International Produce Training

Bananas- Chilling

Does anyone have any good advice to offer, from experience, at what temperature bananas are subjected to chilling damage?

I have found some information, that relates temperature to the length of time of exposure, for irreversible chilling damage:

From your experience, do you agree with this chart?  Thanks, and I am looking forward to hearing from you.

5 Comments on “Bananas- Chilling”

slick Says:

I don’t know just exactly how long it takes to chill bananas but most of time it doesn’t show up until they warm up.

Anonymous Says:

When bananas are exposed to temps below 45, you can pretty much guarantee the gray discloration will show up. I am not sure how much time they need of exposure at this temp. This is a great topic….maybe some expert will write in.

tyawman Says:

Many thanks to Mark Levin, of M. Levin Co., Inc, a major banana wholesaler from Philly. Mark wrote:

“Riding bananas with other fruits and vegetables this time of year does create problems. If you can balance the temperatures to be a little higher than normal (instead of 36….try riding the load at low to mid 40’s..)..Also we cover the bananas with newspaper individually to try to keep them warmer….They also make a plastic bag which fits over the whole pallet so as to keep it warmer and keeps the gas inside so the ripening process does not get disturbed as much.”

iLUVproduce Says:

bananas should not be exposed to temps lower than 55 F or higher than 65F
Light-medium chill injury will occur after about an hour at 52F, after about 4 hrs at 53F, and after 12-24 hrs at 54F
You will see brown discoloration just under the peel

tyawman Says:

Thanks for the help with the chilling question! Very much appreciated.

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