The latest trends show that produce wholesalers and distributors are becoming more educated on effective storage practices. However, most still consider temperature as the single most significant factor in a short-term storage and are not paying enough attention to ethylene, airborne pathogens and odor cross-contamination.
In practice, these three factors impact on fresh products are of near equal importance to temperature, and controlling them provides many profitable benefits for wholesalers.
For example, Vourdanos D. Anthony, the Greek wholesaler, says they’ve had noticeable improvements in product quality since they started to eliminate those pathogens with Bio Turbo: “We noticed that product losses due to weight loss, decay and poor quality were reduced to a minimum, and experienced fewer quality complaints from our customers...We also found that the mold levels have diminished”.
So, here is how these factors influence the products.
Onion infected with Black mold and cabbage after being exposed to ethylene.
1. Ethylene, well known as a fruit ripening hormone produced by products such as tomatoes, is very often neglected in vegetable storage. In fact, the ethylene causes unacceptable quality changes to most vegetables: celery, cucumber, pepper and broccoli intensively lose their green color, carrots develop a bitter flavor, and leafy items wilt very fast.
2. Airborne pathogens, including bacterial and fungal spores, spread very quickly from infected items to healthy ones in spite of low temperatures, causing the appearance of rot, decay, and mold. The infection occurs even after spoiled items were thrown away, as many of the spores remain in the air.
3. Odors, released by some products like onion or turnip, cause off-flavor in other vegetables, especially leafy varieties.
Nowadays, there are a few ways to address these concerns, such as building additional storage for separating products or using ozonators, which, cannot be used while personnel are working in the room. Vourdanos D. Anthony found that for them, Bio Turbo is the most efficient technology.
“After the first day we installed the Bio Turbo, everyone was entering the storage room saying, that there was no longer the same smells. In general, cleaner and fresher air became noticeable...We are delighted by the results of Bio Turbo and seriously thinking of installing it in our other our storage rooms”, comments and Anthony Vourdanos, the company’s owner.
Bio Turbo installed in Vourdanos D. Anthony’s facility
For more information:
Oleg Kuts
Miatech, Inc.
Tel. 1 (503) 659-5680