Quality of lettuce in integrated system of harvest and post harvest

Abstract

The consumption of green leaves vegetables increases every year due a tendency of the world wide population to get more healthy life habits, and for green leaves vegetables the lettuce is the most produced, majorly, in green belts close to the greatest consumption centers, in Brazil (Lactuca sativa L), being it the most consumed. Beside the consumption it also increases every year the population exigency for total quality and safe food. The project aims to integrate the procedures of harvest and post harvest of productive chain of green leaves vegetables cultivated at soil of four different varieties of lettuce (smooth, iceberg, crisp head, and mimosa), proposing that on the first phase: I - the harvest, packing operations, and cooling processes being realized with minimum handling, less mass lost, and vigor; keeping quality and the increase of self life within the legal standards for consumption; II - Packing house with washing by immersion and sprinkling with ozone and refrigerated water with the parameters previously optimized; III - Cooling by moisture way (pad-fan evaporative cooling and misting; immersion and sprinkling cold water cooling), and by dry way (forced air cooling with and without humidity control); compared with the traditional process (washing in chlorine water) of keeping the packing house without control of temperature and humidity. On the second phase, with the results of the first phase, the best results of each earlier step will be, experimentally, analyzed aiming the development of a prototype or prototype tools or equipments to proceed the harvest, the packing house processes, and the cooling in an integrated form to reduce handling, losses of quality, and maximize the freshness and vigor; using manual or semi mechanized or mechanized or combined systems. On both phases, the products quality will be determined, statistically, physical-chemical, physiological, microbiological, and sensorial analyses. (AU)