The management of fruit quality in distribution begins with understanding the nature of the distribution chain, from produc- tion to consumption, and defining the components that make up the chain. In order to understand the causes and mechanisms of fruit impact and vibration damage, it is necessary to study the following aspects
A. Thesource,magnitudeandnatureoftheimpactandvibration input:
• Single fruit impacting against single fruit
• Fruitcontainersubjectedtodropimpact
• Fruit container subjected to transport vibration
• Vibration response of transport vehicle to road surface
B. The influence of the packaging material and the container itself, for example:
• Cushioning and damping properties of packaging material
• Dynamic response of the box itself
• Friction between the fruit and the container
C. The influence of individual fruit and neighboring fruit in modifying the impact or vibration input, for example:
• Cushioning effect of neighboring fruit
• Interaction between dynamics of fruit and packaging
material (no publications found)
D. The susceptibility of the fruit to damage, as a function of
maturity, temperature, size, cultivar, etc.
These factors are interrelated and the quality of the fruit at the end of the chain and the cost of maintaining quality are functions of all these components and their interactions