Evaluation of quality and shelf life of fresh tomatoes stored in a pumice padded evaporative cooler with a roof pond

Summary

The world is faced by myriad challenges like climate change and ever-increasing population making the achievement of global food security a challenge. Although highly perishable, tomatoes are popular food commodity. Farmers have to sell the commodity soon after harvest for fear of deterioration. For longer storage, tomatoes require an environment with low temperature and high relative humidity. Cooling systems such as refrigeration are not accessible to most small-scale farmers because they require connection to the grid. In this study, a solar powered pumice evaporative cooler was developed and evaluated for the storage of ripe tomatoes. The system adopted the principle of evaporative cooling and comprised of walls filled with pumice coupled with a pond filled with water on the roof and b