Reduction in Post Harvest Losses

1. How to Reduce Post Harvest
Losses in Food Crops
Dr. R.T. Patil
Former Director, CIPHET, Ludhiana
Chairman, Benevole Welfare Society for Post
Harvest Technology, Bhopal

2. What is Post Harvest
Technology
Post Harvest Management
Proper Handling and Storage
Value Added Processing
Developing Novel and Ready to
Cook/Ready to Eat foods

3. Reasons for Food Losses
1. Handling of raw produce (without washing,
cleaning, sorting) through many stages of
middlemen.
2. Processing is mostly done in urban areas rather
than in rural areas leading to loss of valuable by-
products.
3. Non availability of cold chain infrastructure for
storage of raw as well as processed products in
production catchment
4. Non uniform agricultural produce due to
fragmented land holdings hence all not suitable for
table consumption and processing is must

4. Postharvest and Value Addition in
Production Catchment
1. Help effective backward linkages with small holder
farmers for processing their raw produce
2. Reduce post harvest losses and increase availability
of by products for further processing.
3. Can provide processed food of highest quality at
affordable cost to consumers
4. Help environment by needing least food miles
5. Ensure traceability of raw materials used for
processed product suitable for export and elite urban
market.
6. Shorten the supply chain, reduce PH losses,
increase the profitability of farmers and ultimately
increase from GDP from agriculture and help to
reduce poverty

5. Entrepreneurship in Food Processing

6. Entrepreneurship in Food
Processing

7. Selected Technologies for
Horticulture Crops

8. Fruit Saving Gadgets
After plucking
from tree, fruit is
thrown in the
trough of fruit
saver and
collected in a
box/container.
The fruits are graded on size basis at
appropriate places. Smallest grade fruit is
collected first and largest grade is collected in
last

9. Banana-Comb (Hand) Cutter
It is an useful to de-stem the comb from the banana bunch. It
replaces the use of sickle, which was much labor and time
consuming.
It is safe for human and banana hands and can be used for faster
work. 100 to 120 banana bunches can be de-handed per hour.
Saves 10 to 15 banana-fingers per bunch (i. e. 2 to 8 % reduction
in cutting losses of banana fruits)

10. CIPHET Tomato Grader
• The tomatoes roll down the pipes
due to gravity and fall immediately
wherever they find the space of their
diameter.
• Grades 3: 25-40 mm, 40-55 mm, 55-
70 mm and > 70 mm
• The collector is inclined at 10° so
that the tomatoes slide directly in
crates.
• The important feature of grader is its
ability to adjust the gap between the
pipes and inclination of grading table
and hopper.
• It can also be used for other round
fruits and vegetables.
Capacity: of 325 kg/hr
Overall grading efficiency: 66%.
Cost: Rs.25000.00

11. Washing of Fruits and Vegetables to
Extend Shelf life

12. Evaporatively Cooled Room for Storage of
Fruits and Vegetables
Compared on the basis of 10%
physiological loss in weight (PLW) the
shelf life inside the room was 34 days
for early kinnow, 23 days for late
kinnow, 11 days for cauliflower and 4
days for spinach as compared to 21,
11, 5 and 2 days respectively in an
ordinary room at the same time.
The cost of the chamber is USD 1500 and capacity is 2 tonnes.
•An evaporatively cooled (EC) room (3x3x3m. size) was developed
for on-farm storage of fruits and vegetables.
•The summer temperature inside the EC room was 5-8C lower than
that inside the ordinary room and winter temperature was 5-8 C
higher than that inside the ordinary room.

13. Fruit Ripening Chamber
•A small quantity of alkali is
added to ethrel to release the
ethylene gas and the fruits are
exposed to this gas in air-tight
portable plastic tents.
•Fruits are placed in ventilated
plastic crates inside air-tight
plastic tents.
•A small battery operated fan
can be placed inside the tent for
uniform circulation of gas.
•Robusta banana can be
ripened in 18-24 hours.
•Mango fruits can be ripened in
5 days

14. •Higher aril extraction capacity; around 5.0 quintal per hour
•Aril extraction/separation efficiency is in the range of 90-94%
•Mechanical damage received by arils is only 1-2%
Mechanical Pomegranate Aril Extractor
including Hand Tool
Capacity 10 kg/h

15. Minimal Processing of Pomegranate Arils
Pomegranate arils treated with
Chlorinated water for 5 minutes
(Sodium hypochloride 100 ppm)
+ Antioxidant for 30 seconds (5%
W/v Citric acid or Ascorbic Acid)
and packed in 25 μSemi
permeable film and store at 5 ±
1º C maintains quality, colour and
shelf life up to 16 days with good
physical and microbiological
conditions for their
commercialization. Anti oxidants
were positive to reduce spoilage
and retain colour, quality and
chemical composition of arils.

