The contribution of impact damage to the quality changes of stored banana fruits

Loss in fresh fruits mainly occurs due to their susceptibility to mechanical damage during the postharvest supply chain. Mechanical damages can reduce the quality of fresh produce during handling especially if they are not consumed directly, which is critical food safety and economic issue. Therefore, food security and agricultural efficiency require that vital action be taken to minimize such losses. The possible mitigation includes reducing the occurrence of damage by investigating the effects of the application of external forces during handling fresh fruits. Hence, this study is aiming to evaluate the local banana quality changes as affected by impact energy and forces resulted from the simulated handling practices during storage at 3 different temperature conditions for 12 days. Local banana fruits were damaged by low, medium, and high impact forces using the pendulum technique. Fruits from each impact energy were divided and stored at 5°C, 13°C, and 22°C. The changes in weight loss, texture, and color index were evaluated. The rate of transpiration was also determined. The results of the study showed a gradual reduction in weight loss in bananas impacted from the highest impact energy and stored at 22°C. The CIEL*a*b* color parameters changed during storage. chilling injuries were highly observed in banana fruits stored at 5°C in all damaged fruits. Storage at 13°C showed the least changes in texture properties of impacted bananas. Storage at 22°C and damage from the highest impact energy accelerated the increment of transpiration rate on banana fruits. Overall, one of the most key factors that reduce the incidence of severe damages occurred due to mechanical damages is storage management.