Postharvest Questions & Answers by Topic

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Question Summary	Organically grown bananas
Category	Banana, Organic
E-news/newsletter Date	November 2002
Question	Recently, we have been using the book Postharvest Technology of Horticultural Crops" as a valuable reference guide in our work. It has proven to be an outstanding source of practical and crucial information in handling a number of commodities that we process, store, and ship at our company. (Ed. Note: Use our Order Form to obtain your own copy.); I was writing you to ask a question in regards to organically grown bananas. To your knowledge and experience, do organically grown bananas display superior or inferior resistance to microbiological breakdown and/or spoilage organisms as compared to non-organic bananas? Is there a difference at all? Thank you. (T.J.)
Answer	I have not done a direct comparison between organically and conventionally produced bananas to be able to give you a specific answer. However, since organic bananas are not treated with any postharvest fungicide, they may exhibit crown rot sooner than bananas treated with a fungicide (such as imazalil or thiabendazole), especially once ripening is initiated. Organic bananas that are treated with hot water as a substitute for fungicidal treatment will likely have similar postharvest life to those treated with the fungicide. --Adel Kader