Temperature management of potatoes in packaging with reusable plastic crates in the fresh produce supply chain

Abstract

Although initially the introduction of reusable plastic crates was because off cost savings, their speed of adoption was accelerated by environmental considerations. RPCs having a lower direct impact across a broad range of environmental parameters when compared with than display-ready containers (DRCs)., Also RPCs can have an indirect effect with lower levels of produce waste, further reducing the environment impact of using plastic crates. This paper considers the temperature management challenges with packaging formats used in the fresh produce supply chain. The different scenarios are compared of bagged and loose potatoes in RPCs and DRCs when placed in still and moving air. The temperature changes of the potato flesh showed that with the greater free area of the RPCs there is potential to warm up significantly more quickly than with DRCs. In the first three hours the flesh temperatures for loose potatoes in RPCs increased at almost three times the rate experienced in DRCs. The study found that with RPCs for the temperature rise in the first hour in air at 0.1 m/s was fifteen times as great as in still air, but with the adoption of a single plastic film wrap of 25 micron polythene it was reducing the temperature rise by 69%. The adoption of RPCs throughout the supply chain has had many advantages but these trials highlight the potential issues with temperature and quality management, However the study underline the dangers of changing packaging formats without paying due consideration to the temperature and airflow variables inherent in each packaging format.