Pomegranate husk scald, chilling pitting and aril browning are transit defects, not field defects. What causes each one, when it appears, and the carriage settings that prevent it.
Week of 30 August 2026: the first Wonderful pomegranate is cut, Keitt volumes fall to a trickle, citrus packhouses commission their lines and October reefer allocation starts to tighten.
Green mould, blue mould and sour rot account for most citrus decay in transit. Where each infection starts, which one shows up on a long cold voyage, and the packhouse steps that decide the outcome before loading.
Citrus chilling injury does not appear on the loading bay. It appears two to four weeks later as rind pitting and brown staining. Carrying temperatures by variety, the cold-treatment conflict and how conditioning reduces the risk.
How Egyptian packhouses wash, brush and coat oranges and mandarins, which markets restrict which coatings, and the clauses a buyer should put in the specification before the citrus season opens.
Where Egyptian Keitt sizing, September positions and freight stand in the last week of August 2026, and what the packhouse changeover to citrus means for anyone still holding a mango booking.