Cold Room For Vegetables
The importance of good refrigeration for Vegetables and vegetables
The safety of fruit and vegetables is guaranteed if they are kept at optimum temperature conditions for each type of fruit and vegetable, as well as a controlled humidity percentage.
This temperature and humidity control is responsible for reducing the reproduction speed of many microorganisms that can cause product decomposition, favouring the loss of product quality and avoiding possible illnesses in consumers.
Important factors of cold rooms for fruits and vegetables
The cold rooms of fruit and vegetables has three important factors: temperature control, humidity control and ventilation. There are other factors that may influence the good preservation of these products.
Temperature control
Fruit and vegetables are very vulnerable to breakage in the cold supply chain, which can seriously affect food quality. Products with poor temperature maintenance will arrive at the sales counter with a worse appearance and odour, and can even lead to bacterial contamination.
There are tools to control the temperature in the cold rooms of products, such as the Emerson ( Dixell ) monitoring and control system.
Emerson ( Dixell ) is a system for equipment and installations that collects data in real time. This system makes it possible to analyse the operation of equipment and installations, controlling chamber temperatures and anticipating possible problems thanks to alarm management.
Ventilation
For the proper preservation of fruit and vegetables, it is essential that they are refrigerated in a controlled environment. Fruits and vegetables are mainly very delicate products with very demanding refrigeration conditions, so much so that even in a poorly ventilated environment, the products would not ripen, although they would deteriorate.
The ripening of fruits and vegetables takes place with the process known as fruit respiration, in which the product acquires oxygen and converts it into carbon dioxide. This process is responsible for the ripening of the fruit and for altering some main attributes of the fruit, such as colour, flavour, texture, and overall quality of the fruit for optimal consumption.
This is why good ventilation is so important, because at low oxygen levels, the fruit will not ripen. However, this would lead to fermentation processes that would also deteriorate the quality of the fruit for optimal consumption.
It is recommended that there should be a ventilation flow of approximately 10-15 min for every 8 hours of storage in the refrigeration chamber. In addition, it is important that the minimum oxygen levels are always maintained above 2% at a controlled temperature, pressure and humidity.
Finally, it should be noted that it is important for proper ventilation and thus cooling that the ventilation flow does not impinge directly or at high speed on any fruit or vegetables, as it could deteriorate them at higher speeds. In addition, it could alter the climatic conditions of the refrigeration and preservation process of fruit and vegetables more quickly.
Humidity control
As well as the temperature, the correct percentage of humidity in the fruit and vegetable chamber allows the best and longest conservation of these products.
Humidity control is important. Because, during the ripening process, products transpire and lose water naturally. In order to avoid the loss of hydration and the acceleration of the putrefaction of the product, the cold rooms for fruits and vegetables must have equipment that provides a relative humidity between 85 and 90%. The adequate relative humidity for each product will depend on the surface/volume ratio. Excessive humidity may cause mould growth on the fruit and, therefore, a loss of value.
Methods of refrigeration of fruit and vegetables
There are three methods of refrigeration of fruit and vegetables: preservation, freezing or deep-freezing.
- Preservation or refrigeration: is the method by which fruit and vegetables are kept between 0 and 10 degrees Celsius in order to slow down the growth of microbes in the product. Read more.
- Freezer: with this method, fruit and vegetables are brought below freezing point, between -18 and -25 degrees. Read more.
- Blast Freezer: in this method, fruit and vegetables are subjected to temperatures below -40 °C for short periods of time, usually less than 120 minutes. Read more.
The best cold rooms for fruits and vegetables
The best cold rooms for fruits and vegetables are those with a cold room motor adapted to the needs of these products.
Moody Group-Moody Refrigeration has a wide range of solutions for small and medium-sized cold rooms, as well as for large cold rooms.
For smaller cold rooms, we can select Moody Group-Moody Refrigeration high humidity units consisting of a silent or centrifugal condensing unit, and a double airflow evaporator unit, this type of evaporator allows the air not to reach the product directly.
These units have advanced electronic temperature and humidity control inside the chamber, allowing passive relative humidity control in the regulation range of 60 to 95%.
For larger cold stores or fruit and vegetable refrigeration installations, it is common to have refrigeration equipment based on indirect systems for several reasons: