Patent ID: 8110232

Claim:
A package which is at a temperature of 13-18° C. and which comprises (a) a sealed container, and (b) within the sealed container, at least 4 kg of bananas which have not yet commenced their climacteric, and a packaging atmosphere around the bananas; the sealed container having an O 2 permeability at 13° C., per kg of bananas in the container (OP13/kg), of at least 1500 ml/atm.24 hrs, an R ratio at 13° C. of at least 3, and an ethylene permeability at 13° C., per kg of bananas in the container (EtOP13/kg) which is at least 3 times the OP13/kg of the container; and the packaging atmosphere being an equilibrium atmosphere in which the oxygen content has a substantially constant value which is from 14 to 19%, the carbon dioxide content has a substantially constant value which is less than 10%, and the total quantity of oxygen and carbon dioxide has a substantially constant value which is less than 20%.