What temperature and humidity should I store fruit and vegetables at?

There is no single figure. Leafy greens, berries and most roots hold best at 0 °C with 90–100 % RH; chilling-sensitive items such as bananas, mangoes, tomatoes and cucumbers need 7–14 °C; cured onions and garlic are the outliers and prefer 60–70 % RH. Use the chart above to place each product in its correct class before you brief a supplier.

What happens when a produce cold room runs warmer than the chart?

Respiration and decay accelerate. Leafy greens wilt and spot, berries develop mould within days, potatoes sprout and cured bulbs break dormancy. Warm-holding faults usually show up within one to three days and directly cut saleable shelf life. If your room already struggles to hold temperature, the cold-room troubleshooting tool helps isolate the cause.

What happens when the room runs too cold — chilling or freezing injury?

Two different faults. Freezing injury appears below each product's freeze point and shows as water-soaked, limp tissue. Chilling injury appears above freezing in tropical and fruiting-vegetable items — bananas below 13 °C, cucumbers below 10 °C, sweet potatoes below 12 °C — and shows as pitting, browning or failure to ripen, often days after the exposure.

Why does humidity matter as much as temperature?

Because the two faults have different signatures. Air that is too dry drives evaporative weight loss — wilting greens, flabby carrots, shrivelled fruit — which is a direct commercial loss. Air that is too humid, or condensing, drives mould, sprouting on cured bulbs and slippery, unsafe floors. Most produce wants 85–95 % RH with no condensation; onions and garlic want 60–70 % RH.

How do I turn this chart into a facility design?

Group your products into temperature classes first — a mixed store cannot hold one condition for everything. Then size the rooms for the strictest class you hold, using the facility sizing calculator: it converts your quantity, temperature band and any existing fault into room volume, floor area and refrigeration duty, and carries the result into the quote request.

Are these the official storage standards for my product?

No. These are indicative planning ranges used for early-stage refrigeration sizing and fault diagnosis. Customer specifications, food-safety programmes and national regulations take precedence in every case — confirm final conditions with your quality function and a qualified refrigeration engineer before committing an equipment order.

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Reference chart

Produce Cold Storage Temperature & Humidity Chart — with the Faults Out-of-Spec Conditions Cause

For each fruit and vegetable below you will find the indicative storage temperature, the humidity it needs, and the cooling fault that appears when the room drifts above or below the range. Once you know which temperature class you must hold, the facility sizing calculator turns that requirement into room volume, floor area and refrigeration duty.

Size the facility for this chart Diagnose an existing fault

How to read the chart

Find your product and note its temperature band and humidity range.
Compare those values against what your rooms actually hold — logger data, not the setpoint.
Check the fault columns: symptoms your product shows point to whether you are running too warm, too cold or too dry.
Group products with the same band into one room, and size each room for its strictest resident — the sizing calculator does this per temperature band.

Leafy greens & salads

0 °C class · very high humidity

Product	Storage temp	Humidity	Fault when too warm	Fault when too cold
Lettuce, spinach & leafy greensKeep away from ethylene sources such as ripening fruit.	0 to +1 °C	95–100 % RH	Rapid wilting, decay and russet spotting near ripe fruit	Freezing injury — limp, translucent leaves
Cabbage	0 to +1 °C	95–100 % RH	Yellowing and outer-leaf decay	Short dips to −1 °C are tolerated; longer exposure waters the leaves
Broccoli & cauliflower	0 to +1 °C	95–100 % RH	Yellowing florets, open heads and curd browning	Freeze injury below about −0.5 °C
Fresh herbs (parsley, chives, coriander)	0 to +2 °C	95–100 % RH	Wilting and yellowing within days	Most herbs hold 0 °C — basil is the exception (see tropical group)

Fruiting vegetables

7–13 °C · chilling-sensitive

Product	Storage temp	Humidity	Fault when too warm	Fault when too cold
Tomatoes — mature green	12 to 13 °C	85–90 % RH	Faster ripening, soft fruit and decay	Below 10–12 °C: chilling injury — poor colour development and mealy texture
Tomatoes — ripe	7 to 10 °C	85–90 % RH	Over-ripening and shrivelling	Below 7 °C: softening and loss of flavour
Cucumbers	10 to 12 °C	90–95 % RH	Yellowing and soft spots	Below 10 °C: pitting and water-soaked lesions
Sweet peppers	7 to 10 °C	90–95 % RH	Shrivelling and stem-scar decay	Below 7 °C: pitting and stem blackening
Eggplant	10 to 12 °C	90–95 % RH	Shrivelling and brown calyx scarring	Below 10 °C: pitting and bronzed, dull skin

Roots, tubers & bulbs

0–15 °C · humidity rules vary

Product	Storage temp	Humidity	Fault when too warm	Fault when too cold
CarrotsHumidity is the critical variable — dry air makes roots flabby.	0 to +1 °C	98–100 % RH	Bitterness, regrowth and bacterial soft rot	Freeze injury below −1 °C
Table potatoesProcessing potatoes usually need 7–10 °C to protect fry colour.	6 to 10 °C	90–95 % RH	Sprouting, weight loss and light-induced greening	Below ~5 °C: cold-induced sweetening
Sweet potatoes	13 to 15 °C	85–90 % RH	Sprouting, shrivelling and decay	Below 12–13 °C: chilling injury — internal breakdown and pithiness
Onions (cured)High humidity causes sprouting, rooting and mould on dry-skin bulbs.	0 to +2 °C	65–70 % RH	Sprouting, rooting and neck rot	0 °C is fine — the risk here is humidity, not temperature
Garlic (cured)	0 to +2 °C	60–70 % RH	Sprouting and shrivelling	Same humidity rule as onions — keep it dry

