Foods – Field to Table Exam Practice 2026: Complete Preparation Guide

Chilling injury shows up as damage to the fruit when it is stored at low, nonfreezing temperatures, so the symptoms reflect how cold stress disrupts cellular structure and metabolism. The best description lists internal discoloration, soft scald, skin blemishes, soggy breakdown, and failure to ripen. Internal discoloration comes from disrupted cell membranes and leakage of pigments and solutes, soft scald is tissue that becomes soft and water-soaked near the skin, skin blemishes are surface defects from cold stress, soggy breakdown describes mushy, breakdowned tissue, and failure to ripen happens because chilling can suppress the enzymes and hormones (like ethylene) needed to proceed with normal ripening. The other options don’t capture this pattern: increased sweetness and aroma are associated with ripening, rapid browning and dehydration point to dehydration or surface browning not specifically chilling injury, and freeze-induced glassiness refers to actual freezing damage, not chilling injury.