Evaluation of Damage to Soft Fruits Due to Cumulative Fatigue Caused by Repetitive Shock: A Review

Abstract

Soft fruits, such as strawberry, peach, and grape, are often damaged by repetitive shock rather than a single event of shock during transport. Vibration is one of the major sources of cumulative fatigue, and several studies have focused on the evaluation of cumulative damage on soft fruits due to vibration. Nevertheless, repetitive shock can also be a source of cumulative fatigue; in spite of this, only a few studies have been carried out on the damage to soft fruits. To evaluate cumulative fatigue accurately and to design protective measures, such as cushioning packaging for soft fruits, it is necessary to propose and validate a new theory considering actual transport conditions. First, this paper introduces past studies related to this topic. Then, some of our researches on constructing a novel theory for the evaluation of cumulative damage due to repetitive shock are revealed. In addition, this paper presents new examples of our proposed cushioning packaging system to reduce cumulative damage to soft fruits such as strawberries or grapes.