椎名 武夫

<p> Food distribution and quality control method have been changed drastically after the promulgation of so called "Cold Chain Council, CCC" in Japan. The Resource Research Committee, Shigen-chosakai in Japanese, under the Science and Technology Agency issued the CCC in 1965 as the guidance/recommendation of producing, harvesting, handling, grading, packaging, transporting, and storing of food to supply high quality food aiming at the promotion of human health in Japan. To realize the concepts of CCC, various researches and developments for establishing modern methods of food distribution and quality control measures have been tried. In this manuscript, several key technologies including precooling, cold storage and transportation, packaging, and gas composition control for fresh fruits and vegetables to keep quality have been discussed to illustrate current status. In the last 30 years, several technologies have also been created to meet the social/consumer requirements such as high quality, convenience and long-life. In the recent years, good practices (e.g., good agricultural practices, GAP) for assuring the safety of agricultural produces have been receiving attention. As an example of new frame work for food quality assurance system namely "Time Environmental Tolerance" system is introduced for the future perspective of food supply chain.</p>