Effects of an ice pack and sulfur generating pad treatment for home delivery on the quality of ‘Duke’ blueberry fruits

Abstract

This study focused on the improvement of blueberry delivery service using pre-cooled ice and SO2 pads to prevent an increase in the fruit temperature as well as decay. To maintain the fruit quality during low temperature storage, the effect of a SO2 pad and modified atmosphere packaging was also examined. Harvested blueberries were precooled at 15°C, sorted, and packaged. And the fruits were placed in a similar environment as that for the parcel service. Part of the fruits were stored at 0°C for long term storage. The air temperature in the delivery box increased along with an increase in the simulated delivery time regardless of the treatment. However, the rate of temperature increase was lower in the ice pad treatment. No significant difference was not found after 48 h. The oxygen concentration in the box ranged between 10.5 14.5% in the ice pad treatment, which was higher than that of the untreated control (7.5 11.9%) whereas the CO2 concentration was lower in the ice pad treatment. No differences were found in the occurrence of off-flavor, decay, and sensory quality loss during the 48 hours of the parcel service simulation. The combined treatment of the SO2 pad and modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) using a perforated film increased the shelf-life of the blueberry fruits, the overall quality such as firmness, and the soluble solid content was not different between the treatments except for the decay incidence. No decayed fruit was found in the combined treatment. However, the percentage of decayed fruit in the control was 25% on day 15 of storage and 75% on day 33 of storage, respectively.