FEATURE
position in the tunnel during and at the
so-called ‘end of the cooling process’?
Or do you, or ‘they’, whomever that
might be, only measure the outside
boxes, in other words the easiest
cooling targets?
It is time that
the industry changes its
attitude and approach
to the last 5% of the
process, since it is 99%
of your income.
That brings us to some interesting
discussion points in our industry.
On the first issue, it’s simple: You can
talk all you want about the speed of
your fast-forced air cooling facility for as
long as you want, if your delay and path
between harvest and cooling tunnel is
too long, it doesn’t really matter what
the ‘fast’ cooling time is. Your product
is damaged, and that damage is
irreversible.
Some farms still have more than
seven hours (or far more in some
COLD LINK AFRICA •
SEPTEMBER 2019
instances) delay between harvest
and the arrival at the central cooling
facilities, often not pre-cooled correctly
with too high temperatures, too high
wind speeds with too low relative
humidity (RH), often still not pre-cooling
at all.
On the second issue, it’s even
simpler. If the core temperature of your
‘hottest’ box is above the required core
temperature, it’s a potential recipe
for disaster. A marine container is not
designed to cool product down, it’s
designed to keep product cool.
I recently received TempTale graphs
on various ‘real’ table grape shipments,
where the return air was for over
14 days well over 4°C, starting from
close to 10°C. Trust me, not from one
container but from a whole battery
of containers. Apart from me nearly
having a heart attack and tears in
my eyes, it’s simply deadly. And that
is mainly down to inadequate carton
design and inefficient forced cooling
tunnel designs.
I just wonder for how long the industry
is going to keep putting its head in the
sand. There clearly is a problem, no
matter how many studies you try to do
and how much money you throw at
further theoretical exercises.
Boxhub
INCORPORATING COLD CHAIN
A marine container is not designed to cool product down, it’s designed to keep product cool.
In 2012, I already stated at an
International Research Congress in Cape
Town that there is a huge gap between
our fantastic scientists and researchers
when it comes down to imparting and
implementing knowledge in the field on
a practical level at the farms.
It is time that the industry changes its
attitude and approach to the last 5%
of the process, since it is 99% of your
income.
Let's first tackle the problem at farm
level and then at central cooling
units. CLA
www.coldlinkafrica.co.za
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