The inadequate handling during the post-harvest has been responsible by the lost of value of the product in the internal market, and lost of opportunity of exportation of this Brazilian fruit. The other observed aspect is that the commerce of banana is highly affected by the bad visual aspects of the fruits and inadequate packing. Inside of this context, this research has, as major objective, the evaluation of post-harvest quality of banana fruits, variety Prata Anã. Experiments were realized to evaluate the quality variation, appearance, and colorin until the fruits were inappropriate for consumption, using physical-chemical and sensorial analysis, by comparing cold storage at 13ºC and maintenance of the products at natural environment with no temperature control. The fruits of banana during the experiments were packed in three different packing ( wood box type "torito" with capacity for 18kg and cardboard wrapper, wood box type "½ caixa", with capacity for 13kg and cardboard box with capacity for 18kg). Physical or mechanical damages were, also, evaluated during the transport of the fruits from the packing house to the distribution center, and after acclimatization. Keeping the fruits at refrigerated environment increased the life storage in five days. The packing used did not promote difference in the conservation of the fruits, neither in the indicatives attributes of maturation and also in the increase of physical damages.
Musa spp.; processing; package
