Sampling protocol for crops (taken at harvest and at point of sale to consumer) for laboratory analysis by CARIRI Rohanie Maharaj Associate Professor Biosciences, Agriculture & Food Technologies rohanie.maharaj@utt.edu.tt 1
THE MARKETING SYSTEM MUST RESPOND TO THE NEEDS OF THE CONSUMER What factors are likely to influence produce purchase? 2
POSTHARVEST LOSSES Local Marketing Postharvest losses amount to between 28-36% Export Marketing Postharvest losses can be as high as 50% Losses occur as a result of: -Using the Wrong Maturity Indices -Improper Harvesting Techniques -Poor Field Handling -Improper Transportation -Postharvest Decay -Poor Packinghouse Operations 3
Why is this Sampling Protocol Training so Important? 1. Fresh fruits and vegetables destined for external lab must be handled very carefully in order to ensure quality and safety. 2. Some of the current postharvest handling practices employed by farmers actually damage the products. 3. Some of the damage are obvious others are more subtle and only become apparent when it reaches 4 its destination.
Why is this Sampling Protocol Training so Important? 4. Some of these practices that compromise quality include use of polypropylene sacks and other inappropriate field packaging material 5. Transport in hot sun on open trays should be avoided. 5
Why is this Sampling Protocol Training so Important? Food Safety Tests Price/Crop Price/Crop (TT) (US) Total Aerobic Plate Count 230 37 Yeasts and Moulds 230 37 Total Coliforms 230 37 Fecal Coliforms 290 46 Salmonella 290 46 Staphylococcus aureus 290 46 E. coli 290 46 Heavy Metal-Pb 460 73 Heavy Metal-Cd 460 73 Pesticides 2300 365 Total 806 Listeria monocytogenes cannot do Bacillus cereus cannot do E. coli 0157 cannot do Baseline-Guy $1000 X 7 =$7,000 US 6
Definitions Delicate crops, refers to fresh produce (i.e., string beans, papaya, sweet pepper, etc.) that are highly susceptible to bruising, crushing and/or deterioration during collection, packaging and shipping or may deteriorate if exposed to excessive temperature or humidity during the sampling, packaging and shipping process. Fresh commodities refer to raw, whole produce. Items that are merely washed, brushed or bagged are acceptable (i.e. dasheen, sweet potato, carrot and melon). 7
Objective To provide a standard procedure for the collection, packaging and shipping of fresh fruit & vegetable samples for 3 rd Party Lab Testing (CARIRI) Applicable in all the countries where sampling is required viz: Guyana, Trinidad, St. Kitts and St. Lucia. 8
CROPS Crops ST. LUCIA Tomato X X GUYANA String Beans Melon X X X Eggplant X X Sweet pepper X 9
The Current System Fruits are harvested at any time of the day Placed in polypropylene bags or netted sacks Left on the soil Left in the field with no attempt at shading Left overnight in these sacks No sorting 10
Unacceptable field practices Let s discuss
What the Laboratory wants Must appear fresh Intact stem which must appear green Representative of the color as demanded by the customer Free from soil Free from physical and chemical defects Free from pest & diseases 12
What to do? Harvest crop according to proper technique Harvest in the cooler times of the day preferably in the early morning Use clean crates/bins to collect samples 13
What to do? Hold under cool conditions (use of precooled/insulated containers) Refrigerate where the commodity cannot be packaged and shipped on the same day as sample collection Sample collectors shall use shipping containers that are the correct size for the commodity being shipped. 14
Procedure for Crates Crates are washed with clean running water They are then scrubbed with a detergent Rinsed Dipped in a sanitizer Air dried Stored for next harvested crops 15
What to do? Samples should be collected and bagged at Packinghouse or convenient location Samples should be placed in plastic bags 2 mm thick gauge (avoid use of paper bags) Pre-cool or refrigerate prior to shipping where possible Avoid cross-contamination 16
What to do? Use as many cool packs as necessary to maintain transit temperature Place these plastic/polyethylene bags in the insulated container allowing space for coolants (avoid loose wet ice) Adequate filling material should be used to cushion samples (avoid newspaper, kraft paper and shredded computer paper) 17
Some Things to Note Permissible to ship more than one commodity in the same shipping container. Only commodities with similar sizes, weights, cooling requirements, and ethylene sensitivities be placed together in the same container. For light-weight crops eg string beans and sweet peppers, there is no limit on the number of like samples except weight restrictions of 3-5 lbs 18
Some Things to Note For heavier commodities, eg. Pineapples, no more than 2 samples should be shipped together in the same box/crate. The bag containing crops should be sealed in a manner to prevent tampering Each bag should have an ID number 19
Some Things to Note Sample ID is a 17 digit number -2 digit country code eg. St. Lucia is SL -6 digit date (yy/mm/dd) eg. 11/10/25-2 digit site code number (Field/PA site) -4 digit commodity code eg. PINE is for pineapple -3 digit laboratory code eg. CAR is for CARIRI What does SL-110619-46-SPEP-CAR mean? 20
Some Things to Note LABELING OF SHIPPING BOX The sample collector may label the outside of the shipping box with statements such as:- -FRAGILE -THIS END UP -PERISHABLE PRODUCT -REFRIGERATE UPON RECEIPT 21
Some Things to Note USE OF FED.EX/DHL All samples must be shipped by a service (FED EX/DHL) that results in the sample arriving at the assigned Lab no later than the day following sample collection (follow-up). -Samples should not be shipped to arrive at the Lab on a Friday unless prior approval is granted. Samples should not be shipped on a Friday or the day before a public holiday. 22