Cherries – Ambient shelf life extension on short (2 days) and long (15 days) transit 

Testing Methods: Two supply chains were simulated at the Grower storage facilities:

1. Short transit simulation:

Fruit harvested in crates, hydro cooled and stored for 2 days at 0°C before being washed, graded and packed in 500g clamshells. A total of 320 clamshells were packed for this trial.  Road transport simulation for 2 days at 3°C + Store for 1 day at 1-3°C to simulate a Distribution Centre Supermarket + Store at 20°C for 5 days to simulate the store conditions. 20 new packs per treatment were daily assessed according to a visual quality score, an individual fruit count based on major defects (bruise, bladdery, splits, mould and rot), sensory, firmness and weight of total wasted cherries per pack.

1. Long transit simulation:

Fruit harvested in crates, hydro cooled and stored for 2 days at 0°C before being washed, graded and packed in 500g clamshells. A total of 320 clamshells were packed for this trial. Road transport simulation for 15 days at 3°C + Store for 1 day at 1-3°C to simulate a Distribution Centre Supermarket + Store at 20°C for 5 days to simulate the store conditions. 20 new packs per treatment were daily assessed according to a visual quality score, an individual fruit count based on major defects (bruise, bladdery, splits, mould and rot), sensory, firmness and weight of total wasted cherries per pack.

Result: Short transit simulation trial:

• The packs with It’s Fresh! had a better overall visual and sensory quality compared to Control over the total trial period of 10 days.
  Control stops being eatable on Packing+6 days versus It’s Fresh! on Packing+8.
• There was a significant quality benefit on cherries with the use of the It’s Fresh! filters over the trial period.
  • 50% of the fruit in the Control packs failed on P+7 compared to It’s Fresh!, which failed on P+9, this is 2 days life extension.
  • There was a reduction of 23% on waste (kg) with the use of It’s Fresh! over the 10 days of trial.

Result: Long transit simulation trial:

• The packs with It’s Fresh! had a better overall visual and sensory quality compared to Control over the trial period of 23 days.
  • Control stops being eatable on Packing+19 days versus It’s Fresh! on Packing+22.
• There was a significant quality benefit on cherries with the use of the It’s Fresh! filters over the trial period.
  • 50% of the fruit in the Control packs failed on P+15, whiles It’s Fresh! does not reach this limit over the trial period.
  • There was a reduction of 42.1% on waste (kg) with the use of It’s Fresh! over the 23 days of trial.

Figure 1 – External visual quality on Packing + 21 days (left is Control and right is It’s Fresh)