More research is needed to maintain a good quality of fruit and vegetables. This is the opinion of Adel Kader, professor of post harvest physiology at the University of California. In the metropolitan Mexico City for example, every day more than 400 tons is lost in the city’s wholesale center for fruit and vegetables. That amount is in addition to what consumers throw away at home.
According to Kader, one third of all harvested fruits and vegetables in the world ends up as waste. The amount of food which is disposed in the European Union is enough to satisfy the requirements of Africa. Most losses occur in food distribution, on the route from the warehouse at the grower to the consumer.
Especially in horticulture, there is much more information needed about where and why the biggest losses occur. Only then it is possible to prevent the loss of a yearly 1.3 billion tons of food is lost. This is an estimation of the FAO, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.Developing countries have relatively the largest losses of food. This is mainly due to the poor conditions of transportation and storage.
