Advances in design and performance evaluation of fresh fruit ventilated distribution packaging: A review

This review was initiated to realise the state-of-the art in optimising the ventilation and structural requirements of corrugated packaging carton design. Researchers have been using computational methods: computational fluid dynamics, particularly, the finite volume method, to analyse the airflow and heat transfer performances, and computational structural dynamics, particularly, the finite element method, to analyse the loss of compression strength due to vent-holes. Models are validated using actual testing: wind tunnel based forced air cooling system to study the produce cooling kinetics and box compression test machine for the package industry to study the structural dynamics. Studies on the rate and uniformity of produce cooling and the loss of structural strength in corrugated cartons as a function of size, shape, and location of vent-holes are reviewed. Based on experimental data, results show that the loss in strength can range between 10–40 % on addition of vent and hand holes on cartons, and reasonable increase in cooling rates is only achieved with increase in carton face ventilation area only up to 7–8 %. With regards to internal packaging components, increasing awareness of consumers to the environmental degradation of especially disposable plastic packaging means packers and suppliers must devise means to cut back and eventually eliminate plastic packaging from fruit and vegetables.