Quality problems occurring during or after sea transportation of bananas in refrigerated containers are mainly caused by insufficient cooling and non-optimal atmospheric conditions, but also by the heat generated by respiration activity. Tools to measure and evaluate these effects can largely help to reduce losses along the banana supply chain. The presented green life model provides a tool to predict the effect of deviating temperature, relative humidity, and CO 2 and O 2 gas concentrations on the storage stability of bananas. A second thermal model allows evaluation of the cooling efficiency, the effect of changes in packaging and stowage and the amount of respiration heat from the measured temperature curves. Spontaneous ripening causes higher respiration heat and CO 2 production rate. The resulting risk for creation of hot spots increases in positions in which the respiration heat exceeds the available cooling capacity. In case studies on the transport of bananas from Costa Rica to Europe, we validated the models and showed how they can be applied to generate automated warning messages for containers with reduced banana green life or with temperature problems and also for remote monitoring of the ripening process inside the container.

Microbial load on fresh fruit and vegetables causes decay and losses after harvest and may lead to foodborne illness in case of contamination with human pathogens on raw consumed produces. Washing with tap water only marginally reduces microorganisms attached to produce surfaces. Chlorine is widely used for decontamination on fresh horticultural produces. However, due to harmful by-products and the questionable efficacy it has become increasingly challenged. During the last 20 years, the interest to study ClO treatments as an alternative sanitation agent for industrially prepared fresh produce has largely increased. For a wide range of commodities, the application of gaseous ClO has meanwhile been investigated. In addition, since several years, the interest in aqueous ClO treatments has further risen because of the better manageability in postharvest processing lines compared to gaseous application. This article critically evaluated the effects of postharvest application of aqueous ClO, either alone or in combination with other treatments, on microbial loads for various horticultural produces. In laboratory investigations, application of aqueous ClO at concentrations between 3 and 100 ppm effectively reduced counts of natural or inoculated microorganisms (bacteria, yeasts, and mold) in the range of 1 and 5 log. However, various effects of ClO treatments on produce quality have been described. These mainly comprise implication on sensory and visual attributes. In this context, there is increasing focus on the potential impacts of aqueous ClO on relevant nutritional components of produces such as organic acids or phenolic substances.

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