Postharvest Technology
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Value Added Products

Adding economic value to agricultural produce to meet the needs of the market.

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A broad definition of value added is to economically add value to a product by changing its current place, time, and form characteristics to characteristics more preferred in the marketplace*.

Our contribution to economic value addition of South African horticultural produce (fruits and vegetables) from farm to plate:

  1. Supporting harvesting practices by defining maturity indices of South African pomegranate fruit for the first time.
  2. Improving storage requirements by setting ideal storage conditions and periods for both whole and processed fruits and vegetables.
  3. Creating wealth from waste by evaluating the phytochemical content of fruit peels. Potential health benefits of fruit waste could be useful in formulation or fortification of nutraceutical and cosmeceutical products, thus adding economic value to the fruit.

*Coltrain D., Barton D. and Boland M. 2000. "Value Added: Opportunities and Strategies", Department of Agricultural Economics, Kansas State University.