Monitoring data from commercial banana supply chains has identified opportunities to improve post-harvest handling, reduce losses, and deliver more consistent fruit quality to market.

Information is now available on:

• Real-time monitoring to reduce banana waste
  • Reducing banana chilling damage during transport
  • Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) to extend storage life and maintain fruit quality

A handy app, Ripen Right, is also now available. Developed from more than five years of research, this interactive tool helps growers and supply chain partners predict chilling injury risk and fruit ripening outcomes, supporting better storage, transport and ripening decisions.

This work was undertaken by Department of Primary Industries researchers Dr Andrew Macnish, John Archer and Minh Nguyen from the Supply Chain Innovation Team as part of an End Food Waste project, in collaboration with Frank and Dianne Sciacca of Pacific Coast Eco Bananas.

Read more on the Better Bananas website and discover practical ways to improve fruit quality, reduce waste and protect grower returns.

Image: Frank Sciacca of Pacific Coast Eco Bananas showing the data logger used to monitor temperature in fruit consignments.