Impact damage of apples during transport and handling

Consumers are increasingly demanding fruit of consistent high quality. Mechanical damage, which can occur during harvesting, packing house operations, handling and transport, represents a serious hazard to quality and has the potential to significantly reduce the value of the product. Dynamic forces during fruit transport and handling cause by far the most bruise damage. This paper reviews 45 years of research in the area of impact damage during transport and handling of apples. Because the amount of research on the impact damage of apples is considerable, an attempt was made to classify the research in categories. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.