Maintenance of Quality of Prepackaged Cranberries During Retail Display

Excerpts from the report Summary: Cranberry sales may be seasonal and limited in volume partly because high quality berries are not offered for longer market periods. Storage studies have shown that cranberry quality can be maintained for long periods of time, but satisfactory storage evidently is unusual in commercial practice. Other surveys have suggested that retail handling of cranberries can be improved. To this end, nine retail display methods were studied under controlled conditions to determine causes of fruit quality loss. Consumer packages from each retail method were examined at intervals of 3, 8, 14, and 21 days. Determinations were made of weight losses, shrivelling, and decay, in two types of commercial packages, and over three replications of the experiment. On the basis of this study, retail display methods for cranberries are recommended in the following order: (1) Mechanically refrigerated case continuously; (2) false rack in mechanically refrigerated case continuously; (3) nonrefrigerated counter in daytime, 40° F. room at night; (4) crushed-ice display continuously; and (5) nonrefrigerated counter continuously