The RH in the bags was higher than 90%. The control fruit were placed in corrugated cardboard boxes without polyethylene bags (and no ethylene absorbent or CO2 scrubber). Boxed bananas were stored at 10 ◦C and 90% RH. The RH in the control boxes was about 90%.
Gas concentrations were determined with a gas chromatograph equipped with a flame ionisation detector (Shimadzu GC-14) for ethylene and a thermal conductivity detector (Shimadzu GC-RIA) for O2 and CO2.
The syringe was punched through the plastic
film of the bags. The hole in the plastic was sealed
with tape and the same hole was used at later sampling dates.