How to Ship Strawberries

Harvest the strawberries when they are high in red pigment and the skin is glossy. During the ripening stages, strawberries go through many level of redness, from pale pink to red. The berries do not ripen more after harvest and will remain the same color after being picked. Furthermore, the glossiness in the fruit's skin will indicate the amount of moisture in the berry, as shiny strawberries are well hydrated and have a better chance of lasting during shipment.

Inspect the berries to check for injured or potentially diseased fruit before packaging them into trays. Standard trays are 19.89 inches length by 11.63 inches width by 4.19 inches height. Handling the fruit with care during the sorting process can also help minimize damaged fruit. A strawberry that is bruised is more likely to decay, and the mold can infect nearby fruit, ruining a whole tray during the storage process. Additionally, berries are also susceptible to Botrytis cinerea, a bacteria that is transmitted through the air and by the splashing of water. Keeping the berries cool can help reduce the risk of this disease during storage and shipment.

Stack the trays onto a 40-foot by 48-foot pallet and rapidly cool the strawberries to 32 degrees F in a cooling chamber until shipment. Cool the truck to 32 degrees F before loading the pallets. The trays are center loaded into the refrigerated truck. This loading technique uses load spacers or inflated tubing to keep the palettes away from the truck's walls, which is the coolest area. Also, the spacers keep the pallets from knocking against the side of the truck, which can bruise the fruit.

Unload the strawberries onto a refrigerated loading dock after they have reached their destination. Inspect the fruit to make sure they are still glossy and firm to the touch. Discard any shriveled or decayed fruit before store them in a cool storage facility (32 to 34 degrees F), with 95 percent humidity.