Resources Used to Produce 1 Ton of Beef

As producers, it is our job to maintain quality from the field to the shelf through our handling, cooling, and storage. Starting with growing a healthy crop and maintaining all-time practices through harvest, slowing the produce aging process, cooling, storage, and finally to mail service-harvest handling, this publication discusses keeping produce fresh.

Skilful Storage Starts with Growing a Healthy Ingather

Storage can only prolong the life of the crop; it cannot amend its quality. Many storage bug offset in the field.

Diseases

Constitute affliction infection will reduce produce storage and shelf life. For example, bacterial soft rot of carrots, acquired by Erwinia carotovora or Pseudomonas spp., starts in the field with lack of rotation, and shows up subsequently in storage. This bacteria enters crops from infected crop residual in the soil. Sufficient crop rotation allows fourth dimension for found tissue to degrade. Without a host, the pathogen dies and cannot infect the next crop.

Carrots with bacterial soft rot and pythium. Photo by Beth Gugino, Penn State Plant Pathology

Cultural controls to minimize illness such as a three-year rotation abroad from host crops, using resistant cultivars, and increasing air circulation by controlling weeds will aid reduce constitute disease and associated storage losses.

Insects

Insects can crusade visible blemishes on produce, directly reducing consumer appeal. Additionally, these blemishes are holes in the protective layer of the produce that allow easier entry for the plant diseases that cause post-harvest rots. Some insects can also vector diseases. For example, thrips can carry and transfer bacteria in their rima oris-parts to onions when they feed on the greens. These leaner lead to bacterial soft rot in storage.

Thrips tin can vector bacteria-causing soft rot in onions. Photo by Ruth Hazzard, UMass

Fertility

Proper fertility is critical non but for yield simply also quality. For case, calcium-deficient strawberries tin be small-scale, hard, and seedy. Phosphorus-deficient strawberries tin can be soft with insipid flavor. High-nitrogen fertilization is related to h2o loss in storage for sugariness irish potato, decreased flavor in celery, and hollow stalk in broccoli. Calcium deficiency tin atomic number 82 to bloom end rot in tomatoes, blackheart in celery, and tip fire in lettuce. Make sure to maintain fertility levels based on soil exam recommendations. Often tissue tests can further aid growers avoid nutrient deficiencies.

Irrigation

Acceptable wet is critical to maintaining quality. Water stress may reduce the overall yield as well as the size of the harvested produce. On the other hand, too much moisture can spread constitute pathogens and increase the risk of infection from mail service-harvest decays. Too much h2o and besides much fertilizer also produce more succulent just weaker leafy greens.

The awning in well-weeded carrots will dry out faster compared to weedy carrots, reducing the propagation of bacterial disease. Photo by Tianna DuPont, Penn Country Extension

Practiced Cultural Management

Selection of disease-resistant varieties is important for post-harvest success. Additionally, practices that promote ingather wellness such as staking and pruning tomatoes and using row covers to exclude plant pests will help produce high-quality vegetables and berries. Another case of a cultural direction practice is the use of biodegradable mulches to reduce mail-harvest disease. In this organization the soil stays libation and is less conducive to bacterial soft rot diseases.

1 instance of a cultural direction which reduces post-harvest disease is the use of biodegradable mulches for onions. In this organization the soil stays cooler and is less conducive to bacterial soft rot diseases. Photograph by Beth Gugino, Penn State Plant Pathology

Harvest

How you handle produce during harvest directly affects produce quality. Injuries such as bruising, surface abrasion, and cuts get out produce open to disease-causing organisms, accelerate loss of nutrients such as vitamin C, and reduce consumer entreatment.

Pick produce with high transpiration early in forenoon when the produce is the coolest and fully hydrated.
Shade harvested produce.

Canopies on harvest trailers aid go along produce cool and keep birds from contaminating produce. Photo by Tianna DuPont, Penn State Extension

Keep humidity loftier around most produce.
Maintain air apportionment.
Harvest at the correct stage of maturity.
Practice gentle and germ-free picking.
Discard damaged produce.
Pick clean (some crops).
Don't overfill containers.
Remove lycopersicon esculentum stems and pack fruit shoulder side downwards.

Trimming stems reduces scratching. Photograph by Andrew Puglia, Hillside Farm

Delicate zucchini should exist placed in bins with stems all facing i management to reduce scratching. Photograph past Andrew Puglia, Hillside Farm

Foreclose Bruising and Scraping

Worker training is important to ensure that frail produce is non bruised. This tin can exist difficult. Farmer Atina Diffley, Gardens of Eagan, has a strategy to show instead of but tell her crew. She has a new worker pick ane box of tomatoes and put it in the libation with his/her name on information technology. The next solar day she has him/her sort the box. Just like homo bruises, bruises on produce take some time to develop, and past the next day the new worker can clearly see his/ her fingerprints where he/she squeezed ripe fruit too tightly. Hopefully next time he/she is more careful.

Cup zucchini with your hand equally y'all remove from the plant to protect fruit from scratching by vines. Photo past Andrew Puglia, Hillside Farm

Mechanical injury can bear on the interior as well as outside of fruit. Photo past UC Davis

Minimize Hauling

Bumping and scraping produce during hauling tin damage produce and provide entry points for affliction.

