A Review of Technologies to Prolong the Shelf Life of Fresh Tropical Fruits in Southeast Asia

초록

Southeast Asia, a typical tropical region, plays an important role in exporting a variety of fruits worldwide. The market for fresh fruits has been growing consistently, and this is a chance for Southeast Asian countries to increase their national income. However, export of tropical fruits has limitations such as a short shelf life and difficulty in maintaining the quality because of tropical climate conditions and undeveloped postharvest technologies in Southeast Asia. An important objective for developing postharvest technologies is to extend the shelf life of fresh fruits without deterioration in fruit quality. Therefore, it is essential to determine factors that affect the shelf life of fruits. The shelf life of tropical fruits is significantly dependent on the inherent properties of the fruits, extrinsic conditions, postharvest treatment, and microbial contamination. Recently, Southeast Asian countries have supported agricultural research groups for developing new postharvest technologies and minimizing postharvest losses and maintaining export fruit quality so that the total sales of tropical fruit farms can increase. This review introduces how the primary factors for extending the shelf life of tropical fruits can be determined and discusses the development of postharvest technologies for tropical fruits in Southeast Asian countries.

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