Postharvest quality management of vegetables in supply chains in GMS
A. Acedo Jr. and S. Kanlayanarat
Book of Abstracts, Southeast Asia Symposium Quality and Safety of Fresh and Fresh Cut Produce Greater Mekong Subregion Conference on Postharvest Quality Management in Chains, August 3-5, 2009, Radisson Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand.
2009
บทคัดย่อ
Vegetable quality management systems in GMS countries (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and Yunnan-China) are generally dichotomous in nature. One system can be characterized as being traditional with little concern on maintaining product quality and reducing postharvest loss while the other system being progressive with capacity and resiliency to technological changes in order to meet market demand. The tradition quality management system is prevailing in GMS but more prevalent in less developed economics (Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar) than in more developed ones (Thailand, Vietnam and Yunnan-China). It is employed for vegetable produce destined for conventional markets such as municipal and city wet markets. In more developed economies, quality management of vegetables for conventional markets has developed to cater to increasing consumer demand for high quality and safe produce, although it is less complicated as compared to quality management systems employed for vegetable produce for modern markets (e.g. supermarkets) and export. This paper provides an overview of the traditional and progressive systems of quality management of vegetables in the six GMS countries.