Influence of Carton Stacking Patterns on Pear Cooling Rates

Excerpts from the report: The pear industry became interested sometime ago in using corrugated paper cartons for packing and storing pears. However, it was believed that the cartons and stacking patterns used in storage influenced the cooling rate of the packed product. To find out what this influence was, a study was undertaken. Two types of cartons and several stacking patterns were studied under commercial and laboratory conditions. The cartons were selected by the Research Committee on the Oregon-Washington-California Pear Bureau in 1953 and 1954 as promising containers for use by the pear industry. In 1953 a pilot packing and storing operation was conducted in a plant in the upper Wenatchee Valley, and in 1954 pilot operations were conducted in the 4 principal winter pear growing districts in the Pacific Northwest; i. e. , Medford and Hood River, Oreg., and Yakima and Wenatchee, Wash. The laboratory work was conducted at the Agricultural Marketing Service laboratory at Wenatchee. Although the tests with these cartons covered labor requirements for various phases of the operations as well as shipping performance, this report deals only with the cooling and storage characteristics of the cartons compared with wooden boxes and the effect of these characteristics on the quality of the stored product.