Harvest produce into bins and remove the bins with pallet jacks.
Employ roller tables to unload the pallets into sheds.
Consider using harvest conveyors. (A new harvest conveyor may toll simply $1,200. When it allows harvest of ½ mile of sweetness corn in 20 minutes the returns are noticeable!)
Use loading docks.

Does your produce look like this in the store? Minimize abrasion of produce while harvesting to increment consumer appeal on the shelf. Photo by Tianna DuPont, Penn State

Harvest conveyors are one way to minimize treatment and promote efficiency. Photo by Tricia Borneman, Blooming Glen Subcontract

Rots such every bit this bacterial soft rot are usually associated with physical injury. Photo by UC Davis

Employ Systems to Go along the Produce Clean

Minimizing clay on the produce reduces your labor to make clean information technology and the potential to contaminate produce with human and institute pathogens.

Straw, plastic, and living mulch reduce splash onto produce.
Harvest in non-muddy conditions when possible.
Use clean and sanitized tools, knives, and harvest containers.
Trim produce in the field, leaving the dirt in the field instead of bringing it into the packhouse.

Annual ryegrass and clover planted between rows keeps harvest bins out of the mud and reduces splash. Photo by Tianna DuPont, Penn Land Extension

When to Harvest

Harvest crops when they are at the advisable maturity.

Go along in mind that the appropriate ripeness volition depend on your buyer. For example, wholesalers mostly want "turners," tomatoes with only a blush versus total ripe. Also consider whether the produce is best harvested wet or dry. For example, potatoes, eggplants, tomatoes, summer squash, and green beans are best harvested dry. Storage onions, garlic, and winter squash need to be dry before storage and are better harvested dry.

Table i. Recommended maturity for harvest

Produce	Maturity
Broccoli	Bud cluster compact (overmature if loose)
Cabbage	Head compact (overmature if head cracks)
Cauliflower	Curd compact (overmature if bloom cluster elongates and becomes loose)
Celery	Big enough before information technology becomes pithy
Eggplant, cucumber	Desirable size reached just still tender (overmature if colour dulls or changes and seeds are tough)
Green onion	Leaves at their broadest and longest
Honeydew melon	Change in fruit color from a slight green white to cream; slight aroma noticeable
Lettuce	Big plenty before flowering; firm, but not hard
Lima bean, pigeon pea	Well-filled pods that are beginning to lose their greenness
Muskmelon	Easily separated from vine with a slight twist, leaving clean cavity
Okra	Desirable size reached and the tips can exist snapped
White potato, onion, and garlic	Tops beginning to dry out out and topple downwardly
Radish and carrot	Large enough and crispy (overmature if pithy)
Snap bean	Well-filled pods that snap readily
Sweet corn	Exudes milky sap from kernel if cut
Sweet pepper	Deep green color turning irksome or red
Tomato	Seeds are not cut when fruit is sliced, or green colour turning pink
Watermelon	Color of lower office turning creamy yellow; tiresome hollow sound when thumped

Source: Bautista and Mabesa (1977).

Boosted detailed maturity indices for fruits, vegetables, and cut flowers can be institute at postharvest.ucdavis.edu.

Slowing the Produce Aging Process

A one-hour delay in cooling can reduce the shelf life of produce by a day or more.

Produce is live. Fifty-fifty after we harvest it from the plant, produce continues the metabolic activity that immune information technology to abound while on the institute. Just afterward harvest, produce cannot photosynthesize, or accept upward h2o to replace the h2o and energy information technology is expending. Learning the basics about these metabolic processes can help the states learn how to slow them down and prolong the life of our harvested produce.

Respiration

Fresh produce respires to produce energy. It uses stored carbohydrates, proteins, and fat, and releases CO_two (carbon dioxide) and heat.

Plants respire carbon and transpire water. When harvested these processes continue but the plant is no longer able to replenish itself. Source: FAO.

Equally produce loses carbohydrates to the air as CO₂, consumers lose flavor and shelf life, and the produce appears shriveled.

Fresh produce continues to respire afterward it is harvested. Photo by Marita Cantwell, UC Davis

Plants need oxygen in order to respire. If in that location is non enough oxygen available, the produce volition ferment. Some crops respire at higher rates than others. Make certain yous know which crops accept higher respiration and how to manage them.

Table ii. Respiration rates of mutual produce

Respiration Rate	Commodity
Very low	Basics, dried fruit
Low	Apple, beet, celery, garlic, onion, potato, sweet potato, watermelon
Moderate	Cabbage, cantaloupe, cucumber, lettuce, peach, pear, pepper, plum, irish potato (immature), radish (topped), summer squash, love apple
High	Blackberry, carrot (w/tops), cauliflower, leeks, leafage lettuce, radish (due west/tops), raspberry
Very loftier	Edible bean sprouts, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, endive, green onions, kale, okra, snap beans
Extremely high	Asparagus, mushroom, parsley, peas, spinach, sweet corn

Ethylene

Ethylene (C_twoH₄) is a natural hormone that plants produce and apply to regulate growth and development. Generally, ethylene rates increase with maturity and when produce is injured.

