Post-Harvest Losses (PHL) in Rice

• 18.10% of rice is lost in the Philippines.
• 63-66% of rice loss comes from post-harvest handling, processing, and storage.
• Post-harvest losses (PHL) involve degradation in both the quality and quantity of food production from harvest to consumption, including during and after harvest.

Quantity and Quality Losses

• Quantity losses during post-harvest are distinct from quality losses
• Quality losses impact nutrient/caloric composition, acceptability, and edibility.

Internal Factors

• Internal factors occur at all stages in the food supply chain, from the moment of harvesting to handling, storage, processing, and marketing

During Harvesting

• The absence of an established maturity index for some commodities, and/or the lack of a maturity index for local export markets, impacts harvest efficiency
• A set of criteria/standards is used to determine the right time to harvest a crop to ensure optimal quality, shelf life, and marketability.
• Harvesting is based on physical, chemical, and physiological attributes
• Color changes include tomatoes turning red and mangoes changing from green to yellow.
• Shape and size: watermelons reach full size and grains fully filled are ready for harvest.
• Firmness/Texture is the softening of avocados.
• Sugar/Starch Content is determined by tests for sugar levels in sugarcane.
• The number of days after flowering or planting indicates when cacao pods are ready for harvest (e.g., 140-180 days after flowering).
• Excess rain and humidity promote mold growth and spoilage.

During Transportation

• Transportation issues include poor infrastructure and roads, alongside a lack of refrigerated transport, insufficient trucks, and cooling equipment during transport.

During Storage

• Storage issues include a lack of proper facilities and poor hygiene within the warehouse
• Inadequate monitoring happens due to a lack of knowledge by the person in charge
• A refrigerated environment has more humidity, and cold air holds less moisture, which releases moisture and causes condensation.
• Ideal conditions for moist foods, like tomatoes, and environments that keep foods from drying out.
• Humid environments prevent drying, so dry foods tend to absorb moisture from the air, and low humidity prevents spoilage and mold contamination.
• Strong winds and storms induce physical damage to crops.
• High temperatures speed up ripening and spoilage.
• Improper harvesting methods include rough and untimely handling.
• A lack of appropriate harvesting tools, equipment, and containers is impactful.

During Pre-Cooling

• Pre-cooling is done after harvest to quickly remove field heat and slow down respiration.
• Respiration affects the consumption of oxygen and release of CO2, H2O, and heat leading to quality degradation and shorter shelf life, and therefore pre-cooling prolongs shelf life
• Pre-cooling slows the rate of reactions.
• Respiration is the consumption of O

Post-harvest losses (PHL) involve degradation in the quality and quantity of food production from harvest to consumption. In the Philippines 18.10% of rice is lost. Quality losses impact nutrient composition, acceptability, and edibility.