postharvest

name	postharvest
description	Use when handling produce between harvest and sale — the cooling→washing→curing→grading→packing→storage chain that preserves quality: remove field heat fast (precool), wash, cure storage crops, then hold in the cold chain. Postharvest does not improve quality — it only slows the loss; the gap between gross and marketable yield (shrink) is lost here.
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version	2

postharvest — handling produce between harvest and sale

postharvest is everything between the [[harvest]] event and the sale — cooling → washing → curing → [[grade|grading]] → [[packs|packing]] → storage — the chain that preserves quality. Its first law: postharvest cannot improve quality, only slow its loss, so speed matters. Field heat (the crop's temperature at harvest) drives respiration and decay, so precooling (forced-air, hydro, vacuum, room, or ice) removes it fast; washing (triple-wash + spin-dry for greens) cleans; curing (warm-hold for onions/garlic/winter-squash to dry skins and convert starch→sugar) readies storage crops; then the unbroken cold chain holds quality through storage and transport.

The conserved gap between gross and marketable [[yield]] — shrink (transpiration weight loss + culls + decay) — is lost here; minimizing it is the point. Postharvest is the bridge from [[biological/assets|field asset]] to sellable [[items|inventory]] ([[commerce]]); under FSMA it is also the food-safety surface (agricultural water, the cold chain). It composes [[grade]] and [[packs]].

Standards

• UC Davis Postharvest Technology Center (cooling methods, the cold chain, produce facts); SARE Wholesale Success (packing)
• FDA FSMA Produce Safety Rule — 21 CFR Part 112 (harvesting/packing/holding, agricultural water)
• Knott's Handbook for Vegetable Growers — postharvest & storage conditions

Composes [[agriculture]] · [[harvest]] · [[grade]] · [[packs]] · [[yield]] · [[biological/assets]] · [[items]] · [[commerce]] · [[measure]].

Law — [[law]]: postharvest cannot improve quality, only slow its loss — the cooling→washing→curing→grading→packing→storage chain bridges field asset to sellable [[items]], and shrink (the gross-to-marketable [[yield]] gap) is the conserved loss to minimize.