NTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO 3 3959 INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR STANDARDIZATION MEXKIyHAPOHHA OPTAHH3ALIHG IO CTAHIAPTH3ALIWH.ORGANISATION INTERNATIONALE DE NORMALISATION Green bananas - Ripening conditions Bananes vertes -- Conditions de maturation First edition - 1977-06-15 SO 3959-1977 (E) UDC 634.773 : 631.547.67 Ref. No. 1SO 3959-1977 (E) Descriptors : food products, fruits, bananas, maturation conditions. Price based on 6pages Copyright International Organization for Standardization 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 International 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 the member bodies for approval before their acceptance as International to Standards by the ISO Council. International Standard iSO 3959 was developed by Technical Committee ISO/Tc 34, Agricultural food products, and was circulated to the member bodies in September 1975. It has been approved by the member bodies of the following countries : Iran Romania Australia Austria Israel South Africa, Rep. of Bulgaria Mexico Spain Turkey France Netherlands Ghana New Zealand Yugoslavia Hungary Poland India Portugal No member body expressed disapproval of the document. @ International Organization for Standardization,1977 Printed inSwitzerland ted without license from IHS Not for Resale ISO 3959-1977 (E) INTERNATIONAL STANDARD Green bananas -- Ripening conditions 0 INTRODUCTION 3 FACTORS INFLUENCING THE DEGREE OF RIPE NESS OF THE BANANAS WHEN THEY ARE PLACED Bananas continue to develop physiologically after they have INTHE RIPENING ROOM been harvested, and their state of ripeness when they are placed in the ripening room will depend on their state when 3.1 State of bananas when harvested harvested and on different conditions to which they have subsequently been submitted. The assessment of the degree of ripeness of the bananas when harvested is based on the fullness of a given fruit on The ripening of the bananas consists of a preliminary heating the bunch. It is a dimensional criterion which corresponds and a supplementary heating, followed by the actual appreciably to the degree of ripeness when the fruit is ripening, in the course of which two phases may be dis- normal. tinguished : Unfavourable ecological conditions may produce the fol- a first phase characterized mainly by an extensive lowing effects : release of heat, without change in the colour of the skin but in connection with intense physiological activity; to predispose the bananas to a more rapid develop- a second phase characterized mainly by a decrease ment of the flesh than expected; in the release of heat, associated with continuation of possibly, to favour the development of fungal hydrolysis of the starch with the formation of reducing deterioration of the skin, and in particular of the stalks sugars and sucrose, by a rapid change in the colour of the skin and by the development of the odour. and the ends of the cushions. 1 SCOPE AND FIELD OF APPLICATION 3.2 Conditions to which the bananas are submitted from This International Standard lays down conditions to be the time they are harvested to the time they are placed in observed in order to obtain satisfactory ripening of green the ripening room bananas following possible storage and transport in accord- ance with ISO/R 931. After harvesting, the development of the banana is influ- enced by certain external or physiological factors, such as It applies to green bananas from cultivars which form the the following. subject of international trade, of which