Structural design of corrugated boxes for horticultural produce: A review

• Box structural integrity plays vital role in fresh produce storage and handling.
• Factors affecting for corrugated box performance are reviewed.
• Box strength reduction under cold storage is discussed.
• Use of modelling for ventilated corrugated box design is reviewed.

Corrugated boxes are used extensively for transporting and storing fresh produce in the horticultural industry. These boxes protect their contents from mechanical damage due to drops, impacts, vibration and compression loads. The analysis and prediction of the stacking compression load capacity of corrugated boxes is important to study the response of existing packaging to mechanical stress or to design new boxes to meet postharvest handling conditions. Good design of vented packaging is important in optimising the cooling and ventilation uniformity, minimising quality deterioration of packed produce and maintaining the mechanical integrity of the box. Various experimental and modelling tools are used to investigate the design and mechanical performance of packaging. Experimental studies on mechanical performance of packaging include compression, impact and vibration analysis. Finite element analysis and simulation is useful for study and structural design of ventilated corrugated packaging, considering the shape, location and size of the vent. Advances in information and communication technologies offer new prospects for development of user-friendly software toward integrated design and performance analysis of fresh produce packaging.