FEATURE
Continued from page 43
COMMON MISTAKES
The industry associations have been around
the block and have seen many dos and
don’ts over the years. They share some
common mistakes that producers make and
how to avoid them.
The maintenance of post-harvest quality
starts when the table grapes bunches
are harvested, and a sense of urgency
and temperature awareness should be
maintained even during those stages before
compromised. For conventional cold tunnels,
deflector panels or sheets can be installed
to allow for an even delivery of cold air from
the coil, into the room. This will avoid the risk
of short-circuiting of cold air coming directly
off the cooling coils through specific pallets,
and it will reduce the possibility of freezing
damage.
Dr Berry agrees on the importance of
temperature monitoring. “For citrus, time-
temperature interaction is very important
and should be carefully managed to
ensure fruit are not exposed to overly low
temperatures for too long,” he says. “This
could cause significant quality problems.” To
manage temperatures, technicians need to
strategically position temperature probes in
the respective forced-air cooling tunnel, cold
room, or refrigerated container. In the case
of forced-air cooling, temperature probes
allow for the correct application of step-
down cooling.
Step-down cooling is a good idea, Dr Berry
advises. With this practice, temperatures
are gradually decreased until they reach
the desired set-point. This contrasts with
just simply applying a single set-point
temperature, which results in rapid cooling
(potential for chilling injury).
“It is important to maintain the cold
chain throughout the entire process of
transportation and shipping,” advises
Kaluwa. “Try not to break this cold chain!”
the produce is placed under refrigeration,
explains Moelich. In general, producers
tend to have a reasonably good picture of
the best-case scenarios within their typical
handling chains, but not necessarily the
worst-case scenarios. “Make an effort to
know both scenarios, to identify where
operational improvement is required.”
When you use external service providers
for cooling of your export produce, make
sure that you discuss and contract your
expectations well in advance with the
service provider, Moelich advises. Do not rely
only on the single temperature recorder that
is installed in the container during loading.
Invest in the verification of your refrigeration
process at your service provider, by using
extra temperature recorders in random
pallets, from farm gate.
“When commissioning a new cold store,
make sure that your service provider is
reputable and has sufficient knowledge and
experience to design a unit which meets
your expectations,” says Moelich. One
sometimes hears about producers who are
building a new cold store with cold tunnels
that will cool table grapes within ‘x’ hours,
but when the first grapes pallets are forced-
air cooled, it takes ‘x plus 10’ (for example)
hours to reach target temperature. When
this happens, throughput and logistical
efficiency are severely compromised.
For subtropical fruit, the most common
mistake producers make is that they begin
refrigeration too late, when the ripening
process has already begun, explains Kaluwa.
INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
FOODFORWARD SA: ADDRESSING
THE PROBLEM
When commissioning a new cold store, make sure that your service provider is reputable
and has sufficient knowledge and experience to design a unit that meets your expectations.
(Taken at GoChill in Durban.)
Food wastage is a huge problem when it comes to fresh produce, and an alarming amount
of fruit is thrown away before it can be consumed.
FoodForward SA was launched in 2009,
with the aim of addressing widespread
hunger in South Africa by connecting a
world of excess to a world of need — by
recovering surplus food from the consumer
goods supply chain and using it to help
feed people.
The way it works is that FoodForward
SA partners with various stakeholders in
the food supply, to help rescue food that
would otherwise go to waste — and using
that food as a catalyst for social change.
That includes partnering with
commercial farmers across South Africa
and urging their network of farmers to
donate their extra food left over after
harvest.
The organisation has dedicated
refrigerated vehicles that go directly
to the farmers to collect fresh fruit and
vegetables while they are harvesting.
According to the organisation, food
banking is the “most effective solution
to reduce hunger, and reducing food
COLD LINK AFRICA • January/February 2019
Cooling of table grapes should start as soon
as the grapes are harvested and reach the
pack house. (Taken at a new pack house in
Wellington.)
Another issue is time, when the cold chain is
broken during loading and offloading of the
fruit for transport. “This can be prevented by
ensuring that fruits are loaded quickly.”
Ultimately, it all comes down to
maintaining the cold chain and ensuring
as little disruptions as possible. Reducing
food waste isn’t just beneficial to the world
and the environment; it’s beneficial to your
pocket, too.
Are you part of the problem or part of the
solution?
Check your cold chain!
waste is the third most effective solution for
fighting climate change.”
And it’s working. Over 30 000 children
across the country now benefit every day
from the organisation’s school breakfast
programme, it said. Meanwhile, 250 000
people are fed every day — and 17.6
million meals are provided every year.
A significant problem that the
organisation has identified, is food waste
within the agricultural sector.
Some 50% of all agricultural production
go to waste, according to FoodForward
SA — due to specific product requirements
and processing inadequacies, or farmers
not having access to markets.
FoodForward SA said it helps resolve
this issue through its Second Harvest
project, which works to encourage
farmers, growers, food processors, and
other supply chain stakeholders to partner
with them and join the food recovery
revolution.
For every tonne of food that they
recover, four tonnes of greenhouse gas
emissions are saved. CLA
www.coldlinkafrica.co.za
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