During storage ethylene can damage sensitive crops. For example, exposure to ethylene causes russet spotting on lettuce and yellowing in broccoli. Ethylene impairment generally does not occur in less than 24 hours of exposure. Exposures are cumulative.

Ethylene damage in collards. Photo by Marita Cantwell, UC Davis

Rapid and efficient cooling help prevent harm. Eliminate internal combustion engines that generate ethylene from storage rooms, and periodically vent the storage area. Producers can as well place ethylene-absorbing filters in storage rooms.

Ethylene filter. Photo by Tianna DuPont, Penn State Extension

Market growers often run across ethylene impairment when they store apples, which release high ethylene levels, with sensitive crops like broccoli.

Keep ethylene-producing crops in carve up coolers, especially for long-term storage. Photo by Tianna DuPont, Penn State Extension

Transpiration and Water Loss

Each 60 minutes of exposure to warm, dry out air results in over twice equally much water loss every bit holding produce in loftier-humidity common cold storage for one week.

Most fresh produce is 85 to 95 percent water when harvested. Inside growing plants there is a constant menstruum of water. Liquid water is absorbed from the soil past the roots, then passed up through the stems, and finally lost from the aerial parts, especially leaves, equally water vapor.

The passage of h2o through the plants is called the transpiration stream. Information technology maintains the high water content of the plant. A lack of h2o will cause plants to wilt and perhaps die.

Fresh produce continues to lose water after harvest, just unlike in the growing found, it tin can no longer replace lost water with water from the soil. Instead it uses upward water in the harvested produce. This loss of water from fresh produce after harvest is a serious problem that causes wilting and shriveling as well equally loss of weight.

When harvested produce loses 5 or 10 percent of its fresh weight, it begins to wilt and shrivel and becomes unusable. To extend the usable life of produce, its rate of water loss must be as low as possible.

The rate of water loss varies with the type of produce. Leafy green vegetables, specially spinach, lose water quickly because they accept a thin skin (epidermis) with many pores. Others, such every bit potatoes, which accept a thick corky skin with few pores, have a much lower charge per unit of water loss.

H2o loss symptoms. The love apple on the far left shows no loss, while the ane to the right exhibits loftier loss. Photo by Marita Cantwell, UC Davis

Later on six days of refrigeration without protective packaging, lettuce to the left has lost much of its water due to transpiration. Photo by Tianna DuPont, Penn State Extension

A meaning gene decision-making water loss is the ratio of produce surface area to its volume. The greater the surface surface area in relation to the volume, the more rapid the loss of h2o will be.

Chief ways to slow transpiration:

Lower the temperature.
Increment the humidity.
Reduce air movement.
Protect the produce with packaging.

Polyethylene liners proceed humidity high and reduce water transpiration losses. Photo by Tianna DuPont, Penn Land Extension

The faster the surrounding air moves over fresh produce, the quicker water is lost. Air movement through produce is essential to remove the heat of respiration, but the rate of movement must be kept equally low equally possible during storage. Well-designed packaging materials and suitable stacking patterns for crates and boxes can contribute to controlled airflow through produce.

Bin liners can reduce transpiration losses. Photograph by Andy Andrews, Pennypack Farm, courtesy of Screw Path Farm

Table 3. Percent weight loss per twenty-four hours of sample crops at lower and higher relative humidity.

		Relative humidity (%)
Crop	Storage Temperature (°F)	95	xc	85	80
Brussel sprouts	32	1.half-dozen	3.ii	4.viii	vi.4
Cabbage	32	0.06	0.12	0.18	0.23
Carrots	32	0.315	0.63	0.95	one.3

Chilling Injury

Freezing injury occurs when produce is held below its freezing temperature. More often than not, collapse of the tissues and total loss of the commodity occur when it is rewarmed.

Chilling injury is a unlike problem. Certain types of produce are also injured when they are held at temperatures to a higher place their freezing indicate simply below their critical point of 41 to 59°F, depending on the produce.

Tabular array 4. Typical chilling injury symptoms on fruits/vegetables.

Article	Symptoms
Beans	Darkening or dullness if stored beneath 41°F; rusty brown lesions if stored at 41 to 46°F; discoloration of seeds, increased susceptibility to decay, surface pitting
Cantaloupe	Merely sensitive to chilling injury if stored below 36°F for extended periods; fruit can show surface browning and decay after removal from storage
Eggplant	Brown, discolored areas; surface pitting leading to large sunken areas; calyx discoloration; seed and mankind browning
Melons	Failure to ripen ordinarily; water-soaked areas; increased susceptibility to decay; dull or bronzed surface
Okra	Darkening and discoloration; pitting; h2o-soaked areas; increased susceptibility to decay
Peppers	Surface pitting leading to large sunken areas; seed browning; calyx discoloration; water-soaked tissue; increased susceptibility to disuse, especially Alternaria rot
Summer squash/cucumber	Surface pitting followed past dark-brown or black lesions; water-soaked areas; increased susceptibility to decay
Tomatoes	Brusque exposure (4 to vi days at less than 50°F) results in poor flavor; longer exposure causes failure to ripen normally, pitting, shriveling, and softening, and increased susceptibility to disuse with Alternaria rot a diagnostic symptom
Watermelon	Surface pitting and sunken areas that dehydrate upon removal from storage; off-flavors; internal brown discolored areas on rind
Winter squash	Weakening of tissue, especially on the stalk with increased susceptibility to decay, particularly Alternaria rot

Source: Dris, Niskanen, and Jain (2001).

