Projects / Programmes
Evaluation of quality and safety parameters of vegetables produced on different systems in Slovenia and abroad with aim to establish national quality scheme for vegetables
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 4.03.07 |
Biotechnical sciences |
Plant production |
Technology of vegetal origin food |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| B191 |
Biomedical sciences |
Plant biochemistry |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 4.01 |
Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences |
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries |
bell pepper, tomato, lettuce, microbiological safety, phytopharmacetical residues, nutritional value, quality schemes
Researchers (27)
Organisations (4)
Abstract
Due to new findings, vegetable plays very important role in human nutrition , it exsists a well-known correlation between the consumption of vegetable and especially the occurrence of cardiovascular disease and cancer. Vegetable is together with fruit only nutrient that is a source of antioxidants. In addition to the antioxidant vegetable is also a very important source of dietary fibers, which helps to regulate so called food energetic density. From nutritional point of view, antioxidants and dietary fibers are the most important components of vegetable that favor vegetable consumption.
In the past vegetable was grown in soil and was seasonal product not available all around. Today, the cultivation of vegetable covers almost the whole season due to production in protected glasshouses. Traditional cultivation in soil is replaced with various soilless (hydroponic ) systems , where the nutrients are supplied in water. Of interest is also organic (ecologic) cultivation (up to 5 % of total production ) where vegetable is produced by means of strictly controlled organic fertilizers and other protection means.
Slovenia is deficient in the cultivation of vegetable , a large proportion of vegetable is imported. Due to lack of self-sufficiency in Slovenia there is a great interest to increase its own production. The reason for the increase in production is also better quality of home-grown vegetables , because it is much closer to the final customer, which is reflected in the quality , storability and freshness. Storability of vegetables, which is transported from more distant places is ensured through the use of plant protection products. This (use of phytopharmaceuticals) can be avoided if the end customer is closer to the location of production. Shorter chain from producer to consumer is favorable to both consumer and producer ; from ecological perspective it means lower energy consumption for transportation and refrigeration.
The quality and storability of vegetable depends on the method of production (soil , soilless , ecological) , all agro-technical measures, the genetic factor (variety ), and measures at and after harvest and distribution to the final customer.
Ecologically produced vegetable is usually of better quality, does not contain pesticide residues and contains as a rule more antioxidants and less nitrites and nitrates. Intensification of production apart from most important dietary components also results in reduced amount of nutritionally important minerals, which has been well known.
Soilless cultivation is the latest way of producing vegetable that otherwise yield similar quality, but usually with a slightly shorter lifespan after harvest.
The safety of fresh vegetable pose the greatest problem due to pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella, Escherichia coli ( serotype O157 : H7 , O145 , O104 : H4 ) and Listeria monocytogenes that caused several epidemics and diseases in the last few years. Therefore, we proposed in this project also microbiological analyses which will demonstrate the impact of vegetable growing system on the microbial population in each type of vegetables, the impact of microorganisms on the storability of individual vegetables as well as possibilities for cross contamination.
The consumer is always deciding between price and quality , when the quality refers primarily to nutritional value, sensory quality and safety of food. Although the price is very important because it determines whether a consumer will buy a particular product or not, the consumer is willing to pay a little more for better quality. Under the terms of better quality consumer considers a product with a better nutritional value, without phytopharmaceutical residues and appropriate sensory characteristics, that are in vegetable mainly related to the perception of freshness. Freshness of the vegetable is one of the most important quality criteria that enable us to discern when vegetables were harvested, and what were the measur
Significance for science
Fruit and vegetable quality and storeability depends on numerous factors, i.e. pedocliamtic conditions, agricultural practice and storage conditions. In this project we found out that agricultural practice influence nutritional value of produce. Three manuscripts were published in international journals, the main topics were phenolic profiles and fatty acid composition. We belive that both topics will elucidate and enlight more profoundly the influence of agricultural conditions on fruit and vegetable quality. On the other hand will all data acquired within this project enable to differentiate between geographical origin of agricultural produce. Nowadays, consumers require to know the origin of food. Traceability is thus very important feature and according to our results, it seems that stable istopes, elements and some bioactive compounds might contribute to a better differentiation of produce from different geographical origin.
Significance for the country
Slovenia is not selfsufficient as regards the production of most vegetables including bell pepper, tomato and lettuce. Due this fact, results of the project are useful for slovenian producers who are trying to increase the production toward reaching selfsufficiency. Ecological and biodynamic production represent rather small ratio but are both becoming popular among producers. We believe that the results of our project enlighted the diffeentiation between eclogical and biodynamic on one side and conventional production on the other side. As we import the lions share of vegetables from different countries our results show that it is possible to differentiate between products from different countries. And most importantly, the results are of great value for the consumers. Indeed, traceability is a rule of thumb that could be implemented in fruit and vegetable bussines. Regarding treceability, we established some databasis that are still small but enable the differentiation of products according to geographical origin and agricultural practice.
Most important scientific results
Annual report
2015,
final report
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2015,
final report
