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Bulletin #4135, Storage Conditions: Fruits and Vegetables

Summary

Once a crop is harvested, it is almost impossible to improve its quality. Losses of horticultural crops due to improper storage and handling can range from 10 to 40 percent. Proper storage conditions—temperature and humidity—are needed to lengthen storage life and maintain quality once the crop has been cooled to the optimum storage temperature. Fresh fruits and vegetables are living tissues, although they are no longer attached to the plant. They breathe, just as humans do, and their composition and physiology continue to change after harvest. They continue to ripen and, finally, they begin to die. Cellular breakdown and death (senescence) are inevitable, but can be slowed with optimal storage conditions. Fresh fruits and vegetables need low temperatures (32 to 55°F) and high relative humidity's (80 to 95 percent) to lower respiration and to slow metabolic and transpiration rates. By slowing these processes, water loss is reduced and food value, quality and energy reserves are maintained.