Common symptoms are internal browning, pitting, water-soaked areas, failure to ripen, and accelerated decay.

Shelf life of spooky sensitive to active produce decreases at excessively cold temperatures. For instance, cucumbers could be stored for xc days at 55°F just just xx days at 32°F.

Spooky injury on eggplant includes pitting, large sunken areas, and internal browning. Photo by Tianna DuPont, Penn Land Extension

Chilling injury tin can cause seed browning in peppers. Photo by Tianna DuPont, Penn State Extension

Sweet tater spooky injury. Photo by UC Davis

Cooling

Crops harvested earlier in the twenty-four hours will have a lower internal temperature, which ways less free energy and time to cool them. A one-hour delay in cooling reduces produce shelf life by one day or more than.

Information technology is critical to promptly cool produce to boring downwards carbohydrate and vitamin loss from respiration, reduce h2o loss from transpiration, and subtract decay. For example, a six-hour filibuster in strawberry cooling can issue in 50 percent more water loss. Prompt cooling is especially critical for crops with loftier respiration rates and loftier area. For instance, the respiration rate of salad greens at 50°F is 4 times higher than it is at 32°F (Table 2).

On this moderate summer day with a loftier of 85°F at 8:00 a.chiliad., the produce temperature was 61°F. At xi:00 a.m., it was 74°F. Photo by Tianna DuPont, Penn State Extension

Cooling delays can also reduce quality due to physiological changes in the produce. For example even a four-hour delay in cooling asparagus tin can allow it to create more lignin and upshot in fifty per centum tougher spears.

Minimize the delay between harvest and the start of cooling.
Start harvest early to protect produce from temperatures in a higher place 70 to 75°F.
Shade produce after harvest to prevent backlog temperature ascent, sunburn, and sunscald impairment.
Use shaded receiving areas.
Even placing an empty picking box on top of a filled box protects produce from temperature gain.
Protect produce from wet loss during cooling by using vented plastic liners, bin covers, or plastic containers.
Some produce, like carrots, can be sprinkled with h2o to reduce moisture loss during temporary holding at warm temperatures earlier cooling.

Insulated reflective covers can keep produce cool during harvest and send. Photo by Andy Andrews, Screw Path Farm

Shaded fruit temperature is usually within a few degrees of air temperature, but produce exposed to sunlight can be vii to 11°F (iv to vi°C) warmer than air temperature.

Room Cooling

Room cooling is a standard cooling practice on minor and medium farms. It has the advantage of providing storage and cooling in the same place and a simple design. Nonetheless, room cooling has several disadvantages:

Cooling tin can be slow, requiring 24 hours to several days.
Produce is often shipped without adequate cooling.
Sensitive produce tin deteriorate measurably in the time required for cooling.
Significant wet is lost.
Produce containers without sufficient venting or stacked too close together are particularly slow to absurd.
Moisture released past the warm-interior produce may condense and cause moisture on colder outside produce, causing decay growth.

Design your room cooler correctly. Talk to your local cooling engineer for a design. Your libation should have:

A fan chapters of 100 cubic feet per minute (cfm) per ton of maximum produce capacity to utilise during cooling
An air-handling system that distributes air uniformly throughout the room
The ability to reduce airflow rate to xx to twoscore cfm per ton after produce is fully cool for storage

Room cooler. Photo by Andrew Puglia, Hillside Subcontract

Large shared cooler. Photo by Tuscarora Organic Growers

Forced-air Cooling

Forced-air cooling uses fans in conjunction with a cooling room to pull absurd air through packages of produce. Although the cooling rate depends on the air temperature and the rate of airflow, this method is normally 75 to 90 percent faster than room cooling. Fans should be equipped with a thermostat that automatically shuts them off as before long every bit the desired produce temperature is reached.

A tunnel cooler is the most common design for forced-air cooling. Pallet loads of produce are placed in two lanes on either side of an open channel in a cold room. A tarp is placed over the produce, covering the open up channel. A fan is placed at the end of the tunnel and situated to suck cold air through the tunnel and dorsum to the cooling unit to cool produce downwardly as quickly as possible.

Figure 2. Forced-air cooling.

Source: WSU TFREC.

Bins and packaging must have openings to allow cold air to pass over individual pieces of produce.
Packaging/bin vents should comprise 5 percent of the side area.

Clean baby greens are cooled by forced-air cooling within a larger walk-in. Photo past Andy Andrews, Spiral Path Subcontract

Hydrocooling

Dunking produce into cold water or running cold water over produce is an efficient way to remove field estrus and can serve as a means of cleaning at the aforementioned time. In addition, hydrocooling reduces water loss and wilting. Using an accordingly labeled disinfectant in the water is recommended to reduce the spread of foodborne pathogens and postharvest diseases. Due to food rubber concerns, hydrocooling is becoming less widely used because of the potential for h2o to motility pathogens among produce.

