All CA stores should be opened before the fruit quality falls below the recommended standards and has sufficient reserve quality to ensure all product reaches the consumer in prime condition.
Provided there is not a seasonal high risk of low temperature breakdown, the temperature of fruit in Cox stores should be lowered to 1oC once opened. The rate that fruit softens is significantly reduced as the temperature is lowered.
Historically fruit store monitoring has been confined to netted samples placed under the hatch. However, once the store is opened the full extent of any bin to bin variation can be determined by sampling directly from a number of bins from each orchard
The samples should be assessed as previously described and the results compared to the last netted samples. Samples should be taken from the bins at regular intervals until all the fruits from that store have been graded and delivered to the customer.