The National Mango Board hosted its second free Mango Temperature Management & Ripening Webinar Aug. 22 for retailers and importers. It focused on providing attendees with information on how to best handle mangos and the importance of proper temperature management to enhance consumers’ mango-eating experience.

In conjunction with the University of California-Davis department of plant science and the University of Florida IFAS Center for Food Distribution & Retailing, the NMB hosted this free webinar to share its initial findings of the Ripe & Ready to Eat mango program initiative with the industry. Preliminary findings suggest that mangos stored in cold temperatures prevent the tropical fruit to ripen in the appropriate time for consumers to purchase and enjoy. The webinar also gave insight on consumer preferences to help determine the minimum quality standards consumers will accept.

During the webinar, ripening expert Dennis Kihlstadius of Produce Technical Services shared his preliminary findings and recommendations for stores and distribution centers. Kihlstadius’ recommendations included improving temperature management at all distribution levels during transportation and storage, as well as mango displays at store level. He emphasized that mangos should not be refrigerated and should not be transported or stored below 54 degrees.

Jeffrey Brecht of the University of Florida shared his preliminary findings and recommendations for importers’ and retailers’ warehouses and stores. Brecht recommended choosing appropriate temperatures when trying to slow ripening and avoid chilling (55 degrees), and to help promote ripening (68-72 degrees). Another key suggestion for stores is to display mangos at room temperature to allow mangos’ aroma to develop.

In addition, Carlos Crisosto of the University of California-Davis is helping the NMB to create a complete descriptive analysis of Tommy Atkins, Kent, Ataulfo, Keitt, Haden and Francis mango cultivars from the top six producing countries. A minimum quality index will be developed to help determine the minimum quality standards consumers will accept; engaging them to purchase mangos and increase consumer satisfaction. Crisosto shared during the webinar that ripe mangos have higher consumer acceptance than mature mangos. He also indicated that ripe soluble solids concentration and dry matter are great predictors for consumer acceptance. DM can predict consumer acceptance in both mature and ripe mangos.

Furthermore, Wendy McManus, NMB retail program manager, highlighted the wealth of tools available at www.mango.org/retail. Retailers can find an extensive amount of resources under its handling and merchandising tab, which includes the Mango Maturity & Ripeness Guide for receiving, the Mango Backroom Poster for store-level training and the Mango Postharvest Best Management Practices Manual.

Also available on its website is a newly designed back room piece titled “Treat me like a banana!” to help inform retail produce departments that — like bananas — mango should not be refrigerated in the back room or on display. It also states that mangos can suffer chill damage and loss of flavor if held below 54 degrees. The new back room piece can be ordered using the point-of-sale order form at www.mango.org/industry/point-sale-materials.

The NMB’s Mango Temperature Management & Ripening Program Webinar for retailers and importers is now available on its website for viewing at www.mango.org/retail/best-practices. Speaker presentations are also available for download.