DescriptionNon-availability of year-around fully-ripened ready-to-eat pears at retail level has become one of major factors that limit fresh pear consumption in U.S. market in recent years. The objective of this project is to test the feasibility of developing a ripening technology that can have pear fully-ripened when they are delivered to distribution center. Ripening is triggered by ethylene encapsulated in α-cyclodextrin, packaged in sachet and control released by moisture from respiration of pears, under refrigeration temperature during transportation. The objective is composed of three sub-objectives: (1) Ethylene encapsulation in α-cyclodextrin. (2) Release study of sachet (PVA film and Tyvek® paper) packaged encapsulated complex with RH as trigger (70%, 80% and 90%). (3) Biological evaluation of efficacy of ethylene released from sachet system. Ethylene encapsulation was controlled by encapsulation duration time and headspace ethylene concentration. Under 1×106 ppm headspace concentration, ethylene was encapsulated in α-cyclodextrin with 2.1% inclusion ratio within 20hrs. Headspace ethylene concentration and duration time did not change inclusion ratio of encapsulated complex, remaining around 2.1%. However, higher headspace ethylene concentration and longer duration time would increase yield of encapsulated complex. PVA film and Tyvek® paper were used as sachet materials to control release ethylene from encapsulated complex at 4℃ with RH as trigger. Release of ethylene from Tyvek® sachet system was faster than from PVA sachet system. Under 90% RH, it took around 72hrs to completely release ethylene from PVA sachet system and 48hrs to reach complete release from Tyvek® sachet system. Unripened pears were used to evaluate biological efficacy of ethylene released from encapsulated complex packaged in Tyvek® sachet. After 10 days of ethylene treatment from sachet system along with stored at 4℃, firmness of pears decreased to 4.2 lbf, within the range of firmness of pears with good eating quality, from 18 lbf. While the firmness of those pears without ethylene treatment had only decreased to 10.3 lbf, which were still unripened. In conclusion, it is technically feasible to develop an in-transit ripening technology to provide ready-to-eat pears when they arrive at the distribution center. RH from the respiration of pears was able to trigger the release of ethylene to induce their ripening along with low temperature during transportation.