PROJECT

INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN

four independent pre-coolers ; 200m 2 of the finished product area , with forced air-cooling to bring final product temperature down to 0-1 ° C before dispatch . Additionally , it has a new dispatch area of 50m 2 , with a loading bay and a pallet holding cold room to keep fruit at an optimal temperature while loading .

“ We started with a 240m 2 , enough to cater for about 300 tonnes of blueberries . Since our expansion , we have now progressed from that , and added another 340m 2 , with additional pre-cooling units that now cover just over 600m 2 of pack shade space . With this expansion , the vision was to be able to accommodate between 800 – 900 tonnes of blueberries , which we target to reach by next year . This year we might end at 450 – 500 tonnes , with the vision being going to 1 000 tonnes in 2025 ,” says Campbell .

Export-grade blueberries require highlevel , state-of-the-art pre-cooling and cold chain technology . Without such efficient technology , it is close to impossible to penetrate this market since a few hours of delay in precooling might result in losing over 40 % of the harvested value to deterioration , dehydration and mold – all common causes of spoilage and rejections .

Thanks to the efficiency in their cooling investment , the enterprise has received outstanding performance with low claims . With total control around key cooling aspects such as temperature and humidity , their post-harvest systems are fully reliable , and have allowed them to reduce their operational costs by reducing their use of

airfreight by 40 % and shifting to the cheaper alternative of sea-freight .

According to Atherton Squire from Lauetta , like their first cooling facility , their new cold room also has remote monitoring facilities and an app that he accesses both on the phone and computer . This comes alongside valuable hardware consisting of IoT-enabled sensors , including intelligent sensors , loggers , and electronics , which allow him to generate the key data they need to optimise their cooling and track their energy consumption .

“ I can monitor every part of the pack shade from the precoolers , the maintenance room , into the pack shade and the storage room . For us , temperature and humidity are extremely important parameters that we need to track , particularly when I am offsite . Through the app , I can simply monitor that these are being maintained throughout the pack shade , even when I am away .”

THE ROI OF PRE-COOLING AND COLD CHAIN IN BLUEBERRIES

With the high and rising cost of airfreight – which has almost doubled within three years – the ability to shift to sea-freight represents significant savings for Lauetta . Thanks to their excellent pre-cooling systems , they now have the necessary shelf-life required to travel around 25 days by sea , while still delivering excellent display quality to their destination on shelves . In a 2020 case study , Campbell says that investing in world-class cooling infrastructure for their

Blueberry dispatch cold room .

post-harvest management and cooling was a worthy investment . As he could see in their blueberry enterprise , it paid for itself with the savings they obtained in reduced losses , claims , rejections and a cut-down in operating cost .

For Campbell , it was important that they got this process right , from the precoolers to the holding room and into the pack shade . Moving forward , the enterprise is planning on loading its own reefers to go to port for its sea freight containers . This way , they would need to design a loading bay for their own truck and reefer . Luckily , the

modular nature of the InspiraFarms Cooling machine means that they can accomplish this expansion and load their truck between 25 to 30 minutes ( 16 skids ) on their own truck and a reefer that can accommodate up to 24 skids to be loaded in 45 minutes . Thankfully , the modular design of the facility has allowed them to have a smooth and well-planned expansion to accommodate their double capacity in production . CLA

REFERENCES

1 . The European market potential for fresh blueberries | CBI

ABOUT INSPIRAFARMS COOLING

Produce probe for blueberries .

InspiraFarms Cooling is a leading provider of advanced and sustainable cooling solutions , for high-value fresh produce across Africa , serving exporters , agribusinesses , third party logistics service providers and food supply chains in emerging markets . Founded in 2012 , the company has served the flower , fruit , vegetable and meat sectors , providing agribusiness in the across Africa with the tools ,

technology , data and expertise to significantly reduce food losses , energy costs and access higher-value markets . The company has designed its solutions ( cold rooms , packhouses , freezers , slaughterhouses and pre-coolers ) to minimise food loss , maximise shelf life , reduce OPEX and give access to cooling data . Read more about their solutions at inspirafarms . com or contact Sharon J Cheboi at scheboi @ inspirafarms . com