1. “Post Harvest Quality and Food Safety of Tropical Fruit
Production in South East Asian Countries”, Bangkok, Thailand,
30 April – 4 May 2012
POST HARVEST HANDLING SYSTEM
OF TROPICAL FRUITS IN MALAYSIA
NUR IZALIN MOHAMAD ZAHARI
SAIFUL BAHRI SA’ARI
FOOD TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH CENTRE,
MARDI
G.P.O. BOX 12301, 50774 KUALA LUMPUR
12301,

2. 1.0 Introduction
Malaysia comprises Peninsular Malaysia and the state of Sabah
and Sarawak. Peninsular Malaysia borded by Thailand in the
North and Singapore in the South. Across the sea from the
Peninsular are the Bornean states of Sarawak and Sabah.
Peninsular Malaysia covers an area of 132 000 km2, while
the combined of Sabah and Sarawak covers area of 198 000
km2. The capital city, Kuala Lumpur is located in Wilayah
Persekutuan on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. A
population of Malaysia is approximately 27 million people.

3. MAP : ASIA

4. MAP OF MALAYSIA

5. Agriculture represents about 26% of the Gross
Domestic Product. From total cultivated area in
Malaysia, 90% was industrial crops (oil palm, rubber,
paddy, herbs, coconut, flowers) and 6.4% for fruits and
3.6% for vegetables. The commercial fruit types devided
in two categories;
seasonal (mango, rambutan, durian,
dokong, mangosteen)
non-seasonal (carambola, pineapple,
melons, guava, banana).
There are also new potential fruits increased in
Malaysian production such as dragon fruit, wax apple,
snake fruit (salak) and pulasan.

6. Consumption of fruits per capita:
2005 2010
65 kg 75 kg
-90% Fruits: locally marketed
- watermelon (23%)
-10% - exported : - papaya (13%)
(RM433 M (1998) - durian (10%)
To RM514 M (2003) - carambola (9%)
- banana (5%)

7. Table 1: Typical tropical fruits planted in Malaysia
*Source: Department of Agriculture, 2010 statistics

8. Fig. 1: Example of tropical fruits cultivated in Malaysia

9. New distribution of fruits in Malaysia as shown in Figure
2. Malaysia has planned to have a modern and systematic
wholesale market. In achieving this plan, TEMAN
(National Food Terminal) was proposed by government
agency, FAMA (Federal Agricultural Marketing
Authority).

10. Figure 2: Current system of Malaysian wholesale market

11. To protect consumer
health
To gain market access
- Retailer requirements
- Government
requirements

12. In the new system of wholesale market:
the systematic distribution system of fruit, vegetables,
flower, marine products, meats and grocery are
needed.
cooperation and effort between producers,
government agencies and private sectors is important
to realized this program
supported by the improvement in whole sector
production, handling, retailing and marketing
technologies.

13. DOA (Department of Agriculture) production
MARDI development and transfer of tech.
(Malaysian Agricultural Research
and Development Institute)
FAMA marketing of agri produce
(Federal Agricultural Marketing
Authority)
Agriculture in Malaysia, was successfully increased Malaysian
economic for commercial commodities such as palm oil, rubber
and herbs. Production and commercialization of fruits and
vegetables was increased gradually in the past 10 years.
Recently, this sector is given priority by Malaysian government
to increased national food security.

14. MARDI - high responsibility to lead in science and
technology for transformation of the food and
agriculture industries, to develop and promote
leading edge technologies for the advancement of
food and agriculture industries.
In terms to develop new distribution of fruits in the
new system of wholesale market, postharvest
handling system are one of the most important to
improve in most of the activities from production to
consumers.

15. 1.2 Current Status of Post Harvest Handling in
Malaysia
Post-Harvest handling - a major problem in the development of
the fruit industry in Malaysia.
Rough handling - resulted in severe damage and losses to the
fruits when the products reach to the market.
The need for proper handling of produce at post harvest stage is
not given proper attention - most cases better handling
practices may not necessarily benefit the fruit producers in term
of monetary return.
However, better handling systems have been practiced by some
growers on highly priced fruits such as starfruit, jackfruit and
guava, especially for export markets. Further improvement is
needed as to give better return to the growers and producers.

