Abstract
Fresh peaches and nectarines are very popular for their high nutritional and therapeutic value. Unfortunately, they are prone to rapid deterioration after harvest, especially if the cold chain is not well maintained. The objective of this work is to study the environmental fluctuation and the quality change of fresh peaches and nectarines in cold chain. The temperature, relative humidity, and CO2 level were real-time monitored by sensor nodes with a wireless sensor network (WSN). The cold chain lasted for 16.8 h and consisted of six segments. The dynamic change of temperature, relative humidity, and CO2 level were real-time monitored and analyzed in detail in each of the six stages. The fruit quality index (fruit weight, fruit firmness, and soluble solids concentration (SSC)) were detected and analyzed immediately before the first stage (S1) and at the beginning of the last stage (S6). The results show that without good temperature control fruit softening is the most significant problem, even in a short chain; the WSN node can provide complete and accurate temperature, humidity, and gas monitoring information for cold chains, and can be used to further improve quality and safety assurance for peach fruit cold chains.
Highlights
Fresh peaches and nectarines are fruits that are appreciated worldwide by consumers for their juicy texture, high nutrient content, and pleasant flavor [1,2]
The results show that weight loss during the short chain was minimal, since in peaches that are immediately stored at low temperature after harvest, observed weight loss can be up to 5% [40], which is double the values obtained in our study
This paper presents the determination and identification of the critical quality parameters for fresh peaches and nectarines in cold chain logistics implemented by the real-time monitoring of temperature, relative humidity, and CO2 fluctuation
Summary
Fresh peaches and nectarines are fruits that are appreciated worldwide by consumers for their juicy texture, high nutrient content, and pleasant flavor [1,2]. As a kind of climacteric fruits, peaches and nectarines have relatively short lives when compared with other fruits, such as apples, due to fast softening, physiological disorders, and overall deterioration of quality, which significantly decrease their marketing period [3,4,5,6]. The fruit cold chain aims to reduce the quality loss and safety hazards of fruit by the use of artificial refrigeration technology. With limited land resources and an ever-growing population, the food supply chain is faced with the challenge of increasing the handling efficiency and minimizing post-harvest food losses.
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