Integral performance evaluation of the fresh-produce cold chain: A case study for ambient loading of citrus in refrigerated containers

Abstract

More integrated evaluation of cold chain performance is key for developing a more resourceefficient, energy-smart food supply chain. The present study applies this rationale to evaluate the ambient loading protocol for overseas export of citrus fruit in refrigerated containers. Ambient loading implies that fruit, packed into ventilated boxes, are directly precooled in the container. This technique provides several economic and logistical advantages but is particularly challenging for phytosanitary cold disinfestation treatments. For such an integral approach, multiple relevant product and process parameters were monitored throughout the cold chain, such as fruit cooling rate, quality parameters, shelf life, pest disinfestation efficacy, and their spatial uniformity throughout the cargo load. Also energy consumption of the refrigeration unit was measured. The performance of the standard ambient loading practice was compared to two novel airflow strategies: the channelling configuration, which reduced airflow bypass between pallets, and the horizontal configuration, which forced air horizontally through the pallets. Standard ambient loading was able to cool the produce within about 3 d to the seven-eighths cooling time. The channelling configuration exhibited similar cooling behaviour but the fruit lost less moisture, lasted longer in shelf life conditions and had a better quality. The horizontal configuration performed worse on all aspects. The cooling performance of the container clearly depended on the way in which it was stowed and convectively cooled. This more holistic evaluation of the cooling strategy unveiled several trade-offs and allowed a multi-parameter evaluation of technological improvements to cold chain practices.

Optimization Model for Fresh Fruit Supply Chains: Case-Study of Dragon Fruit in Vietnam

“…During the last several years, the fresh produce cold chain has received attention from researchers around the world to enhance the quality and freshness of fruits and vegetables delivered to customers. The cold chain issues considered by most researchers have to do with controlling the temperature and gas flow in containers [34][35][36], minimizing the energy used to refrigerate containers [37], and optimizing the transport system in the chain [38].…”

A floor cover to improve temperature distribution and quality preservation in maritime refrigerated container transport of grapes : GreenCHAINge WP1 - Table Grapes

“…anonymous, no year; de Haan, no year; Montsma et al, 2011). Also covering parts of the floor has been reported (Cronje et al, 2015;Defraeye et al, 2016;Norrefeldt, 2015b;Elíasson et al, 2013). Lawton (1994;1999) presents an L-shaped board placed against / on top of the door-end pallets with the aim to exploit the fact that air inside T-bars warms more than in centre T-bars.…”

Hydrodynamic Modelling and Analysis of a New-developed Mobile Refrigerated Container

“…Numeric simulation is used by Son H. Ho et al (2010) to examine the flow conditions of cooling air for cooling-houses with good results [10]. Several studies deal with CFD temperature distribution analysis of refrigerated containers [11,12].…”