A b s t r a c t. Instantaneous impact shear stress together with the instantaneous energy absorbed were used to predict bruise volume in Golden Delicious apple. The prediction produced a linear relation between the predicted bruise volumes and the measured bruise volumes with a factor of proportionality (K) 1.08 and a coefficient of correlation (R) 0.949. Both the instantaneous impact shear stress and energy absorbed decreased during storage of the fruit, but the value of K was relatively constant. The value of K was also relatively constant for the impact with small drop heights, but it slightly increased with thevariation of fruit mass.