Effects of Cooling Delays at the Wholesale Market on the Quality of Fruit and Vegetables after Retail Marketing

In commercial practice, fruit and vegetables are often stored at wholesale markets or supermarket logistics centers at ambient temperatures for certain times before retail marketing. We examined the effects of keeping various fruits (apples, bananas, peaches and grapes) and vegetables (tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and cabbages) for various periods of 0, 24, 48 or 72 h under cooling (6C), air conditioning (22C) or ambient temperatures (25-28C) on produce quality after a simulated retail marketing period of 3 days under air conditioning temperatures in the retail shop and 3 more days of refrigerated storage in the consumer's home. In general, prolonging the storage of the produce at the wholesale market, especially without proper cooling, led to increases in weight loss, decreases in firmness and flavor acceptability, changes in color, and increases in decay and physiological disorders. However, the observed effects depended on the tested produce.