Hydrocooling is not appropriate for berries, potatoes to exist stored, sugariness potatoes, seedling onions, garlic, or other bolt that cannot tolerate wetting.

Green onions are cooled and rinsed as they are unloaded from the truck onto roller tables, which convey produce into the pack area. Photograph by Andy Andrews, Pennypack Farm, courtesy of Screw Path Farm

Water removes heat about five times faster than air but is less energy efficient. Well water is a good option. However, information technology unremarkably comes out of the ground with temperatures in the 50 to 60°F range. If you are cooling with well h2o, yous will need to create a multistep system that cools the residuum of the way with room or forced-air cooling.

Most well water is 55 to lx°F and will non bring all produce down to optimum temperature. Photo by Tianna DuPont, Penn State Extension

Mechanical refrigeration is the most efficient method for cooling water. A thermal storage immersion hydrocooler system tin can be fabricated economically to suit various book requirements.

Used stainless steel majority farm milk coolers may be an option. If hydrocooling water is recirculated, information technology should exist chlorinated (or other approved sanitizer) to minimize affliction problems.

Big bulk tanks can be used to hydrocool produce. Photo by Sandy Arnold, Pleasant Valley Farm

For large volumes of produce, shower hydrocooling over boxes/ bins may not reach the center of the stack of bins.

In shower-type hydrocoolers, produce moves slowly through a continuous shower of cold water. Smaller diameter produce will cool more quickly than larger diameter produce. You demand a large amount of water, virtually 10 gallons per minute per foursquare pes of cooling area, to rapidly cool produce. Information technology is likewise important that the distance betwixt the spray nozzles and the produce never exceeds vi–8 inches. H2o pressure can cause surface pitting and water–soaked damage on sensitive leaves and fruit.

Berries move on a conveyor through a spooky room. Photograph by Sand Hill Berries Farm

In this hydrocooling arrangement, lettuce on a conveyor goes through chilled (34°F) water in society to quickly absurd. Photo past Andy Andrews, Spiral Path Farm

Icing

In meridian icing, crushed ice is added to the container over the top of the produce by manus or machine. For liquid icing, a slurry of water and ice is injected into produce packages through vents or handholds without removing the packages from pallets and opening their tops. Icing methods work well with high-respirating commodities such every bit sweetness corn and broccoli. One pound of ice volition absurd most 3 pounds of produce from 85°F to 40°F. Run across Table five for which produces can be iced and what produce is harmed by icing. Still, dripping water from iced containers can be a liability issue and the ice adds to produce weight and transport costs.

Table 5. Cooling methods for different crops.

Crop	Cooling Method
Asparagus	H, I
Basil	R
Beans, snap	R, F, H
Beets, bunched	H, I
Beets, no tops	R
Blackberries	R, F
Blueberries	R, F
Broccoli	I, F, H
Cabbage	R, F
Cantaloupe	H, F
Carrots, topped	I, R
Corn, sweet	H, I, 5
Cucumbers	F, H
Eggplant	R, F
Endive	H, I
Garlic	N
Leeks	H, I
Lettuce	H, I
Onions, green	H, I
Onions, storage	Northward
Peas	R, H, I
Peppers	R, F
Potatoes, early	R, F
Potatoes, tardily	R, F
Potatoes, sweetness	North
Pumpkins	N
Radishes	H, I
Rutabagas	R
Spinach	H, I
Squash, summer	R, F
Squash, winter	N
Strawberries	R, F
Tomatoes	R, F
Turnips	R, H, V, I
Watermelon	Due north

F = forced-air cooling, H = hydrocooling, I = icing, R = room cooling, V = vacuum cooling, Northward = no precooling needed.

Source:Kitinoja and Thompson (2010).

Other Options

Explore options for cooling if advisable, including vacuum cooling. Vacuum coolers can accommodate a truckload of lettuce, and small vacuum coolers are bachelor for one or two pallets. Tables 5 shows which cooling method is preferred for dissimilar produce, and Tabular array 6 provides a comparison of cooling methods.

Table 6. Comparing of cooling techniques.

	Room Cooling	Forced-air Cooling	Hydrocooling	Bundle Ice
Typical Cooling Time (hours)	20–100	ane–x	0.ane–1.0	0.1–0.3
Produce Moisture Loss (%)	0.1–2.0	0.i–2.0	0–0.5	No information
Water Contact with Produce	No	No	Yes	Yes
Potential for Decay Contamination	Low	Low	High	Depression
Capital letter Cost	Low to medium	Low	Low	High
Portability	No	Sometimes	Rare	Aye

Source: Kitinoja and Thompson (2010).

Storage

The most efficient mode to extend the shelf life of your produce is to quickly remove field heat and then maintain your produce at the correct temperature (Tabular array 7). For example, in one trial, broccoli stored at 55°F started yellowing in just six days compared to 35 days at 32°F.

Good common cold-storage facilities contain:

Acceptable insulation
A vapor barrier on the warm side of insulation to foreclose moisture condensation
Constructive distribution of refrigerated air
Sensitive and properly located controls
Enough refrigerated roll surface to minimize the deviation between ringlet and air temperatures
Adequate capacity

Table 7. Uniform fresh fruits and vegetables during vii-twenty-four hours storage.