16. Chips and Powder from Banana

17. Banana Jam

18. Process Technology for Guava Bar
• Guava is perishable in nature
and cannot be stored for
more than two days during
peak season.
• Guava can be processed into
a number of products like
fruits bar and beverage
• Fruits, which are rich in
nutrients can be blended to
improve its acceptability and
flavor
• Guava bar acceptable even
after 6 month of storage
Composition: Moisture: 15%, Vitamin C: 120 mg/100g, Acidity:
1.08%, Reducing sugar: 14%, Non-reducing sugar: 46%, Weight
of each bar: 5-10 g, KSM: 0.2%

19. Process Technology for Ber Preserves
• Excellent natural color
• Very good texture
• Rich in Vit. C
• Rich in minerals
• Least enzymatic
browning
Can keep well up to 6 months

20. Minimal Processing of Vegetables

21. Crushed Tomato Technology
• Intermediate processing
technology to produce tomato
puree in production catchment and
its cold storage for further use by
Ketchup or Soup or Juice
Manufacturers is best option to
avoid price crash/distress sale and
provide local employment
• Crushed tomato is an intermediate
product developed by ICAR-IIHR
where inclusion of seed and skin
adds to the consistency and colour
of the product and can be used as
a substitute to the fresh tomato for
various curry preparation

22. Cryogenic Grinder
• The capacity grinder is 30 to 50 kg/h
• The grinding system consists of a self-pressurized liquid
nitrogen cylinder of 185 litre capacity,
• Cryo-precooler of capacity 30-50 kg/h.
• All contact parts of machine are made of stainless steel.
• The ground spice is collected through cyclone system and
immediately sieved into different grades.
• Product with natural flavour & all medicinal attributes is
obtained.

23. Garlic Processing Machines
Garlic Flaking MachineGarlic PeelerGarlic Bulb Breaker
Capacity-800 kg/h
Cost-USD 4000
Capacity-400 kg/h
Cost- USD 4000
Capacity-40-50 kg/h
Cost-USD 1500

24. Method to Prepare Dried Garlic Slices
• The cloves are
separated, peeled and
sliced across the length.
• Slices of 3mm thickness
are dipped in 0.5%
sodium metabisulphite
solution for 15 min at
ambient temperature
and dried to 6% moisture
content (db) in a
fluidized bed dryer
at 600C air temperature.
• Slices thus obtained
should be immediately
packed in airtight
containers.
Plant & machinery :Stainless Steel knives,
Fluidised bed dryer, Work tables, Dipping tanks
etc., Manpower :10-15 kg raw garlic / person for
8 h, Investment: USD 3000 approx.,
Capacity:10-15 kg dried garlic slices / day.

25. CIPHET Process of Mechanical
Dewatering and Drying
• Process-The onions were washed,
peeled and mechanically dewatered
prior to drying with centrifugal juicer.
• Partial mechanical dewatering
resulted in as high as 60.98 % less
consumption in energy than
conventional method besides getting
high value products i.e. onion juice
and onion powder.
• The optimum combinations are 60%
dewatering and 60-70 C
temperatures.
• Onion juice was concentrated to
75% solids for increasing its shelf
life.
• Storage studies of onion powder
showed that there has been no
significant loss in quality even after 2
months storage at room
temperature.

26. Solar Tunnel Dryer
• It consists of a tunnel type semi-cylindrica drying chamber
• Trolleys and trays are provided to hold one tonne and two
tonnes of raw material.
• The reduction in drying time compared to (60 %) compared to
open sun drying as a result of higher inside temperature of
about 22 - 25°C.

27. Dehumidifier Dryer
•Micro-processor based
temperature controller to regulates
the drying temperature.
•For blanched Amla drying, the
dryer reduced vitamin-C loss up to
87% as compared to the open sun
drying.
•The products such as sliced fruits
and vegetables is dried in 20-25 h
and medicinal herbs and leaf crops
are 12-20 h.
•The cost of the prototype is Rs.
1,50,000 and capacity is 30
kg/batch.

