In this section:
Citrus
Controlling surface pests on citrus and preventing postharvest decay to ensure food safety and market access is essential to the South Australian citrus industry.
Citrus Post-Harvest Group
- National Postharvest Citrus R&D coordination role – provide support and direction in the scope of R&D required for the advancement postharvest handling of citrus. Includes coordination of updates of R&D to industry, priority setting for R&D, and delivery of R&D outcomes.
- Postharvest Decay Control – evaluation of citrus packing processes and products to control decay. In particular, quality control during export of product with long transit times.
- Sanitation/food safety – evaluation of sanitising products and their compatibility in the citrus packing process. Includes audits of packinglines to identify points at risk, and technical solutions to comply sanitation for ‘product quality’ and food safety considerations.
- Market Access (pest) – evaluation of systems approaches to control surface pests of quarantine significance on horticultural commodities.
- Citrus Postharvest Extension – provision of practical information on the latest postharvest handling procedures for citrus. Includes seminars, workshops and publication of the citrus Packer Newsletter.
The Postharvest Horticulture Group is committed to the delivery of client focussed outcomes by providing information and high quality applied solutions through technical support and R&D activities related to the supply chain management and postharvest handling of horticultural and other perishable produce.
- Technical support for supply chain development.
- Technical support for export market development.
- Cool chain evaluations
- Supply chain quality management systems.
- Development of harvest maturity guidelines.
- Packaging assessment.
- Evaluation of postharvest treatments.
- Investigation of preharvest factors that impact postharvest quality and storage.
Our customers are trying to achieve increased sales and profitability through having:
- A market edge (innovative supply chain systems and technology)
- Product that consistently meets consumers requirements
- Product integrity
A guide to the common postharvest diseases and disorders of navel oranges and mandarins grown in inland Australia (pdf, 156kb) can be used to identify disorders when fruit arrives at overseas markets. The information provided focuses on the most common problems occurring on citrus sent to our major export markets.
In 2006 the SARDI postharvest team visited citrus packing sheds in the Riverland, Sunraysia and Riverina areas to conduct a major decay survey. The main aim of the survey was to determine the major issues sheds had with inline fungicide applications and the resulting effect on decay control. Results are presented in the comprehensive report, Decay Survey of Citrus Packingsheds in the Riverland, Sunraysia and Riverina (pdf 236kb)
The Citrus Packer Newsletter provides citrus packers with practical advice about postharvest treatments. The newsletter is distributed to researchers and commercial citrus operators in 20 different countries. Copies are available to download or via email.
"Delivering postharvest decay, food safety and market access solutions for export citrus" is a technical summary from the last completed citrus postharvest final report.
The quality of the water that comes in contact with produce can influence the potential for contamination. Sanitation for food safety discusses sanitation practices used by citrus packers to illustrate the role of sanitisers in food safety.
