Articles
Imported mango quality survey at arrival to stores across USA
Article number
1415_6
Pages
53 – 60
Language
English
Abstract
Mango (Mangifera indica L.) is a climacteric tropical fruit that has become popular around the world.
The USA is the largest importer of mango in America, importing mangos from Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, Haiti, and Puerto Rico.
Over the years, US mango consumption has increased from 0.8 to 1.6 kg capita‑1 during the last two decades.
However, the US mango per capita consumption is still lower than other commodities available in similar yearly cycle.
In 2020, bananas, apples, pineapples, and table grapes had a 27.4, 17.6, 7.3, and 8.4 per capita respectively.
There are limited postharvest studies of imported mangos to the US available and most of them were carried out using non hot water treated (NHWT) mangos while 85 to 90% of imported to the US are treated with hot water (HWT). To investigate the potential obstacles to increase mango consumption in the US, we surveyed mango quality at arrival to stores in the US West, and East coasts for one season in which we measured skin damage, chilling injury, flesh firmness and color, soluble solids concentration and dry matter percentages that led us to propose the following main barriers to increase US mango consumption.
The main barrier to satisfy consumers is the large firmness variability within the ‘ready to eat’ lots that interferes with consumer acceptance and handlers’ losses We recommend enforcing harvest maturity and improve ripening protocols performance for the ‘ready to eat’ programs.
We propose that to reduce firmness variability in the lots, a firmness segregation online should be investigated and validated to assist performance of ripening technologies and increase consumption.
The USA is the largest importer of mango in America, importing mangos from Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, Haiti, and Puerto Rico.
Over the years, US mango consumption has increased from 0.8 to 1.6 kg capita‑1 during the last two decades.
However, the US mango per capita consumption is still lower than other commodities available in similar yearly cycle.
In 2020, bananas, apples, pineapples, and table grapes had a 27.4, 17.6, 7.3, and 8.4 per capita respectively.
There are limited postharvest studies of imported mangos to the US available and most of them were carried out using non hot water treated (NHWT) mangos while 85 to 90% of imported to the US are treated with hot water (HWT). To investigate the potential obstacles to increase mango consumption in the US, we surveyed mango quality at arrival to stores in the US West, and East coasts for one season in which we measured skin damage, chilling injury, flesh firmness and color, soluble solids concentration and dry matter percentages that led us to propose the following main barriers to increase US mango consumption.
The main barrier to satisfy consumers is the large firmness variability within the ‘ready to eat’ lots that interferes with consumer acceptance and handlers’ losses We recommend enforcing harvest maturity and improve ripening protocols performance for the ‘ready to eat’ programs.
We propose that to reduce firmness variability in the lots, a firmness segregation online should be investigated and validated to assist performance of ripening technologies and increase consumption.
Publication
Authors
A.M. Velasquez, C.H. Crisosto
Keywords
‘ready to eat’, consumer quality, harvest maturity, flesh browning, softening, commercial rejections
Groups involved
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