About the Book
The deterioration
and consequently the shelf life of fruits and vegetables starts from the time
they are harvested from the plant. The rate of the deteriorative reactions is
dependent on intrinsic (compositional) and extrinsic (environmental) factors
around the fruits and vegetables. The intrinsic factors are influenced by the
cultivation, soil parameters and the practices adopted in their growing in open
field or under protected cultivation. Among the extrinsic factors, the most
important are temperature, relative humidity, composition of atmosphere, light
intensity, water activity etc. The extrinsic factors can be controlled by providing
controlled conditions in transportation and subsequent storage in cold storage.
This book consists of four major
parts. First part deals with post harvest physiology pre-cooling fruits and
vegetables, handling and storage and various precooling methods of fruits and
vegetables. Second part deals with fundamentals of air conditioning processes,
load calculation, design of air conditioning equipment for cold storages
including spray pond and fans. The transportation of fruits and vegetables and
instrumentation and control systems for cold storage. Third part deals with
Controlled Atmosphere Storages (CAS). Unsteady state mass balances for
equilibrium conditions in CAS, equipment for generation of different gas
regiemes and design of CAS structures. Fourth part deals with Modified
atmospheric Packaging (MAP), MAP packaging materials, deteriorative
reactions reaction kinetic and shelf
life of packaged foods.
This book brings all the
important aspects of cold storages and controlled atmosphere storages including
that of MAP of fruits and vegetables in the form of a single text book which
will be use full for the students of
B.Tech (Horticultural Engineering) and B.Tech (Agricultural Engineering) who
study a full length of course of cold storages and also helpful in designing
supply and cold chain logistics.
Salient Features
· Most of the chapters are provided with solved numerical examples.
· Useful to the B.Tech and M.Tech students of Food engineering,
Horticultural engineering, Agricultural engineering and to Mechanical
engineering.
· Helpful in designing supply
and cold chain logistics. |
