Dr. Diane Barrett, one of the Postharvest Technology Center's Specialists, held a four day course on low acid and acidified food processing -- the Better Process Control School (BPCS) -- which was held February 9-12, 2010.
One-hundred-and-three food processing industry attendees successfully passed this Food & Drug Administration certified course. Dr. Linda Harris, CE Specialist in Food Science & Technology, was one of the primary speakers in this course as well as Dr. Barrett and two food industry professionals.
While Dr. Barrett plans on continuing to offer an annual in-person series of this program, she is also putting the final touches on the first U.S.-based online BPCS, which will be available beginning this Fall. Attendees would be able to enroll to take this important course in the convenience of their own working environment. Please contact Dr. Barrett if you have an interest in this online program: dmbarrett@ucdavis.edu.
For additional overview information about the Better Process Control School, please see the web page: http://ucanr.org/bpcs.
Very well received in its first offering in 2009, the 2010 Fresh Produce Marketing Strategies Short Course promises all that and much more.
Course coordinator Dr. Roberta Cook has been hard at work on the agenda, and has recently lined up several new speakers who will be joining our all star team of instructors at our Fresh Produce Marketing Strategies Short Course, scheduled for May 5-7 at the San Francisco Grand Hyatt’s Conference Theater. This superb venue will provide the latest in meeting technology, with executive seating and microphones at each place to facilitate interaction between audience members and speakers.
Produce marketing is a very fluid and dynamic arena, and new topics for this year will include social media, SKU rationalization, and managing shrink. Please see the course web page to enroll, or to learn more about this exciting course presented by the UC Davis Postharvest Technology Center.
The UC Davis Postharvest Technology Center is pleased to introduce the new Rice Quality Handbook.
By R. G. Mutters and J.F. Thompson, this new 141 page handbook provides detailed information on how to produce high-quality rice from planting to postharvest. It was written primarily for the Sacramento Valley rice industry, but worldwide rice operations, including growers, buyers, operators of dryers, warehouses, and processing operations, will benefit from this handbook. It is illustrated with 39 color photographs, 58 graphs, and 35 line drawings. Link to a full table of contents.
To order a copy for your library, please use our Order Form.
The February 25 and 26, 2010 Fruit Ripening & Ethylene Management workshop at the University of California’s Kearney Agricultural Center in Parlier, California still has a few spaces open. The workshop focuses on how to increase profits by delivering ready-to-eat, delicious fruits and fruit-vegetables to the consumer and is intended for shippers and handlers involved in ripening. The two-day workshop is open for registration at http://postharvest.ucdavis.edu/Announce/fruitripening.shtml.
Carlos Crisosto, faculty director of the course, has over 20 years of experience as an extension specialist, with expertise in the postharvest biology and technology of fresh fruits. “This year, because the course has many central California grower-shipper attendees, breakout sessions will be especially current and dynamic,” said Carlos. “We have people who have been involved in the fruit and vegetable industry for many years attending this course because of the earlier timeframe—I am looking forward to the hands-on dialogue and sharing of commodity-specific techniques during our various sessions.”
Topics will include retail ripening programs; maturity, ripening and quality relationships; biology of ethylene production and action; ripening facilities and equipment; temperature management; maturity; ethylene treatments, inhibition and control; packaging; problem diagnosis and the future of ripening. Based on its success last year, we will again have breakout demonstrations by topic. Participants will form small groups by interest, and design and present ripening programs for discussion and evaluation.
Attendees may register for this and other upcoming educational outreach activities sponsored by the Postharvest Technology Research & Information Center via their website at http://postharvest.ucdavis.edu or by contacting Ms. Pam Devine, registration coordinator, at (530) 754-4326 or pwdevine@ucdavis.edu.
Specialists in the field of Postharvest Technology gathered from twelve countries to discuss their findings over the past year’s study of postharvest losses for horticultural crops. After comparing notes on results to date from the Appropriate Postharvest Technology Planning Project, they broke into four teams focused on developing long-range, high-impact projects. Two teams focused on Sub-Saharan Africa, and two on South Asia.
Drs. Marita Cantwell, Beth Mitcham, Diane Barrett, Michael Reid, Adel Kader, and Jim Thompson from the Postharvest Technology Center played active roles, in conjunction with the project leader, Dr. Lisa Kitinoja, of the World Food Logistics Organization, and Drs. Paul Marcotte and Mark Bell from the University of California’s College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences’ International Programs Office. Attendees included representatives from AVRDC, IITA, Amity University, KIST, Tamale PolyTechnic, ZEGA, DAI, Fintrac and ACDI/VOCA.
