US: Muir Copper Canyon's key to fresh produce
Muir Copper Canyon, a distributor from Utah, has found its own rewarding way to get a “leg up” on competitors and tries to deliver quality. In several ways the company has found ways to reduce their losses by 44%.
Phil Muir, the company President, has shared how. He says, there are several factors that negatively affect produce quality during the short-time storage in the distributor’s facility. They are temperature, low humidity, ethylene, bacteria, and fungi. The solution therefore, is to effectively control these factors.
As with many other distributors, Muir Copper Canyon had concerns about dry air in their facility that caused wilting of fruits and veggies. “We felt like we were dehydrating our products”, comments Mr. Muir. The company also faced issues with mold spreading on many fruits and vegetables, especially the citrus fruit. There were also problems with ethylene causing fast ripening, shriveling, and unpleasant odors.
The company began to explore possible solutions for improving their storage, as they were receiving complaints from customers regarding product quality. Their choice was a humidification system used in conjunction with a Miatech Bio Turbo for removing ethylene and airborne pathogens.
“Since we’ve installed the Bio Turbo and humidification systems, we have noticed less shrink on items, like cucumbers and peppers. Our overall product shrink, meaning products we lose because of decay or poor quality, has decreased by 44% year over year”, tells Phil Muir. He adds that the payback for both systems was about 12 months, and the systems are worth the cost, and waste much less product.
OLEG KUTS
Miatech, Inc.
9480 SE Lawnfield Road
Clackamas OR 97015
Tel: 1 503 659 5680 ext. 728
Mob: 1 800 339 5234
Fax: 1 503 659 2204
oleg@miatech.org
www.miatech.org