Apple Bruising VII. Damage Occurring 

 During Intrastate Transportation 



William J. Bramlage 



Department of Plant & Soil Sciences, University of Massachusetts 



Continuing this series of reports from the re- 

 search conducted by Dr. G. K. Brown and his associ- 

 ates at Michigan State University, here we summa- 

 rize their findings about damage that occurs during 

 truck transport of packed apples (Schulte Pason, N. 

 L., E. J. Timm, G. K. Brown, D. E. Marshall, and C. 

 L. Burton. 1989. Apple Damage Assessment during 

 Intrastate Transportation. Paper No. 89-6051, 

 American Society of Agricultural Engineers, St. 

 Joseph, MI 49085-9659). 



Earlier reports from Brown's group have shown 

 that hand-harvesting and transportation to the 

 packinghouse caused an average of 4.5 bruises per 

 fruit, that grading and waxing added an average of 

 5.4 bruises per fruit, and that bagging added another 

 2.4 bruises per fruit. Here they sought to determine 

 the additional bruising that is occurring during 

 transport over varying distances and road condi- 

 tions, and to compare damage among common pack- 

 aging systems (bagmaster, pulp traymaster, and 

 foam cellmaster). 



Procedures 



Golden Delicious apples were carefully hand- 

 picked and handled to provide a minimum of fruit 

 damage. Any damage that had occurred before 

 packing was marked so as not to be attributed to 

 transportation. Size 138 fruit were used in these 

 tests for bagging, and placed in standard bagmaster 

 cartons. Size 113 fruit were packed into 24-count 

 polystyrene soft cell trays and placed in 96-count 

 foam cellmaster cartons. Size 100 fruit were packed 

 into 22-count paper pulp trays and placed in 88- 

 count traymaster cartons. 



Packages were shipped from two packinghouses 

 to two distribution centers, and from each distribu- 

 tion center they went to three different retail stores. 

 The stores were 30 to 70 miles (short distance), 100 

 to 120 miles (medium distance), and 150 to 230 miles 

 (long distance) from the distribution centers. Trans- 

 port was in a double-axle, spring-suspension semi- 

 trailer. Samples were placed on the top of the last 

 two pallets at the 



rear of the truck. Four "mechanical apples" [Fruit 

 Notes 54(l):6-7] were placed in traymaster and 

 bagmaster cartons in each shipment to record im- 

 pacts occurring during transit. After delivery to 

 stores, all fruit were examined carefully and their 

 damage recorded. 



Results 



Nearly all bruises incurred during this study 

 were small (1/2 inch in diameter or less). Upon 

 arrival in the stores, 39 to 98% of the fruit remained 

 undamaged. In the samples packed in polystyrene 

 foam, no more than 5% were bruised during transit. 

 In the bagged samples in bagmaster cartons, 10% to 

 50% were bruised, and in the pulp traymasters, 20% 

 to 61% were bruised. In 5 of the 6 shipments, the 

 traymaster cartons had the most bruised apples. 



The results were then examined in terms of 

 distance shipped (Figure 1). For fruit packed in foam 

 cellmaster cartons, distance had no effect on bruis- 

 ing. In the other two packages, however, bruising 

 increased as distance traveled increased. Clearly, 

 the foam cellmasters protected the apples from 

 impacts due to road conditions, but neither the 

 bagmaster nor the pulp traymaster protected them. 

 This was borne out by the data obtained from the 

 "mechanical apples," which showed no bruise-caus- 

 ing impacts in the foam cellmasters, but increasing 

 numbers of such impacts in both the bagmasters and 

 the pulp traymasters, but with many more in the 

 pulp traymasters than in the bagmasters. More 

 impacts and more bruising occurred when trailers 

 were half full than when they were completely full. 



It should be noted that these tests were con- 

 ducted in October and November, before the high- 

 ways were affected by winter's freezing and thawing 

 conditions. However, poor quality roads were en- 

 countered on all trips, and they caused most of the 

 impacts that were recorded. The results in Figure 1 

 probably represent a greater likelihood of encoun- 

 tering poor quality roads as travel distance in- 

 creases. 



It should also be noted that handling of cartons 



Fruit Notes, Winter, 1991 



