Posts Tagged “stone fruit shelf life”
Putting peaches in storage increases the risk of chilling injury. Symptoms include bleeding, browning, and a mealy texture and are developed if peaches are stored for more than two weeks. That risk in combination with their short shelf-life creates a dilemma for growers when unanticipated fluctuations of supply occur. “Balancing supply inconsistency with the risks of holding fruit is a fine line that needs to be walked.”
At the consumer level, chilling injury is basically unknown, but its symptoms are one of the primary reasons consumers report dissatisfaction with the category. Often, it is invisible until the fruit is cut. Inconsistency of production patterns at the grower level has a direct link to inconsistency of quality at the consumer level, resulting in a dramatic, long-term impact on the category year over year.
In his research, Ioannis Minas, Associate Professor of Pomology at Colorado State University addresses this issue. Lots of research has been done on chilling injury, but it cannot be avoided. His theory is that we are dealing with chilling injury because we can’t predict the production peaks. That’s when he and Verdant Technologies started talking. The need for stone fruit to travel through the supply chain at a high pace coupled with the many varieties ripening at different times, could Verdant’s technology assist in making the supply chain more efficient?
HarvestHold Fresh
During the testing phase, Verdant’s 1-MCP technology was applied to different types of stone fruit. The technology is basically a plastic sheet that is encapsulated with 1-MCP, which is very easy to apply. Pilot treatments were done with a large grower in Colorado and the benefits immediately showed. It slows down softening, browning and the development of mealiness,” shared Minas. The technology, called HarvestHold Fresh®, is applied immediately at the packing line. The sheet is put in the box, and it works by itself during storage, cooling, and transportation. Following Colorado, California nectarines – both yellow and white – were included in the trials.
While the results with peaches were favorable, the results with nectarines were even better, shared Minas. The University is now working on getting more data for other stone fruits, including plums, and the first results are very promising.
The application of HarvestHold roughly gives the fruit an additional week in the supply chain. At the end of the day, HarvestHold for stone fruit allows growers and shippers to better manage the volatility in supply as it provides them with additional storage time without compromising the quality of the end product. Fruit lasts longer, stays firmer, and tastes better, says Matthew Aronson, Chief Revenue Officer at Verdant Technologies.