions (see top image) are mostly caused by friction or rubbing. Indika found that damage Indika is currently evaluating how effective alternative packaging types are at reducing the transmission of vibration up the pallet (and reducing damage). He is also investigating materials that absorb vibration to find out how effective they are at reducing mechanical damage. Read Indika's review about damage to fruit during transit along the supply chain. Top: PhD candidate Dianfan Zhou What resources go into greenhouse growing? Dianfan Zhou is delving into the environmental impacts of growing vegetables on a commercial scale in greenhouses. “There is no doubt that greenhouse cultivation is a promising way to regularly supply fresh, good quality produce. However, there is a shortage of employees trained with knowledge in crop physiology and greenhouse management,” Dianfan said. The research will provide baseline information on the sustainability of current greenhouse vegetable production for greenhouse growers, and opportunities for new crops to be grown in greenhouses. In 2019, Dianfan will relocate to the Netherlands to work at Wageningen University and Research on simulation programs that model the resources needed in vegetable greenhouse production. Page 54 of Vegetables Australia has the full story. Thank you to our partners and collaborators The ARC Training Centre for Innovative Horticultural Products is funded by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council Industrial Transformation Research Program, Woolworths, and the University of Tasmania. The Centre is located at the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (a joint venture of the University of Tasmania and the Tasmanian Government). The Centre involves researchers and collaborators from the University of Tasmania, the |