Quality control and assurance

• Quality control (QC) is the process of maintaining an acceptable quality level to the consumer.
• Quality assurance (QA) is the system whose purpose is to assure that the overall QC job is being done effectively.
• An effective quality control and assurance system throughout the handling steps between harvest and retail display is required to provide a consistently good quality supply of fresh horticultural crops to the consumers and to protect the reputation of a given marketing label.
• Quality control starts in the field with the selection of the proper time to harvest for maximum quality.
• Careful harvesting is essential to minimize physical injuries and maintain quality.
• Each subsequent step after harvest has the potential to either maintain or reduce quality; few postharvest procedures can improve the quality of individual units of the commodity.
• Exposure of a commodity to temperatures, relative humidity, and/or concentrations of oxygen, carbon dioxide, and ethylene outside its optimum ranges will accelerate loss of all quality attributes.
• The loss of flavor and nutritional quality of fresh intact or cut fruits and vegetables occurs at a faster rate than the loss of textural and appearance quality.
• Thus, QC/QA programs should be based on all quality attributes and not only on appearance factors as often is the case.