“We are seeing increased interest from a number of fresh cut processors and packers, for ‘re-cooling’” claimed Still. “When they select or pull their raw product from cold storage, be it fruit, vegetables, or dip” he explained, “nearly everything starts at the ideal long-term storage temperature. But then - before, during, and after cutting and / or packaging - the product temperature can creep up into the mid-40-degree-farenheit range, sometimes even a little hotter. This is not a good thing for freshness and shelf-life, not to mention the “sell by” dates.”
“This is when our Precoolers can be used as ‘Re-Coolers’”, he explained. “So many facilities’ managers, have little option but to put the pallets of packaged fresh cut, into their cold rooms’ pallet racking, and leave it there overnight to cool back down.” This, according to Still, is not best practices, nor does it maximize the shelf-life of the products. “Those ‘Best if Used By Dates’ on the packaging,” he stated, “are only reliable if the cold chain is unbroken. And if the recooling time after packaging is too long, well….”, he hesitated, seeming to try to find the right words, “well, your shelf life is variable. “
“Our precoolers can re-cool palletized fresh cuts in one or two hours,” he claimed, “when set up in an existing cold room. Most often, additional refrigeration is not needed.” This is because, according to Still, the heat load coming off of fresh cuts “is much much less than with field temperature produce, often only 10-degrees-farenheit as opposed to 50- or 60-degrees. “ Still said that the speed of recooling with his equipment, “greatly simplifies the job of the operations manager, to have a predictable and reliable recooling time, instead of constantly checking on pallets every hour or two in cold storage to see how they are doing.”
