Principles of temperature-controlled food storage

Fruits and vegetables should be stored in rooms adapted to their requirements. Suitable storage conditions should be ensured until distribution. Regardless of whether the food storage facility functions as a cold store or a freezer, it must meet high quality requirements. The most important principles in food storage are:

• knowing the requirements of the product. Perishable fruits and vegetables (raspberries, strawberries, leafy vegetables, cucumbers, ripe tomatoes) have a short shelf life and require special treatment. In contrast, long-lasting products (cabbage, carrots) do not have such high temperature requirements and can be stored for longer,

• temperature and humidity control. These two parameters have a huge impact on the condition of fruits and vegetables. Therefore, the food warehouse must have a measurement and control infrastructure so that the storage conditions can be adjusted perfectly. Temperature, sunlight and humidity should be constant,

• air flow. Perishable products require special control of air quality and air flow. For this reason, some products can be stored in bulk packaging, while others require a properly prepared unit space,

• stock control. Food products should be stored according to the ‘First-In-First-Out’ (FIFO) principle, meaning that older batches of products should be released first. This requires shelf marking and labelling of packaging.