Fruit & Veg – Minimum Humidity Requirements in Storage (Cold & Dry)

Fruit and vegetables stored at the correct cold chain temperatures, but incorrect RH (relative humidity) even for a few hours, will lead to loss of qualitative condition.

Cold chain evaporator fans dry out the internal air. And when the air inside the cold chain is drier than that of the fresh produce, the latter will begin to wilt, shrivel, discolour and lose weight.

The fresh produce will lose its full potential commercial value as a result of an unattractive appearance.

To maintain qualitative condition, texture, juiciness, colour, firmness & all round appearance the humidity level inside a cold chain has to be maintained at above 80%. Only an external intervention such as an industrial humidifier (or similar) can achieve same.

Note quality of lettuce kept in cold storage for 6 days (on the left) at correct RH versus lettuce kept in cold storage for 3 days without RH control (on the right):

                                                                               

Contact Polar Africa for a custom-designed solution to maintaning RH and qualitative condition in fresh produce.