Berries & soft fruit

0 °C class · decay is the fault driver

Product	Storage temp	Humidity	Fault when too warm	Fault when too cold
Strawberries	0 °C	90–95 % RH	Grey mould within a single day of holding	Freeze injury below about −0.8 °C
Table grapes	0 to −0.5 °C	90–95 % RH	Stem browning, berry shatter and decay	Prolonged below −1 °C: freezing injury
Blueberries	0 °C	90–95 % RH	Soft fruit, shrivelling and mould	Freeze injury below about −1 °C

Stone & pome fruit

−0.5 to 0 °C class · cultivar-specific limits

Product	Storage temp	Humidity	Fault when too warm	Fault when too cold
Peaches, nectarines & plumsMealiness is a chilling-type injury that appears after ripening, not at the fault itself.	−0.5 to 0 °C	90–95 % RH	Rapid softening and brown rot	Extended off-spec holding causes mealiness (woolliness)
Cherries	0 °C	90–95 % RH	Stem browning and decay	Freeze injury below about −1 °C
Apples	0 to −1 °C	90–95 % RH	Softening, superficial scald and weight loss	Susceptible cultivars develop low-temperature breakdown
Pears	−1 to 0 °C	90–95 % RH	Softening, scald and decay	Some cultivars show chilling-type breakdown below −1 °C

Citrus

4–12 °C · species-specific

Product	Storage temp	Humidity	Fault when too warm	Fault when too cold
Oranges	4 to 7 °C	85–90 % RH	Green and blue mould, weight loss	Below ~4 °C: chilling injury — peel pitting and staining
Lemons	10 to 12 °C	85–90 % RH	Mould and rind shrivelling	Chilling injury — oil spotting and pitting

Tropical fruit & basil

5–14 °C · strict chilling limits

Product	Storage temp	Humidity	Fault when too warm	Fault when too cold
Bananas (green)One of the most common chart-violations in mixed produce stores.	13 to 14 °C	90–95 % RH	Over-ripening accelerated by ethylene	Below 13 °C: dull grey skin and failed ripening
Mangoes	12 to 13 °C	85–90 % RH	Uneven ripening and anthracnose	Below ~11 °C: lenticel spotting and poor flavour
Avocados (unripe)	5 to 7 °C	90–95 % RH	Softening and anthracnose	Below 4–5 °C: flesh graying (ripe fruit tolerates ~2–4 °C)
Pineapple	8 to 10 °C	85–90 % RH	Fermentation and bacterial decay	Below 7 °C: translucent, brown flesh
Basil	10 to 12 °C	90–95 % RH	Rapid wilting and blackening	Below 10 °C: blackened, water-soaked leaves

Values are indicative planning ranges for early-stage refrigeration sizing and fault diagnosis. They do not replace customer specifications, food-safety or regulatory requirements, which take precedence in every case. Confirm final conditions with your quality function and a qualified refrigeration engineer.

The six faults this chart predicts

Chilling injury

Damage above freezing in temperature-sensitive produce — bananas below 13 °C, cucumbers below 10 °C, sweet potatoes below 12 °C. Shows as pitting, dull or bronze skin and failed ripening, often days after the exposure.

Freezing injury

Damage below the product's own freeze point — water-soaked, limp tissue that collapses on thawing. It happens within hours and is usually visible at unloading, not days later.

Weight loss & wilting

Dry air or excessive evaporator temperature difference pulls water out of the product. Greens wilt, roots go flabby, fruit shrivels — a direct saleable-weight loss even when the temperature is correct.

Mould & decay

Warm holding and condensation both accelerate fungal growth. Grey mould on berries can appear within one day of warm holding; citrus mould follows warm or condensing conditions.

Ethylene damage

Ripening fruit and damaged produce emit ethylene. Leafy greens develop russet spotting and broccoli yellows when stored beside ethylene sources — a layout problem, not just a temperature one.

Sprouting & rooting

Potatoes, onions and garlic break dormancy when held warm — and onions also sprout when humidity is too high. Warm-holding faults on bulbs compound over weeks, not days.

From chart to equipment

Identify the temperature classes you must hold, then size each room for its strictest resident. The calculator converts your quantity, temperature band and any existing fault into room volume, floor area and refrigeration duty — and carries the result straight into the quote request.

Open the facility sizing calculator Temperature guides per commodity Estimate the cooling load

Frequently asked questions

How ColdMatch Group works — independent B2B procurement and sourcing platform — ColdMatch Group is an independent B2B procurement and sourcing platform for industrial refrigeration, cold storage and cold-chain projects from USD $250K+, where the ColdMatch team reviews each buyer brief, contacts suitable third-party suppliers on the buyer's behalf and organizes their responses.

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