That's a good point. I can see how it would be really crop and situation dependent.

Since we're talking about bad things that can happen with old fruit - one more story where composting is truly awful. There was a lawsuit in these parts a few years ago where several hunters were severely burned after falling through into a pile of decomposing grape mash. Apparently it can reach temperatures in excess of 500° when highly concentrated:

http://articles.latimes.com/2003/mar/30/news/adna-grapes30