Cherries – Ambient shelf life extension on short (2 days) and long (15 days) transit
Material tested:
- 500g clamshell macro perforated
- It’s Fresh! 2×1 large retail ethylene filter (added at source during packing, 1 filter per clamshell)
Produce tested: Cherries – variety Lapin, source Greece
Company: fruit from Poulis Sa, assessments made by Agrocell
Test date: June 2018

Testing Methods: Two supply chains were simulated at the Grower storage facilities:
- 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.
- 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)
Note: The first 3 days were at 3°C. The remaining days were in ambient (20°C)
Day 9 (Packing+8) was end of shelf life
Punnet weight 500g
Note: The first 16 days were at 3°C. The remaining days were in ambient (20°C)
Day 22 (Packing+21) was end of the shelf life.
Punnet weight 500g