By Jan Lievens
By the time you read this article, Fruit Logistica is already far behind us. A huge and well-known fair in the industry and again neither the exhibitors nor visitors spared money or effort to get there, especially after the two-year horror of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Asia Fruit Logistics is the next fair that will be held in Thailand, again with massive amounts of effort and monies ready to be splashed out. Of course, marketing is important and meeting people in person will never be substituted, ever, despite all the “new” electronic meeting tools. These events prove even more special after what we can actually call an almost complete worldwide isolation period, dragging on for more than two years at this point in time.
For those who have been in sales and marketing for “donkey’s years”, you would know that the individualised approach will never actually lose ground. However, this aspect and all these efforts in putting such events together and the hype will subside quickly when the products do not arrive at their destinations in a quality-condition that was expected. And that, ladies and gents, is a given.
Quality sells, always, so your product condition will speak volumes.
Almost all farmers fit this picture: worldwide, they grow the best possible product in the orchards and on the vines, etc as we know. If they do not, they should rather be fishing.
But that process of growing a quality product is simply not enough anymore in a global environment, the matter of preserving the quality after harvest has leapfrogged the list of importance.
Overall quality does not happen by, or helped by putting plasters on a wooden leg, even if it is injured. That only happens by getting the right procedures in place, at the right time. In the “whole” cold chain by whomever is involved: farm, cartons, inner packaging, cooling facilities, transport, containers, harbors, ships, receiver, seller… the works.
Not one cold chain link can be overlooked in this process. As everybody knows, the weakest link will break, with devastating effects as a result. Postharvest damage is irreversible and cumulative, and it will show eventually – wherever and whenever it surfaces in the journey. And when it does, it is literally too late to remedy.
The postharvest trajectory starts when you cut the umbilical cord of the fruit. When you separate the offspring from the mother plant. And the importance of the first step of these chains too-often gets forgotten or not enough diligence is applied. That creates immediate stress that will result in… damage… in an instant. That is why we developed our applied postharvest philosophy right from the start of the process as we understand mother nature. And nature never ever breaks her own laws, not yesterday, today, or tomorrow. This is a particular point we have been stressing for years now.
This philosophy gets implemented with remarkable success locally and in other African countries, even to such an extent that we get requests from all over the world to see exactly how this strategy is working. And work it does, as once again we “let the products do the talking” and the benefit of your PUC number getting a preferential treatment status is realised. Naturally, quality relies on all of the points of the cold chain. The entire cold chain in fact needs to be followed correctly – again with diligence.
And do you know what? The initial investment right at the start of the process is small in comparison with the value of your fruit that passes through your facilities. The rest of the process needs a shake up as some people still believe they can walk barefoot on water, while changing the same water into wine. Next time you go to Fruit Logistica, and you do start implementing the right philosophy, get your order books ready.
Quality will always sell. The answer is simple… let your fruit quality do the talking.
About Jan Lievens
Jan Lievens, born in Belgium, is a graduate civil engineering(B) and international senior consultant for engineered applied postharvest technology at Humiditas South Africa. With over 20 years of experience in this field, he is widely regarded as a specialist in the fruit-, vegetable- and flower industry with regards to humidity, airborne bacteria and ethylene removal, both locally and internationally. Furthermore, he also designed airflow-friendly packaging systems for the industry with proven results.
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