Overview
ISO 4186:1980 - Asparagus: Guide to storage provides practical guidance for obtaining and maintaining conditions that ensure successful keeping of shoots of Asparagus officinalis for direct consumption or industrial processing. The standard covers harvesting and putting into store, recommended pre-cooling, optimum storage conditions (temperature, relative humidity, air circulation), packaging practice, and expected storage life.
Key topics and technical requirements
- Scope: Methods for storage of asparagus shoots intended for consumption or processing; refers to ISO 2169 for measurement and definitions of cold-store physical conditions.
- Quality at harvest: Shoots must be fresh, clean, sound, firm, smooth, well formed and free from bruises, pests or disease; heads/tips should be closed. Green varieties should be uniformly green; bleached (etiolated) shoots should be fully etiolated.
- Putting into store / packaging: Shoots should be free from earth and foreign matter; washing allowed if necessary. Pack without bundling (example: 12 kg of shoots into a 15 kg box) and place into store as soon as possible after harvest.
- Pre-cooling: Initial refrigeration to cool shoots from field temperature to about +7 °C is recommended as a transition before lower-temperature storage. Cold-water or ice-water cooling may be used, but immersion should not exceed 1 hour.
- Optimum temperature: +1 °C to +2 °C is recommended. Temperatures below +0.5 °C risk refrigeration damage; for very short storage (≤ 10 days) +0.5 °C may be acceptable but not beyond that period.
- Relative humidity: Maintain 90–95% RH to minimise desiccation and quality loss.
- Air circulation: Boxes and stacking must allow uniform temperature and humidity by adequate air circulation throughout the cold store.
- Storage life: Keep storage periods as short as possible; depending on cultivar and temperature, typical refrigerated storage life is 10–20 days (including transport and distribution).
Practical applications and users
This guide is useful for:
- Growers and harvest managers setting harvest timing and quality checks
- Packing houses and cold-store operators defining pre-cooling, loading and packaging procedures
- Logistics and refrigerated transport planners coordinating temperature-sensitive distribution
- Food processors and quality assurance teams ensuring raw material quality for processing or retail
- Retailers seeking optimal handling to minimize shrink and maintain shelf life
Use ISO 4186:1980 to develop storage specifications, SOPs for pre-cooling, cold-store set points, humidity control strategies, and packing/stacking practices tailored to asparagus cultivars.
Related standards
- ISO 2169 - Fruits and vegetables: Physical conditions in cold stores - Definitions and measurement (referenced for measurement and terminology).