16. Harvesting and handling produce
Product Quality
Quality is the combination of a product’s
characteristics that are critical to meet
customers expectations and needs.

17. Product Quality
Internal
Flesh colour
Texture
External
Flavour
Colour
Aroma
Blemish
Disease
Size
Shape
Crispness/Wilting
Packaging

18. The main problems of post harvest handling of fruits in
Malaysia:
(i) In appropriate production practices – small farm size and
poor production practices cause by insufficient knowledge
and high production cost.
(ii) Rough jungle tracking - leads to mechanical injury of fruits
and vegetables.
(iii) Poor agri-business management – improper practices from
farm to market, affecting fruit quality control for example,
used of unsuitable container or without container during
transportation.

19. (iv) Inadequate post harvest management systems throughout the
commodity chain, horticulture production suffer from high
pre and post harvest losses mainly due to inadequate and
insufficient knowledge about managed processing capacity,
cold chain infrastructure, packaging material and post harvest
system.
(v) Improper pest and diseases managements – fruits was infected
with bacteria and viruses even at farm level and also the
various post harvest handling stages and market distribution.
(vi) Limited training capacity – the need for well trained farm
worker at all levels to assure product quality.

20. (vii) Lack of packing house and cooling facility and cold chain
maintenance. There are many cold rooms are available at
FAMA packing house complexes for temporary storage. It is
important to provide enough cold chain facilities throughout
the handling path taken by the produce right after harvesting
until the market. Sufficient number of cold truck must be
provided to transport the produce under continuously
refrigerated condition. Proper packing house operation has
been practiced only by several large fruit producers and
exporters. Small fruit and vegetable growers handle their
produce in small packing sheds nearly the farm itself.

21. (viii) Fruits and vegetables in Malaysia normally been
graded to the grade system agreed by both the
seller and buyer. Uniform standards for some fruits
(such as papaya, carambola, pineapple) and
vegetables (such as chilli) have been produced by
the Standards and Industrial Research Institute of
Malaysia (SIRIM).

22. 1.3 Solution of the Problem
To provide effective technology transfer for post harvest
handling system (techniques of harvesting, transportation,
pre-cooling, sorting, grading, washing, treatments,
packaging, labelling, ripening/degreening/flavour
development, storage, distribution):
Increased promotion for agri-business and technology
transfer by government and private sector
More cooperation between government agencies (from
production to marketing)

23. Increased training, seminar, conference, symposium,
exhibition
Introduce licence/certificate to company who adopt
good post harvest technology handling (to create
competition and enforcement)
Cooperation with mass media for education and
promotion

24. FAMA has already planned for this activities and
the project is ongoing. Therefore, only the post
harvest handling system need to be improve
further.

25. There are many aspects of postharvest handling
operations that need to be looked into in future
research and some of them are listed below:
Pre-cooling of produce
Physical and chemical postharvest treatments
Modified and controlled atmosphere packaging
Cold chain system
Refrigerated transport

26. Improved packaging for distribution
Pesticide residue monitoring
Cooperative handling systems
Minimal processing
Grading and standardisation
Non-destructive measurement
Modelling and simulation

27. Minimal Processing

29. » Easy to handle
• Can arrange straight on the
container
• Quality control (2-3 weeks)

31. Fresh-cut: Fresh produce,
peeled, sliced, nicely packed
and ready for immediate
consumption
Become very popular
Need to be combined
with Quality Assurance
System (QAS)

32. Ready to eat
Minimal waste
Better organoleptic
properties (advance
maturity)
Overcome peeling and
preparation problems (latex,
thorns, heavy)
Efficient space utilization

