Post-Harvest Problems of Strawberry and Their Solutions

Abstract

Strawberry is a fruit with a short season of harvest. Strawberry is well-known among people all over the world for its distinct flavour, nutritional value, and delicacy. While on the other hand, preserving strawberry and shelf life extension has been a huge difficulty due to their perishable nature. Making effective and sustainable use of already available food processing and preservation technology needs time. Researchers must use advanced techniques like a cool store, modified atmospheric packaging (MAP), cool store, controlled atmospheric storage (CA), various packaging methods, and a variety of chemical and physical treatments to retain commodities for a longer period due to strategic market sales following harvest. Except for the preserving techniques, there is some polysaccharide-based edible coating which has a crucial role in delaying fruit softening, fruit decay, maintaining the increased levels of ascorbic acid and phenols, enhancing the activities of antioxidant enzymes, and reducing membrane damage. During the postharvest stages, there are numerous threats to keep in view regarding the safety and quality of strawberries. In this chapter, we will discuss the benefits and drawbacks of some of the various preservation technologies, as well as how they might be utilised to preserve and a prolonged period of freshly harvested strawberries.