23-3 |
Refrigeration for field operations and packing house |
J. F. THOMPSON, Biological & Agricultural Engineering Dept., Univ. of California, Davis, 1 Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616-5200 Temperature control of harvested produce begins with protecting the product from solar radiation and moisture loss in the field and by transporting it to the initial cooling operation in a timely fashion. Immediately after arrival at the cold storage, field packed produce should be placed in the initial cooling operation. Forced-air cooling is the most common cooling method followed by hydrocooling and vacuum cooling. Product is then placed in cold storage to finish cooling and for temporary storage before refrigerated transport to market. Produced packed in a packinghouse, should be packed immediately and cooled or it can be cooled to an intermediate temperature for storage times of a few hours to overnight. It should then be packed and cooled. Effective management of produce temperature requires periodic sampling and logging of produce temperature, to insure it is being cooled without excessive delays and it reaches proper long term storage temperature before leaving the packing/cooling facility.
Session 23, Impact of cold-chain management on fresh produce quality and safety
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