33. Jackfruit
Pineapple • Limau Madu
Durian • Mangosteen
Pomelo • Mixed fruits
• Some vegetables

34. Domestic markets (retail shops,
supermarkets, hypermarkets)
Regional markets (Singapore,
Brunei)
Distant markets By air and sea
(Hong Kong, Japan, Europe)

35. Challenges of the Agricultural Sector
1. Globalization and Free Trade
- world market trade is now open –
competition is very intense
2. High Expectation of Consumers
- demand for safe and high quality food.
35

36. Challenges of the Agricultural Sector
3. Commitment to sustainable agriculture
- food importers and buyers are committed to
the principles of sustainable agriculture.
4. Sanitary and Phytosanitary controls imposed
by importers are critical for the international
trade of fresh fruit and vegetables.
5. Bottom line – major manufacturers and buyers
are now demanding agricultural products that
are produced in a safe and sustainable way and
conforming to standards of GAP.
36

37. Supply chain management
Fresh market – 6 members
1 Farmer
2 Collector
3 Transporter
Wholesaler or
4 trader
5 Retailer
6 Consumer

38. GAP – MALAYSIA
CROP
Malaysian Farm Good Agricultural practice
( SALM- Skim Amalan Ladang Malaysia)
Malaysian Organic Skim ( SOM – Skim Organic
Malaysia)
38

39. WHAT IS SALM ?
A certification program to recognize farms
that adopt Good Agricultural Practices
(GAP), operate in a sustainable and an
environmentally friendly way, considering
workers health and safety and yield
produces that are of quality and safe for
consumption

40. MALAYSIAN FARM CERTIFICATION SCHEME FOR
GOOD AGRICULTURAL PRACTICE (SALM)
Launched by DOA (2002)
Malaysian GAP
Aimed at giving
recognition to farms
adopting GAP
Produce high quality and
safe produce for
consumers

41. SALM CERTIFIED FARMS

42. FARMERS WITH SALM CERTIFICATION

43. GOOD QUALITY PRODUCE BEING
PACKED AND TRANSPORTED FOR SALE
TO CONSUMERS

44. SALM Products promotion in Supermarkets

45. ORGANIC CERTIFICATION IN MALAYSIA
SOM OAM

47. MALAYSIAN ORGANIC SCHEME
(SOM)
Skim Organik Malaysia (SOM
A certification programme under
Department Of Agriculture that gives
recognition to growers who cultivate
their crop plants according to the
criteria/requirements spelt out in the
Malaysian Standard MS 1529 : 2001 The
Production, Processing, Labelling and
Marketing of Plant Based Organically
Produced Foods.

48. Procedure
Application
Site inspection/evaluation
Verification of farm practices
Analysis of farm produce, water and inputs

50. LOGO
TM

51. Organic farms

52. SOM CERTIFIED FARM
KAHANG ORGANIC
RICE ECO FARM
(SOM 1.03)

53. FOOD SAFETY
Food Assurance – Hazard Analysis
and Control Critical Point ( HACCP)
The HACCP system is a science based
and systematic method that identified specific
Hazards and measures for ensuring food safety

54. FOOD SAFETY
In Malaysia , Food safety system involve:
Ministry of Health
Ministry of Agriculture and Agrobase
Industry

55. FOOD SAFETY
This system being adopted by the agriculture
operators as a guide to food production.
Safety assurance are :
GAP, Good Animal Husbandry Practice (GAHP),
Code of Practice for Aquaculture, Good
Manufacturing Practice (GMP), Good Hygiene
Practice ( GHP)

56. Legal Requirement
1. Pesticide Act 1974
2. Enviromental Act 1974
3. Food Act 1983
4. Workers Health, Safety and Welfere Act 1994

57. :: WELCOME TO THE 7TH INTERNATIONAL POSTHARVEST SYMPOSIUM 2012
::
•Pre-harvest Effects on Postharvest
•Postharvest Physiology
•Postharvest Technology
•Postharvest Pathology and Entomology
•Quality, Safety and Security
•Handling, Packaging and Shipping Technology
•Consumers and Marketing
Visit- http://www.mardi.gov.my