Three separate experiments were conducted on citrus, banana and mango to characterize the physiological responses of these fruits to chilling temperatures and to correlate these changes with subjective evaluations of chilling injury. Subjective evaluations of CI coincided with measurements of CO2 and C2H4 concentrations and were too late to determine incipient incidence of CI in order to effect corrective treatment. Low bioelectrical resistance and high electrolyte leakage were more sensitive indicators of CI revealing changes in membranae permeability prior to the initiation of visible symptom expression.