Review on Factors of Harvested Banana Fruits Safety and Quality and Its Effects

Bananas are native to southern and southeastern tropical Asia and belong to the Musaceae family. Bananas are high in vitamin C, potassium, soluble fiber, and protease inhibitors, all of which aid in the elimination of stomach germs. Fruits are also known to be good for calcium and phosphorus. On the other hand, the export potential is huge and it is close to important markets such as Saudi Arabia, Djiboui, Somalia, etc. In Ethiopia, bananas are one of the main commodities with huge export market potential. Ethiopia is relatively close to major export markets such as the Middle East and Europe, Djibouti and Somalia, and can benefit a lot from banana exports. However, bananas are affected by various factors, such as the huge loss of quality and quantity after harvest in Ethiopia. When the product passes through the supply chain to reach the end consumer or the table, it often encounters various degrees of quality and quantity loss. Bananas are affected by several limiting factors in the non-biological and biological categories throughout the value chain. Post harvest losses are highest with crops like banana, which post harvest quality is much dependent on climatic conditions, nature of the crop, different pre and post-harvest practice, environmental conditions, such as temperature, irrigation water, nutrition, and light intensity also affect post harvest quality of banana. Additionally the various factor such as lack of storage facilities, improper handling and lack of packaging and refrigerated storage facilities are the major problems banana production. The potential for solving some of the problems related to banana quality and its shelf life maintenance through keeping fruits in their optimal range of temperature and relative humidity, make appropriate decision, in selecting cultivars, cleaning, waxing treatment with fungicides for decay control, fumigation for insect control, modified atmosphere packaging/storage, selection of disease resistant varieties, fertilizer trial and irrigation trial technology of modified atmosphere application with consumer packaging and transport vehicles a high priority in future research. The main purpose of this review is to review the safety and quality factors of harvested bananas. Keywords: Banana, Harvested, Quality, Factors, Fruit, Safety DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/12-23-03 Publication date: December 31st 202