Pineapple is an important fruit crops of India and cheaply available in the market. It is one of the widely grown and consumed fruit in all parts of the world due to presence of distinct flavour and taste. It is rich in carbohydrate, potassium, calcium, phytonutrients, vitamin C and bromelain. In terms of pineapple production India’s has 6th in the world and leading pineapple growing states are West Bengal, Assam, Tripura, Karnataka, Bihar, Manipur, Meghalaya and Nagaland. It has been observed that at post production level a significant proportion (15-25 %) of the produce get spoiled due to improper post harvest handling practices, which causes huge economic loss to the growers. The availability and accessibility of food can be increased through improved production technology, distribution cool chain, preservation and by reducing the losses. Thus, reduction of post harvest food losses is a most critical component of ensuring future global food security. Post harvest loss of pineapple can be minimize by adopting various suitable post harvest handling practices that are presently in practice all over the world to extend its shelf life. Post harvest handling practices viz., post harvest management, processing and value addition and waste utilization for pineapple are discussed in brief.
