How temperature affects sweet cherry storage and quality: a China–USA research study

A proper fruits post-harvest management is essential to ensure their quality and reduce losses during transportation and sale phases, which is why it is crucial to accurately predict their shelf life.

The main external factor that influences the reaction rate of perishable foods is temperature, and there are already shelf-life prediction models that are primarily based on this parameter.

But it is also necessary to consider other factors, such as the transpiration and weight loss rates of the fruits, or even chemical, microbiological, and sensory indicators.

Study on sweet cherries

The research conducted in collaboration between Ludong University (China), the Yantai Engineering Research Center for Food Processing and Quality Control (China), and Purdue University (USA) aimed to accurately understand the changes in the quality of sweet cherries based on storage temperature.

A kinetic study was conducted, analyzing various quality indices (anthocyanins, malondialdehyde, total soluble solids, total color difference, weight loss, and flesh firmness), and subsequently, key indices were selected through statistical analysis; finally, kinetic models were defined to determine the shelf life of the cherries.

For this study, "Mei Zao" cherries were used, stored in polyethylene bags which were then kept in incubators at 0°C, 4°C, 10°C, 20°C, and 30°C with a relative humidity of 70-80%.

Experimental conditions

The duration of the experiment varied depending on the storage temperature: at 0 and 4 °C for 16 days, at 10 °C for 14 days, at 20 °C for 7 days, and at 30 °C for 6 days.

Qualitative analyses were performed on the fruits every 1 or 2 days to monitor changes in various parameters.

The results indicated that the color and weight loss progressively increased during storage.

In contrast, the levels of malondialdehyde, anthocyanin content, titratable acidity, and flesh firmness gradually decreased during the storage period.

Kinetic and predictive models

Titratable acidity and anthocyanin content fitted well to the first-order reaction kinetic model, while the change in weight loss, firmness, and malondialdehyde fitted well to the zero-order reaction kinetic model.

Moreover, the Arrhenius model was used to evaluate the temperature-dependent reaction rate, and it demonstrated superior performance (all R2 values exceeded 0.94).

The prediction of the shelf life of sweet cherries from 0 to 30 °C can be obtained by combining the kinetic reaction model with the Arrhenius model, which means that this equation has effectively taken into account the impact of temperature on the reaction rate.

The verification revealed that the shelf-life prediction model based on weight loss and total acidity was more accurate compared to the one based on firmness, anthocyanin content, and malondialdehyde.

Conclusions and applications

Thanks to this study, we now have a benchmark to estimate the shelf life of cherries and avoid qualitative losses of the product.

Source: Wenming Xing, Wenli Liu, Huamin Li, Xiangquan Zeng, Xinguang Fan, Shaohua Xing, Hansheng Gong, Development of predictive models for shelf-life of sweet cherry under different storage temperatures, LWT, Volume 217, 2025, 117442, ISSN 0023-6438, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2025.117442 

Image source: Growing Report 

Melissa Venturi
University of Bologna (ITA)

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