Hyderabad: Cold storage facilities and better transportation of fruits, especially imported fruit, is essential to ensure that fruits remain fresh and retain their nutritional value.
Food marketers estimate that 40 per cent of fruits are wasted due to improper storage, handling and transportation. Of the 70 warehouses in Hyderabad, only 25 are functioning properly.
Mr Tarun Arora, a food analyst, said, “There is more wastage of fruits in the southern and western regions of India due to the tropical and humid climate.”
Fruits require low temperatures so places like Telangana state and Gujarat, where temperatures can go above 44º Centigrade, see fruits getting spoiled more often.
Cold storage facilities require to be improved in both transport and preservation.
“Proper preservation ensures that the quality of food is maintained and also helps to do away with micro-organisms.
The key challenge is in transit of these fruits from one place to another. While the demand has increased by 30 per cent, due to the high cost of transportation and preservation, it is not being completely met,” said Madhu Nair, a food analyst.
In 2015, India imported 3.5 lakh metric tonnes of fruits. The fruit is stored in 6,300 cold storage facilities in and around the country. According to a senior food inspector, “The quality of storage is not up to the mark and that is one of the prime reasons for spoilage of fruits.
Of the 70 warehouses in Hyderabad, only 25 are functioning properly while others have constant system failures.” Low temperatures have to be maintained which is not being adequately done and that is leading to losses, he said.