Group 1A: Vegetables, 32–36°F, 0–2°C, ninety–98% relative humidity

Alfalfa Sprouts
Artichoke
Arugula*
Asparagus*
Beans: Fava, Lima
Edible bean Sprouts
Beet
Belgian Endive*
Bok Choy
Broccoli*
Brussels Sprouts
Cabbage*
Carrot*
Cauliflower*
Celeriac
Celery*
Chard*
Chinese Cabbage
Chinese Turnip
Collard*
Corn: Sweet, Infant
Cut Vegetables
Daikon*
Endive* - Chickory
Escarole*
Fennel
Garlic
Dark-green onion*
Herbs* (not Basil)
Horseradish
Jerusalem Artichoke
Kale
Kohlrabi
Leek*
Lettuce*
Mint
Mustard Greens*
Parsley*
Parsnip
Radicchio
Radish
Rutabaga
Rhubarb
Salsify
Shallot
Snow Pea*
Spinach*
Sweet Pea*
Swiss Chard
Turnip
Turnip Greens*
Water Anecdote
Watercress*

Grouping 2: Vegetables, 45–fifty°F, vii–10°C, 85–95% relative humidity

Basil
Beans: Green, Wax
Cactus Leaves (Nopales)
Calabasa
Chayote*
Cowpea
Cucumber*
Eggplant*
Long Bean
Okra*
Pepper: Bell
Pepper: Chili
Summer Squash*
Tomatillo

Group 2: Fruits, 45–l°F, vii–ten°C, 85–95% relative humidity

Grapefruit*
Lemon*
Lime*
Orange
Passion Fruit
Pummelo
Tamarillo
Tamarind
Tangelo
Tangerine
Ugli Fruit
Watermelon

Group 3: Vegetables, 55–65°F, 13–xviii°C, 85–95% relative humidity

Cassava
Dry Onion
Ginger
Potato
Pumpkin
Squash: Winter, Hard Rind*
Sweet Potato*
Tomato
Yam*

Group three: Fruits, 55–65°F, xiii–xviii°C, 85–95% relative humidity

Crenshaw Melon
Honeydew Melon

*Ethylene level should be kept below ane ppm in storage area.

Keeping High Relative Humidity in Cold Storage

In order to minimize water loss, keep relative humidity at 85 to 95 percent for fruit, and 90 to 98 percent for vegetables except for garlic, dry out onions, and pumpkins (lxx to 75 percent).

To maintain relative humidity:

Add together wet with misters (non recommended for food safe).
Regulate air movement and ventilation.
Maintain refrigeration coils within 2°F of the air temperature.
Utilize polyethylene liners (polyliners) in containers.

Liners help reduce transpiration loss during cooling and storage. Photo by Andy Andrews, Spiral Path Farm

Tips for Cold Storage

Stack bins in cold rooms with spaces between pallets and room walls to ensure that cold air tin circulate and cool produce.
Use plastic curtains on doors to reduce loss of cold air.

Bins should take spaces between them to let for good airflow. Photo by Andy Andrews, Pennypack Farm

Plastic curtains on doors assist retain common cold air and save energy. Photo by Tuscarora Organic Growers

Examples of Storage Facilities

The most common produce storage is a refrigerated cooler or insulated room. Coolers should exist sized accordingly to handle the maximum volume of produce expected.

For some growers (due east.g., those on rented ground), buying a used, insulated marine shipping container and adding a refrigeration unit may bear witness toll effective.

Insulated shipping container retrofitted with a cooling unit to provide produce storage. Photograph past Roots to River Farm

CoolBot-equipped Cold Room

Another option for providing refrigeration is to use a modified air conditioner. The control system of the unit is modified to allow it to produce depression air temperatures without edifice up ice on the evaporator coil. Without this unit, the ice buildup restricts airflow and stops cooling. Recently a company developed an easily installed controller that prevents ice buildup simply does not require modifying the control system of the air conditioner (CoolBot, Shop It Cold, LLC, storeitcold.com). Bold prices in U.S. dollars, a room air conditioner with a CoolBot command arrangement costs near 90 percent less than a commercial refrigeration system of equivalent chapters. Withal, keep in listen that while the air conditioner/ CoolBot system has the capacity to keep the air temperature at 36°F, it does not accept the capacity to cool large volumes of produce quickly, which is important for produce quality.

CoolBot control system and air conditioner for a small cold room. Photo past Roots to River Farm

Packing Shed

Why Update Your Packhouse Design?

Every extra movement equals time and money. 1 Pennsylvania farm shared that packhouse labor is one-quarter the labor on their farm, which is second only to harvest labor. Making workers in the packhouse comfortable, happy, and efficient past creating a healthy and efficient working surroundings volition make you coin. For loftier-quality produce your packhouse must exist designed with postharvest scientific discipline and food safety in listen.

