Harvested ‘Dynasty’ corn cobs were trimmed,
sorted and packaged in PVC-wrapped retail trays
at a commercial packinghouse as described above.
The shipment included packages of cobs of three
size groups — medium (length 140–160 mm),
large (170–190 mm) and extra-large (200–230
mm). Average cob weights for these groups were
about 200, 240 and 300 g, respectively. One export
carton contained 12, ten or eight retail packages
of medium, large or extra-large size,
respectively. There were 40 export cartons of every
size group, 20 with Xtend liners and 20 without
the liners, arranged on commercial pallets.
Pallets were subjected to forced-air cooling and
shipped at 4–5°C to the port of Marseille
(France). The sea transportation took 5 days followed
by 2 additional days of land transportation
in refrigerated truck to Rotterdam (the Netherlands).
On arrival in Rotterdam, the liners were
opened. Visual and organoleptic quality of the
produce was checked on the day of arrival and
after 4 additional days of shelf life at 21°C.