How does mechanical damage affect the preservability of postharvest fruits and vegetables?

Fruits and vegetables are highly perishable, with postharvest losses ranging from 20% to 60% of total production. Mechanical damage, which accounts for 30-40% of these losses, occurs at various stages of the supply chain, including harvesting, postharvest handling, storage, processing, distribution, and consumption. This damage is a composite result of multiple stresses such as impact, compression, puncture, vibration, and friction. Different levels of mechanical damage exhibit varying manifestation on fruits and vegetables, such as bruise, collapse, perforation, cracking, breaking, or invisible damage. It is well known that mechanical damage reduces the commodity value of fruits and vegetables, however its impact on preservability is less clear. This article reviews how factors, including external factors (e.g., environmental conditions, handling) and internal factors (e.g., cultivar, maturity), influence mechanical damage. It systematically explores the effect of mechanical damage on quality deterioration of fruits and vegetables, including water, texture, color, nutrition, flavor, and senescence. It reviews the relationship of mechanical damage-microbial loads-produce decay, disclosing the mechanisms by which mechanical damage promotes pathogen infection. This article provides a deep understanding of the impact of mechanical damage on the physiological quality deterioration and microbial decay of fruits and vegetables, offering theoretical guidance for developing preservative methods based on physiological quality and microbial parameters. • Mechanical damage causes postharvest losses ranging from 6% to 24% of total vegetables and fruits • Damaged produce may show bruise, collapse, perforation, cracking, breaking, or invisible injuries • Preservability reduction results from quality deterioration and pathogen infection • Quality deterioration is from loss of water, texture, color, nutrition, flavor, and onset of aging • Mechanical damage promotes pathogen infection by channeling, nutrient leakage, defense suppression