There are several competing pallet preservation systems marketed to the strawberry
industry to extend the postharvest life and enhance quality maintenance of strawberry
fruit. There is a limited amount of publicly-available data comparing the efficacy of
these systems for maintaining strawberry quality. In 2000, UC Davis conducted a
comparison test between Peak Fresh and Tectrol, in which a single pallet of each
system was shipped to UC Davis, stored in the cold room to simulate cross country
shipment times, and fruit quality was assessed in a double blind evaluation. The results
from this test showed that there was little difference between the Tectrol and PeakFresh
systems, and in some cases the PeakFresh fruit were of better quality. The Tectrol
pallet in this experiment had a low level of CO2 within the pallet upon arrival at UC
Davis, indicating an incomplete seal or a tear in the pallet cover. Although additional
replications were recommended, no further tests were conducted.
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