Minimum Packhouse Requirements

A roof with sidewalls will protect workers and produce from the sun, wind, and pelting.
A walk-in cooler allows you to preharvest crops and evangelize them chilled to the heir-apparent.
A supply of potable water and drains to motility the water abroad. This could be as elementary as a set of hoses or a deep gravel bed.
Bathrooms and handwashing facilities are necessities. Workers handling produce must exist able to take care of sanitation needs easily. The handwashing station does non accept to have warm h2o, but warm water will encourage workers to launder for the recommended twenty seconds. Soap and single-use towels are a must.
To accost other food safety concerns, protocols should be fabricated for sanitizing equipment and facilities, and pests should be excluded. Open-air packing facilities tin't exclude pests, but they can brand the packing expanse less inviting to rodents, flies, and birds by keeping the area clean of debris, installing bird netting over open rafters, and moving pallets regularly. For more information, go to Proceed Fresh Produce Rubber Using Adept Agricultural Practices .

A carport serves as protection for workers and produce. Bathroom facilities and walk-in coolers are located in barn directly to the rear. Photograph by Tianna DuPont, Penn Country Extension

Barn converted to a packhouse with nutrient-grade-painted walls, covered ceilings, and cement floors to permit for easy cleaning. Photo by Penn State Extension

Packhouse Location

Centralized access to the packhouse on the subcontract can exist helpful. Also think about how produce will enter the area. Doors that open to the level of your produce wagons and/or delivery trucks tin ameliorate efficiency.

Design and Flow

Have you lot ever taken the fourth dimension to sentinel how produce moves through your pack area from the field/truck to the libation and back out to commitment? Does information technology look like this?

Figure 3. Inefficient design.

Source: Healthy Farmers, Healthy Profits, Academy of Wisconsin (Newenhouse et al., 2000).

In order to run across your packhouse with new eyes, enlist the help of a boyfriend farmer or other person new to your farm, or video record the packhouse in activeness. Think about how y'all can reduce the number of movements (steps, angle over, etc.) by creating a stride-past-stride chore line.

Consider the following:

Is your space large enough for your packing needs?
Is in that location a clear, uncluttered path for produce and workers to follow?
Is at that place plenty of low-cal?
Does some produce need to exist sprayed and others dunked?
Could you lot run ii lines into a shared workstation that has water and electricity?
Is the scale handy and like shooting fish in a barrel to use?
Are supplies such as bags and safety bands kept where needed?

User-friendly storage of bags, twist ties, and other packing materials increases worker efficiency. Photo by Barefoot Gardens

Packhouse at New Morning Farm

Jim Crawford wants to ensure efficient menstruation in the packhouse (Figure 4). Produce comes in on trucks or carts that dorsum up to the correct peak so workers tin unload with pallet jacks and movement directly into the cooler for cooling without having to lift boxes. For produce that must be spray washed after cooling, the crew washes at spray tables that can be adjusted to an ergonomic height for each worker. Directly after spray tables are the spinner for greens and dry pack surface area. Convenient shelves contain bags, twist ties, knives, and other postharvest tools.

Effigy 4. Packhouse

Source: New Morning Subcontract

Packhouse Worker Health

Washing and packing involve a lot of repetitive labor. Retrieve near ways to brand workers more comfortable.

Are workstation heights adjusted to individual workers?
For lightweight items, efficient work peak is halfway between wrist and elbow measured when the arm is held downwardly at the worker's side (slightly lower for heavier items).
Exercise electrical cords have ground fault circuit interrupters? They are like shooting fish in a barrel to install and tin prevent electrocution.

Variations on Basic Components

Dunk tanks. Greens are often triple-rinsed to remove soil and freshen them. Depending on the volume of produce y'all are working with, you may desire to accept larger or smaller basins.
Spray tables. Tables tin can exist of different materials, such as stainless steel; nevertheless, forest is non recommended for surfaces that contact produce. Spray tables may also have screens, plastic liners, flooring tiles, and other components to help in keeping the surface area make clean and produce rubber.

Plastic laundry basins (right) can exist plumbed to role as triple-rinse sinks that tin exist sanitized hands. Photograph by Penn State Extension

One-hundred-gallon and 150-gallon horse troughs are frequently used for washing medium-scale amounts of greens. Photo past Penn State Extension

Spray tables made with floor tiles provide an easily cleanable surface that is also polish and less likely to nick produce. Tianna DuPont, Penn State Extension

This spray table uses a cement mixing pan to catch spray water; the screen is on hinges for easy access to clean the bowl; and the overhead piping of water keeps hoses off the flooring. Photo by Andy Andrews

Labor Savings and Efficiencies

Washing and packing can eat a quarter of the labor on a subcontract. A well-designed packhouse can pay for itself quickly in reduced labor costs. Hither are a few examples of potential labor saving components to include in your packhouse where appropriate:

Pallets and pallet jacks
Roller tables
Conveyors
Sorting tables
Barrel washers
Brush washers
Foldable bins

Butt washers make washing root crops quick. For example, 160 pounds of turnips can exist washed in 10 minutes. The barrel is at a slight angle. Information technology rotates at various speeds driven by a small motor and a belt. Crops are fed into ane finish. As crops proceed downwardly the barrel they are sprayed by a series of pocket-sized jets from the metallic pipe bracketed within the barrel. A worker on the other end monitors the vegetables entering a bin placed at the leave. Roots that are not clean enough are tossed dorsum in for another washing. Rapidly spraying bins with a hose before they are poured into the washer helps remove larger clumps of soil and reduce the number of roots that have to be thrown dorsum in for a 2nd washing.

