Quality and Potential Healthy Traits in Vegetables and Berries
In recent years, the sensitivity of consumers and producers towards the environment and health topics has increased significantly, and these issues are involving more and more the agricultural world. Much has been done in terms of cropping systems and tec
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Quality and Potential Healthy Traits in Vegetables and Berries Paolo Sambo and Carlo Nicoletto
Abstract In recent years, the sensitivity of consumers and producers towards the environment and health topics has increased significantly, and these issues are involving more and more the agricultural world. Much has been done in terms of cropping systems and technology, but the issues relating to the quality and nutritional value of products turn out to be more complex and sensitive. In this regard, the consumer is more aware of these issues thanks to the many suggestions offered daily both in the health and in a healthy diet. In this sense, this chapter aims to provide a current status of the concept of quality in the context of vegetable products and highlight its importance especially in order to promote vegetables by improving the final consumer diet. In this regard, the indicative pattern of the chapter could include three main sections. The first concerns about the identification and exploration of the quality concept and its evolution over time with respect to all aspects that contribute to its perception by the consumer. Moreover the technical-agronomic factors and environmental factors that determine the product quality associated with pre-harvest until the ripening stage will be considered. Finally, in the last section of this chapter, we will refer to the quality maintenance in post-harvest considering the evolution of multiple physiological aspects (antioxidants, phenols, vitamins, macro- and micronutrients, etc.) to the hypothetical purchase of the product by the consumer. During all the steps described so far, in which quality is involved, we will consider the potential health traits and benefits relevant to the health of the consumer trying to provide a clear and complete view in this research field. Keywords Food quality • Nutrition • Antioxidant • Phenols
P. Sambo (*) • C. Nicoletto Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animal and Environment, University of Padova, Padova, Italy e-mail: [email protected] G.P.P. Lima and F. Vianello (eds.), Food Quality, Safety and Technology, DOI 10.1007/978-3-7091-1640-1_2, © Springer-Verlag Wien 2013
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P. Sambo and C. Nicoletto
Introduction
The term “quality” and the different meanings that this word may assume have for some years occupied a key role in any discussion on the production and marketing of goods and services. As regards vegetables for fresh consumption, the concept “quality” has changed profoundly, passing from just commercial and organoleptic parameters to cover a much wider range from the sanitary to intrinsic health and nutritional characteristics, and also the “ethical” aspects linked to the production process. At international level, the accepted definition is “the set of priorities and characteristics of a product or service that confer on it the capacity to satisfy the expressed or implicit demands of the consumer” (Peri 2004). This is a wider concept than the traditional definition which referred principally to the a
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