Early view

Vlado Kušec, Igor Kovačev, Martina Skendrović Babojelić, Ante Galić

Abstract

Mechanical damage is a major factor affecting postharvest fruit quality, causing substantial economic losses throughout the supply chain. In addition to intrinsic factors such as species, cultivar, and growing conditions, fruit quality is strongly influenced by mechanical stresses during harvesting, handling, transport, and storage. Understanding the mechanisms and extent of such damage is essential for developing strategies to reduce losses and improve postharvest management. This review provides a comprehensive overview of current methods for detecting and quantifying mechanical damage in fruits, including finite element modelling (FEM) for analysing stress distribution and deformation, pendulum impact tests for evaluating bruise susceptibility, penetrometers for assessing firmness, and various non-destructive spectroscopic and imaging techniques for early damage detection. Particular attention is given to recent advances in non-destructive approaches and their potential for rapid and objective quality assessment. The paper highlights current challenges, including standardisation of measurement protocols and scalability of advanced technologies, and outlines future perspectives for improving detection accuracy and reducing postharvest losses.

Keywords

postharvest fruit quality, manipulation, damage intensity, destructive and non-destructive methods

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