The quality and condition of produce sent to market and its subsequent selling price are directly affected by the care taken during harvesting and field handling. Whatever the scale of operations or the resources of labour and equipment available, the planning and carrying out of harvesting operations must observe basic principles.

In general, anything that comes into contact with fresh produce has the potential to contaminate it. Fresh produce may become contaminated at any point along the farm-to-table continuum.

Precooling is a very important step in the post-harvest stage of the perishable-produce industry. Precooling means quickly removing the heat from freshly harvested fruits and vegetables to reduce the loss in quality of produce once it’s been picked. Likewise, precooling increases the shelf-life of fresh produce. Higher quality and longer shelf-life mean more profits to produce growers.