Abstract: The present invention relates to perishable food storage systems, and in particular to a system for delaying the ripening process for bananas or the like. The present invention delays the ripening process by decreasing the concentration of ethylene gas in the air adjacent to the bananas. The preferred embodiment of the present invention accomplishes this by using a spreading mechanism to spread the hand of bananas, coupled with a fan or the like to direct air flow through and then away from the hand of bananas, thereby decreasing the ethylene gas concentration of the adjacent air, and thus decreases the ripening rate. The benefit of this method of removing ethylene gas is that it is inexpensive and easy to implement in conjunction with the specially designed rack, which is configured for holding a hand of bananas.