28. Shrink Packaging of Fruits and Vegetables
Storage life
Ambient Cold store
Commodity
Shrink wrapped Unwrapped Shrink wrapped Unwrapped
Kinnow 27 13 70 41
Tomato 19 10 39 23
Capsicum 25 4 46 21

29. Green Chili Processing into Powder and
Puree
•Chilies powder has higher nutrition and
controlled pungency. The green chilies
have more Vitamin C & A and antioxidant
properties.
•About 130 g of green Chilies powder and
300 ml puree could be prepared from one
kilogram of fresh green Chilies.
•The cost of the plant for the processing
200kg of green chilies per day is
estimated at USD 15000/-.
•The break even point comes be 49.15%
and pay back period 1.91 years
•1kg of green chilies costing 20 cents, the
value added product of USD 1.50 could
be marketed.
Chili Puree
Green Chili Powder

30. Selected Innovative
Technologies for Food Grains

31. Appropriate Grain Dryers

32. Portable Maize Dryers

33. Mobile Agro Processing Unit for Cleaning,
Grading, Destoning of food Grains
Cost: Approx USD 15000
Equipment: As per requirement of the
region

34. Prefabricated Relocatable
Warehouses
•It has tubular steel frame
covered by PVC-coated
polyester fabric tensioned
over the frame.
•The capacity of structures
varies from 50 to 3000
tonnes.
•Stores require minimal
foundations, and the
integral base frame can be
effectively anchored to the
ground

35. Mobile Agro Processing Unit for Cleaning,
Grading, Destoning of food Grains
Cost: Approx USD 15000
Equipment: As per requirement of the
region

36. Double Chamber Modern Oil Expeller
•Provision for cooling the barrel by
passing water through water
jackets for temperature of the
barrel below 70 C
•Pungent compounds present in
the oil are not escaped during
expelling.
•10 tpd capacity provides 5.8%
residual oil in mustard cake in
one-go crushing, as compared to
7.5% in conventional expeller
•Mustard cake is bright green
without any discolouration.
•Durability worm & cage bar
assemblies (10 week against 3
weeks conventional expellers)
•The plant requires less space for
installation.

37. Capacity: 20 lit/batch, Cost: INR 5 Lakh
Soy/ Groundnut Milk Extraction Unit

38. Agro Processing Centres
for Rural Development
• Rural youths in a team be encouraged to set up agro
processing centres to clean, grade, package and process
food grains to get the benefit of off season higher prices.
• Similarly a village level power plant using biomass briquettes
can also be encouraged by a team of rural youth.
Mini Dal Mill Mini Rice Mill
Mini Biomass Power Plant

39. Transfer of Technologies
• Assembling the technology as a
package
• Providing technology based
Entrepreneurship Development
Programs
• Providing incubation facility for test
marketing the produce
• Hand holding to get government
incentives and other logistics needed
• Help in modern marketing strategies

40. Examples of Successful
Entrepreneurs

41. Evaporative Cooled Room
Surinder Singh
Vill Jalalabad, Moga Punjab
Profession: Vegetable Farmer
Cold Room used for on-farm
short term storage of fruits
and vegetables
Cost of structure: Rs 12000
USD

42. Dried Green Chilli, Ginger and Garlic Powder
Sh Saket Ranjan
M/s Skysnacks, Punea, Bihar
Trained by CIPHET
Products: Green chilli powder, Ginger
Powder, Garlic Powder, Sattu and Pappad
etc.
Employment: >10 mostly ladies

43. Chowdhary Made Agriculture Profitable
with Value Addition in Rajasthan
Kailash Chaudhary, Age 60 years
Products: Aamla juice, amla
powder, aloe vera juice, candies,
squashes, pickles, sweets
Exports to many countries
Employment: Direct 30;Indirect 40
Established: 2004
Training and Technologies by
CIPHET
Turnover: > 250000 USD
Web: www.ksbiofoods.com

44. Soybean Processing for Milk and Tofu
Sh B S Garcha
Dist. Sangrur Punjab.
Established: 2000
Products: Soymilk, Tofu, Whey
beverage, Soy namkeen etc.
Monthly Income: > USD 1000
Employment generated: 10
Capital Investment: USD 10000
Sales outlets stalls in University
and colleges

45. Franchise Concept in Soybean
Processing
Sh J S Sandha,
Jalandhar Punjab
Established: 2008
Products: flavored soya milk,
curd, lassi, namkeen and soya
roasted nuts
Created Small Scale Franchisees
Technical guidance and support
by CIPHET

46. Recommendations
• Consume seasonal one fruit a day that will reduce losses by 5%
• Increase consumption of fruit jam, also in milk shake that will
further reduce loss by 5% and promote small scale industry and
generate employment
• Establish enterprises for collection, sorting, packaging and
storage of vegetables by SHGs or producer companies
• Establish industries for processing fruits & vegetables in the
form of dehydration and pulp and puree making using standard
protocols in production catchment.
• There is a need to promote fruits as a presentation material like
flowers and sweets so that its consumption be increased
• Provide vegetables grown by SHGs and Producer companies
through PDS like in Onam in Kerala
• Provide crushed tomato, sauce, pickles and salsa type of
products produced by SHGs through PDS shops.

47. Email ID- ramabhau@gmail.com
Mobile. No. +91-8964030701