Post-harvest damage and performance comparison of sweet tamarind packaging

The sweet tamarind is a pod, harvested ripe and usually consumed fresh. The pod consists of a shell and pulp, which encloses the seeds. The main problem with fresh sweet tamarind is the damage caused by packaging which deteriorates the fruit quality and reduces the consumable amount of fruit. This research attempts to quantitatively evaluate the damage of the sweet tamarind packaged in current wholesale and retail containers and to propose an appropriate new package. The proposed packaging is of a sleeve design, 15 cm in diameter by 20 cm in height, containing a mixture of 5 mm foam balls and sweet tamarind inserted vertically. This packaging imparts 1/5 to 1/6 of the damage of conventional packaging and costs half the price. (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier Ltd.