Butt washer. Photo by Blooming Glen Farm

Brush washers can exist used for many types of produce. Be careful to accept a thorough and frequent cleaning and sanitizing schedule for brushes that tin can hold foodborne-disease-causing pathogens. Because virtually cannot be taken apart to be cleaned they tin can be a food safety concern. Gears will eventually wear on these machines.

Brush washer. Photograph by Scholl Orchards

Food Safety in the Packhouse

Do you lot have a handwashing station?
An enclosed packing area is preferred.
Open up walls are okay if measures are taken to continue pests out.
Keep the area clean and uncluttered.
Check the roof and walls for signs of h2o entry.
Water should bleed away.
Drinking glass fixtures should be shatterproof or covered.
Take a regular cleaning schedule for all areas.
Avoid using water-absorbing materials (e.chiliad., wood) where produce comes in contact with the surface.
Avoid surfaces that are difficult to make clean.
Water must exist drink.
Employ a sanitizing agent in wash h2o.
Use a test strip or ORP (oxidation- reduction potential) meter to check the concentration of wash h2o sanitizer.
Alter the water when it's dirty.
Clean/sanitize the tank betwixt uses.
Monitor the temperature.
Do not wash overly muddied produce; prewash it.
Clean your easily and equipment!
Be certain sanitizers used are canonical for food contact.

Crates on wheels, knife racks, automated forepart doors, and a cement floor in the cooler all assistance improve efficiency in the pack area. Photo past Sandy Arnold, Pleasant Valley Farm

Pocketknife racks keep harvest knives organized and clean. Photo by Pleasant Valley Farm

Sorting tables allow workers to efficiently size produce and bank check for quality. Photo by Scholl Orchards

This wash area has stainless steel spray table and triple-basin sinks every bit well equally dry out-pack tables. Shelving conveniently houses waxed boxes. Lights are covered with shatter proof plastic. The painted concrete floor is easy to make clean and contains a floor drain. Mats brand continuing for long periods easier on workers. The handwashing sink is located to the rear. Photo past Tianna DuPont, Penn State Extension

This packhouse is covered to protect produce. All make clean produce-contact surfaces are stainless steel or washable hard plastic. A sanitizer is used to clean all surfaces before each launder-pack. Drink well h2o is used for triple-rinsing produce with a food-prophylactic sanitizer in the first and concluding washes. Photograph by Tianna DuPont, Penn Country Extension

For more detailed data, visit Penn State Extension Good Agronomical Practices .

For More Information

Fruit Growers News Buyers' Guide
Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture Post-Harvest Handling Decision Tool
UC Davis Postharvest Yellow Pages
Vegetable Growers News Buyers' Guide

References

Bautista, O. K., and R. C. Mabesa, eds. Vegetable Product. Academy of the Philippines at Los Banos, 1977.

Blanchard, C. "Post-harvest Handling Conclusion Tool." Ames, Iowa: Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture and the Iowa Country University Extension Value Added Agriculture Programme, 2009.

Dris, R., R. Niskanen, and Southward. M. Jain, eds. Crop Direction and Postharvest Handling of Horticultural Products. Enfield, NH: Science Publishers, 2001.

DuPont, S. T., and L. LaBorde. "Reducing Food Safety Risks During Harvest." University Park: Penn State Extension, 2015.

DuPont, Due south. T., and L. LaBorde. "Reducing Food Condom Risks in the Packhouse." Academy Park: Penn State Extension, 2015.

DuPont, S. T., and Fifty. LaBorde. "Safety Uses of Agricultural Water." University Park: Penn Land Extension, 2015.

Kader, A., ed. Postharvest Technology of Horticultural Crops. 3rd ed. Davis: University of California, 2002.

Kitinoja, L., and J. R. Gorny. Postharvest Technology for Small-scale Produce Marketers: Economic Opportunities, Quality and Food Safety. Davis: UC Postharvest Technology Research and Information Heart, 1999.

Kitinoja, L., and J. F. Thompson. "Pre-cooling systems for smallscale producers." Stewart Postharvest Review two, no. 2 (2010): i–14.

Newenhouse, A., et al. "Packing Shed Layout." Work Efficiency Tip Sheet. Madison: University of Wisconsin Healthy Farmers, Healthy Profits Project, 2000.

Thompson, J., A. Kader, and K. Sylva. Compatibility Nautical chart for Fruits and Vegetables in Short-term Send or Storage. Oakland: University of California Partition of Agronomics and Natural Resources, 1996.

Thompson, J. F., et al. Commercial Cooling of Fruits, Vegetables, and Flowers. Oakland: University of California Division of Agronomics and Natural Resources, 2008.

Thompson, J. F., et al. "Effect of cooling delays on fruit and vegetable quality." Perishables Handling Quarterly 105 (2001): 2–five.

Prepared by Tianna DuPont, quondam sustainable agriculture educator, in collaboration with the Seed Farm, Emmaus, Pa.

Reviewed by Dr. Marita Cantwell, UC Davis, and Tom Ford, Penn State Extension.

This projection was funded in part by a grant from The Redevelopment Fund.

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Source: https://extension.psu.edu/keeping-produce-fresh-best-practices-for-producers