931 (ISo International Standard INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR STANDARDIZATION·MEKAYHAPOAHAR OPFAHV3AUWR nO CTAHAAPTW3ALWW·ORGANISATION INTE RNATIONALE DE NORMALISATION Green Bananas - Guide to storage and transport Bananesvertes Guide pour I'entreposage et le transport First edition - 1980-07-01 UDC 634.773 : 664.8.037 Ref. No. ISO 931-1980 (E) Descriptors : agricultural products, fruits, bananas, storage, transportation, specification. Price based on 3 pages Not for Resale Foreword Iso (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards institutes (IsO member bodies). The work of developing Inter- national Standards is carried out through ISo technical committees. Every member body interested in a subject for which a technical committee has been set up has the right to be represented on that committee. International organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with Iso, also take part in the work. Draft International Standards adopted by the technical committees are circulated to the member bodies for approval before their acceptance as International Standards by the ISo Council. Agricultural food products. It was submitted directly to the ISo Council, in accordance with clause 5.10.1 of part 1 of the Directives for the technical work of IsO. It cancels and replaces ISO Recommen- dation R 931-1969, which had been approved by the member bodies of the following countries : India Australia Portugal Bulgaria Iran Romania Colombia Israel Thailand Czechoslovakia Korea, Rep. of United Kingdom Egypt, Arab Rep of Netherlands USSR France New Zealand Yugoslavia Greece Norway Hungary Poland No member body had expressed disapproval of the document. International Organization for Standardization, 1980 Printed in Switzerland Not for Resale ted without license from IHS ISO 931-1980 (E) INTERNATIONAL STANDARD Green bananas - Guide to storage and transport Introduction the cushions have not been mentioned, because it is not possi 0 ble to indicate treatments which are recognized beyond Bananas should be stored, before transport from the exporting dispute. country to the place of consumption and throughout the period of transport, in the green condition and, therefore in the Scope and field of application preclimacteric phase. A banana is said to be in the preclimacteric phase when the This International Standard describes conditions for the suc- cessful keeping, with or without artificial cooling, of green bananas, Musa sp., in the preclimacteric phase during storage Harvesting of bananas takes place throughout the year in before transport from the place of production to the place of tropical and sub-tropical regions having considerable variations consumption and during maritime transport. of an ecological and climatic kind. It follows that the state of dimensional development (fullness) of the banana does not afford a precise criterion of its degree of ripeness. A thin Conditions of harvesting and putting into banana (in a period of drought) may be in an advanced degree store of ripeness. 2.1 Harvesting Moreover, the degree of ripeness to be chosen depends on the duration of transport, which varies considerably (from a few The degree of ripeness of the banana at harvesting should be days to 3 weeks). determined as a function of its firmness and the number of days elapsing between harvesting and putting into the ripening The producer should time the cutting of the bananas so that room. It should not be too advanced, in order that the bananas the degree of ripeness (as estimated from their fullness) is com- may remain in the preclimacteric phase until they are put into patible with the transport envisaged. The time of cutting the ripening room in normal conditions of transport. therefore depends on two distinct factors : the duration of refrigerated transport and the physiological state of the banana. For this reason the recommendations for the degree of 2.1.1 Criteria of ripene