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How Do Postharvest Microbial Treatments Extend Fresh Produce Shelf Life?
Fruits and vegetables harbor a microbiome on their surfaces that interacts with them to influence fruit quality. Fruit/plant-microbial interactions can be used in postharvest management to control spoilage microbes, thereby improving fresh produce quality and shelf-life. These microbial-plant/fruit interactions include competition, mycoparasitism, volatile secretions, microbial biofilms, quorum sensing, and systemic resistance induction. Postharvest spoilage, quality… Continue reading…
Additional reading
How Do Plant Growth Regulators in Fruit Production Improve Yield and Quality?
Plant growth regulators (PGRs) regulate hormonal pathways that regulate fruit set, size, shape, color, firmness, taste, and aroma. PGRs can also synchronize fruit maturity and control postharvest ripening, senescence, physiological disorders, and microbial spoilage. PGRs rarely act in isolation but rather in a network of synergistic or antagonistic interactions. PGRs applied in correct, precise amounts… Continue reading…
Myth: You Can Tell Ripeness by Color Alone
In produce operations, the idea that you can determine fruit ripeness by color alone is persistent. It sounds practical. Walk a field or a packing line, look for the right shade, and make a decision. But when fruit ripeness testing becomes critical to quality control, color quickly shows its limits. If you rely on visual… Continue reading…
Truth About Portable Gas Sensors in Cold Storage: Condensation Isn’t Harmless
Cold storage environments are tough on equipment. Anyone who has worked in produce storage rooms, ripening facilities, or distribution centers knows that temperature swings and high humidity are part of the job. Portable gas sensors for cold storage are often treated as rugged tools that can handle it all. But there is one factor that… Continue reading…
Myth: Ripening Control Is Just About Ethylene
Ripening control is often reduced to a single variable: ethylene. In reality, effective ripening control depends on a coordinated understanding of ethylene, oxygen, carbon dioxide, temperature, and commodity-specific physiology. Focusing on only one gas oversimplifies postharvest management and leaves room for quality loss, uneven ripening, and reduced shelf life. For growers, packers, storage operators, and… Continue reading…
Fruit Logistica 2026 Tech Talk: How to Verify Ethylene Control in Cold Storage
At Fruit Logistica 2025, we shared practical guidance on how to verify ethylene control in cold storage and retail environments. While many facilities implement abatement systems, validation is often limited to spot checks or periodic manual testing. In this session, we demonstrated why single-point measurements can miss critical exposure patterns and how continuous, real-time monitoring… Continue reading…
Data Repeatability Under Pressure: F-751 vs Sunforest vs Rubens Compared on Real Fruit Lots
Data repeatability under pressure is one of those topics that only becomes urgent when results start drifting. In real fruit lots, pressure comes from uneven maturity, temperature swings, operator fatigue, and the simple reality that fruit is never uniform. This is where handheld NIR tools are either trusted or sidelined. In this article, we compare… Continue reading…
