Pineapples are selected or sorted manually according to the quality criteria agreed upon by the people involved in the trade. It is a common practice to grade pineapple based on variety, weight, shape, maturity and other factors. Prices are influenced mainly by variety and fruit size. The method is very subjective and can vary according to market or location. It is therefore important to incorporate proper grading and standardisation in pineapple handling especially for export. Worldwide Codex Standard for Fresh Pineapple (Codex Stan. 182 – 1993) provide some standard guideline for pineapple.

In most countries , pineapple harvested from the field for local and overseas markets are normally heaped onto lorries without using any containers. On arrival in wholesale markets, the fruit are transferred into bamboo or rattan baskets, stackable plastic containers or corrugated fibreboard (CFB) boxes. In Malaysia, CFB boxes with net weight of 10 kg have been used for export to West Asian countries including Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE). The fruits are arranged in a horizontal position in the box. The crown of each fruit is wrapped with perforated plastic sleeves to control water loss and wilting or yellowing of the crown. Each box contains fruit of uniform size and maturity. The base of the fruit can be lined with sponge to minimise mechanical injury in subsequent handling operations.

Most pineapple cultivars can normally be stored for 4-5 weeks at 8-10 °C. However, black heart (BH) disorder and post harvest diseases will shorten the storage life of fruits at low temperature.

BH, a physiological disorder, is considered the most critical problem in most pineapple producing countries including Australia, Philippines, the United States (Hawaii), Taiwan and Côte d'Ivoire. When pineapple fruits are exposed to low temperatures either in storage or in surrounding environment, characteristic symptoms of watery spots at the base of the fruitlets appear and these enlarge as severity increases. The symptoms are not detectable externally unless the fruits are cut and the flesh exposed. The disorder is induced at 5-20 °C, which covers the recommended temperature range for storage of pineapple.