From Farm to Table: Best Practices for Storage and Transportation of Fruits and Vegetables

Admin

March 6, 2023

It is crucial for both farmers and businesses to reduce post-harvest losses throughout the food supply chain. With consumers becoming more aware and conscious about their food choices and farm-to-table concept, handling and distribution of perishables are a must.

This all comes down to following the best practices for the storage and transportation of fruits and vegetables. Here’s what you all need to know!

Why Post-Harvest Technology Is Important

Fruits and vegetables continue with the process of respiration and other biological processes even after harvesting. These factors can influence post-harvest quality and losses. Additionally, the ripening rate (ethylene production) has to be taken into account.

Since fruits, vegetables, and root crops contain 65 to 95 per cent water, post-harvest life depends on the rate at which water losses occur and the stored food reserves used. Hence, when the food and water reserve in the produce gets exhausted, the produce starts to decay and dies.

Overall, it is the interaction of various metabolic and environmental factors that lead to deterioration and the main causes include water loss, diseases and pests, chilling injuries, physical injuries, etc.

Hence, the use of the right post-harvest technology can help minimize losses and maintain quality as high as possible.

Best Practices for Storage: Temperature Management

Temperature control plays a key role in extending the shelf-life of fresh commodities or produce after harvest. Usually, temperature management starts by rapidly removing field heat using either of the following cooling methods.

Hydro cooling
In-package ice
Top icing
Evaporative cooling
Room cooling
Forced air cooling
Serpentine forced air cooling
Vacuum cooling
Hydro-vacuum cooling

Post that, the commodities are stored in cold storage facilities.

Key Aspects of a Cold Storage Facility

Cold storage solutions should be well constructed and equipped with the features discussed below.

Robust construction with insulation and vapour barrier
Sturdy and secure flooring
Doors for loading and unloading
Uniform distribution of refrigerated air
Appropriately placed controls
Adequate refrigerated coil surface
Enough capacity to meet the needs
Effective stacking solutions of the produce

Rinac’s cold room storage solutions have been used for decades across various industries for their flexibility, scalability, energy-savings, modular designs, and robust construction. Explore our cold storage solutions here!

Best Practices for Storage: Humidity Control

Humidity levels control the water losses, decay, occurrence of physiological disorders, and ripening. Ideally, the relative humidity levels should be between 85 and 95 per cent for the majority of fruits, 95 to 98 per cent for vegetables (pumpkins and onions at 70—75 per cent), and about 95 to 100 per cent for root vegetables.

Relative humidity can be controlled by the following methods.

Adding moisture to the air by humidifiers
Regulating air movement with respect to produce
Maintaining coil temperature to 1˚C difference to air temperature
Wetting the floor in the storage room
Adding crushed ice

Here’s a look at the ideal storage conditions required for common fruit and vegetable.

COMMODITY

TEMPERATURE (F0)

RELATIVE HUMIDITY (%)

APPROXIMATE STORAGE LIFE

FRUITS

Apples	30-40	90-95	1-12 months
Apricots	31-32	90-95	1-week

BERRIES

Blackberries	31-32	90-95	2-3 days
Black currants	31-32	90-95	1-4 weeks
Gooseberries	31-32	90-95	1-2 weeks
Raspberries	31-32	90-95	2-3 days
Strawberries	32	90-95	3 -7 days
Cherry(sour)	32	90-95	3 -7 days
Cherry(sweet)	30-31	90-95	2-3 weeks
Peaches	31-32	90-95	2-4 weeks
Pears	29-31	90-95	2-7 months

VEGETABLE

Onions, green	32	95-100	3-4 weeks
Onion dry	32	65-70	1-8 months
Potatoes, early crop	40	90-95	4-5 months
Potatoes late crop	38-40	90-95	5-10 months
Carrot mature	32	98-100	7-9 months
Cauliflower	32	95-98	3-4 weeks
Cucumber	50-55	95	10-14 days
Pumpkins	50-55	50-70	2-3 months

Class	Respiration Rate (Btu\ton\24 hrs)	Commodity
Very low	<5	Nut, dates, dried fruits and vegetables
Low	5-10	Apples, grape, garlic, onion, potato(mature), sweet potatoes
Moderate	10-20	Apricot, cherry, peach, pear, plum, cabbage, carrot, tomato and potato (immature)
High	20-40	Strawberry, blackberry, lima bean, raspberry, cauliflower
Very high	40-60	Snap bean, green onion, brussels, sprouts

Best Practices for Transportation

Transporting fresh produce presents many challenges due to temperature sensitivities and perishability and, thus, requires complete adherence to all sanitary regulations. Fresh produce is used for fruits and vegetables that have not undergone any processing. When the word “fresh” appears on a product’s label or in another labelling that suggests or implies that the item is unprocessed, it refers to the food’s natural condition without any freezing, thermal processing, or other preservation methods.

Challenges in Transporting Fresh Produce

Transportation is the critical and most costly part of the marketing channel of fresh commodities. It involves multiple steps from the point of origin to the point of use and depends on the distance, perishability, and value of the produce.

The most damage and losses during non-refrigerated transportation are caused due to overheating (inadequate temperature control) and mechanical damage (crushing of packages in the container). Every year, a huge quantity of fresh produce is lost during transportation, causing losses. Also, fruit or vegetables that have passed their prime state may lose flavour and nutrients or even cause health problems.

These challenges need to be controlled by taking the appropriate actions.

Here’s a look at fruits and vegetables classified by susceptibility to injury by temperatures below 320 F.

Group 1 Most susceptible	Group 2 Moderately susceptible	Group 3 Least susceptible
Apricots	Apples	Beets
Asparagus	Broccoli, sprouting	Brussels Sprouts
Beans, snap	Cabbage, new	Cabbage, mature and savoy
Berries (except cranberries)	Carrots	Kale
Cucumbers	Cauliflower	Kohlrabi
Okra	Grapes	Turnip

Choosing the best mode of transportation

Here are some options businesses use when transporting fresh fruits and vegetables.

Road transportation: Road transport is used significantly around the world to transport fresh produce. This method is beneficial for short distances that are not accessible by other means of transport. Both open non-refrigerator trucks and refrigerated trucks are used for transportation, however, refrigerated trucks are recommended because they maintain the right temperature and humidity levels.

Rinac’s ChillKart, eutectic refrigerated trucks require NO FUEL or ENERGY to refrigerate and instead maintain cold temperatures during transportation with eutectic plates placed inside the insulated truck body. ChillKart reduces your annual expense significantly by almost 50% when compared to reefer trucks!

Railway transportation: Railway transportation may be less expensive than other options. Refrigerated and insulated wagons are required for the transportation of fresh produce.
Water transportation: It is generally used for long journeys and is an efficient and cheap mode of transport. However, waterways transport is unsuitable for highly perishable products.
Air transportation: Air transportation is faster than other transportation methods. This mode is suitable for transporting highly perishable fresh produce. However, it is expensive and a small volume may be transported. Using a refrigeration system in air transportation for fresh products is necessary. The refrigerating system used in air travel is less efficient than other methods so it’s not highly recommended.

Final Words

Farm-to-table concept is gaining popularity and that is why adopting the best-in-class post-harvest technologies have become a must. To maintain the nutritional value, quality, and freshness of the commodities including fruits and vegetables, it is high time you follow the best storage and transportation practices and invest in the right cold chain solutions.

To know more about how you can maximize your profits, get in touch with us today!

April 16, 2024