*2.2. Packaging Materials*

Selected for this study were two interior trays types used for whole apple transport, molded fiber (MF) and expanded polystyrene (EPS). The trays used for this study were standard apple trays designed to hold 88 apples per ventilated corrugated container. Each tray held 22 apples, and there are four trays of apples in each container. The trays were numbered sequentially as Tray 1–4 from bottom to top, starting with Tray 1 located at the bottom of the container. The outer dimensions of the ventilated corrugated container were 514 mm × 327 mm × 635 mm. The final mass of the filled corrugated containers with

whole apples was 18.81 ± 0.05 kg and 18.31 ± 0.17 kg for the containers with MF and EPS trays, respectively. The apples were carefully inspected and arranged in the trays with the flower stalk axis horizontal and running parallel with the molded pockets of the trays (Figure 1).

**Figure 1.** Arrangement of apples in molded pockets prior to testing.
