Continued respiration gives off carbon dioxide, moisture, and heat which influence storage, packaging, and refrigeration requirements.
Continued transpiration adds to moisture evolved and further influences packaging requirements.
Further activities of fruit and vegetables, before and after harvest, include changes in carbohydrates, pectins, organic acids, and the effects these have on various quality attributes of the products. As for changes in carbohydrates, few generalizations can be given with respect to starches and sugars. In some plant products sugars quickly decrease and starch increases in amount soon after harvest. This is the case for ripe sweet corn which can suffer flavour and texture quality losses in a very few hours after harvest. Unripe fruit, in contrast, is frequently high in starch and low in sugars.