Low-cost thermal management techniques to reduce losses in tomato supply chain

Abstract

Tomatoes are an essential commodity in both the fresh and processed food markets. It has many health benefits, including preventing cancer and cardiovascular diseases. The shelf life of tomatoes is relatively short due to post-harvest physiological, physical, and chemical changes that occur during storage. Studies indicate that tomato quality in storage depends on proper temperature and humidity management. Hence, technologies that control temperature and humidity are crucial for maintaining the quality of tomatoes and the sustainability of the tomato supply chain.

The current review summarises the various aspects of the tomato supply chain that contribute to post-harvest losses and presents a critical analysis of some low-cost thermal management techniques for reducing tomato losses.

Hence, simple processes for cooling and improving the performance of storage systems are essential in developing countries where energy consumption is high and power supply is erratic.

KEYWORDS:

• Tomato supply chain sustainability
• thermal engineering
• shelf life
• post-harvest loss
• low-cost thermal management

Acknowledgment

The TRANSSITioN project is funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council's (STFC) Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) (grants ST/S002871/1 and ST/T001313/1). It combines broad and diverse experience from India and the UK to investigate sustainable improvements to the vegetable supply chain in India. We are also grateful for comments and suggestions from Dr. Ramesh Krishnan (IIM-Lucknow) and Sourav Ghosh (IIT Madras), which improved the manuscript. This work was funded by Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) of UK. The STFC call under which the author's received support is Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors. We thank you for your kind cooperation and look forward to a positive review.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Science and Technology Facilities Council's (STFC) Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF): [Grant Number Grants ST/S002871/1 and ST/T001313/1].