Bhimu Patil, director of the Vegetable and Fruit Improvement Center (VFIC) at Texas A&M University, is researching how to make fresh produce more flavorful, according to The Packer.
Funded by contributions from key partners in the U.S. food industry, the center not only studies ways to make fresh produce look and taste better, “our goal is to enhance their levels of health-promoting compounds,” Patil said.
The center was formed in 1992 as the first interdisciplinary research facility in the U.S. to focus on genetic improvements to fresh produce that will benefit human health. Patil also emphasizes the center’s belief that consumers have a strong influence on what growers plant and market.
“I describe today’s fresh fruit and vegetable market as a table-to-farm environment, Patil said. “Consumers are busily dictating what they want from the grower community and how it must be produced.”