How is produce shipped

First and foremost, the temperature. Your main goal here is to make sure that your produce remains at a safe temperature for the entirety of its journey. When shipping fresh produce, be sure to consider the temperature range that each product requires for transport.

This will prevent any condensation from warm food cooling during transit, since moisture is our enemy here. The more dry the conditions are for shipping, the safer your fruits and vegetables are. Those containers need to be lined with absorbent padding to soak up any condensation from the gel packs in the container. The purpose of the gel packs is to keep food cool and unfrozen between degrees Fahrenheit. The thicker the container, the better insulated, and the slower these packs will melt.

Your containers should be a minimum of 1. The key to shipping fresh produce is ensuring that your products stay cool, dry, and fresh. Packaging is a huge factor in this process, so take your time and carefully plan this one out.

Basically, your package should be a lined, corrugated, cardboard box with gel packs separated from the items with a piece of cardboard. The product should be in a plastic bag with some moisture-wicking materials to ensure that the produce remains dry. Your fresh produce should be heavily bubble-wrapped and padded, and beyond the cardboard, surrounded by cooling packs and insulated pads. Handy little items like polystyrene or polyurethane foam will help to reduce the amount of heat transferred to the items, as well as maintain the temperature in the actual box.

Pro tip: Consider using soft foam inserts for fruits and veggies that are extra fragile. Add extra plastic wrap to keep temperature in. Check out the site to find foam coolers, gel packs, insulated liner, thermal bags, and more!

Always, always, always plan ahead! Once you ship out, keep an eye on your shipment tracking page to make sure your package arrives on time.

You should plan for your shipments to survive between hours of transit and stay under 40 degrees Fahrenheit throughout. Make sure the recipient knows when the item arrives so they can immediately unpack and store the produce safely. The items should be at least 40 degrees if not colder upon arrival to ensure freshness has been maintained throughout. More specifically, 0. We see these emission factors for different transport modes in the table.

But for those food items that travel by air, travel distance does have a large impact. We should avoid air-freighted goods where we can. Emission factors for freight by transport mode kilograms of CO 2 eq per tonne-kilometer 3.

Foods which are air-freighted tend to be those which are highly perishable. In this case, transport by boat is too slow, leaving air travel as the only feasible option. Some fruit and vegetables tend to fall into this category. Asparagus, green beans and berries are common examples of air-freighted goods. This makes them hard to avoid. If you live in the UK, you may have noticed on food labels that asparagus is often imported from Peru. They often come by plane. If all things are perfect, this is not a lot of time for consumers to maximize the freshness.

However, it drives the point home to the urgency needed when it comes to shipping fresh produce. So where do consumers purchase fresh produce? The answer to that question includes grocery stores, fresh markets, specialty markets and the growing trend of meal kit services.

It is a matter of preference when it comes to shopping for seasonal fruits and vegetables. While some consumers want to touch and feel the produce they select, others rely on fresh selections arriving on their doorstep. Regardless of the venue, fresh produce arrives at each site on a regular basis to keep up with the growing demand. As more people focus on healthier lifestyle choices, many are turning to good old fruits and vegetables to help curb appetites.

Now the search is on to find the freshest available to add in a new recipe. Traditional grocery stores typically display seasonal and locally grown produce prominently with additional bins stocked full of other produce staples. Likewise, the fresh produce sections at specialty markets are alive with the vibrant colors of the seasonal harvest. However, the two retailers may vary the quantity of produce on hand based on traffic.

Shipping fresh produce to a large grocery store may involve several trucks making a delivery often within a week. In contrast, a smaller marketplace may schedule one delivery per week with limited amounts of certain items.

In each case, the shipper is working closely with the stores to determine what produce is needed and how soon a truck can arrive to replenish the shelves. The increase of meal kit delivery has also stretched the demand to ship fresh produce. The kits are popular with those who lack the time or desire to do the shopping but want to have a tasty meal.

The kits include all the ingredients, right down to the fresh peppers, tomatoes or other items. Once picked, fresh produce needs to move quickly. In recent years, trends show more of us are paying close attention to exactly what we eat.

Today, the push to find healthier food has translated into more people looking to discover meal options on the produce aisle. It means people are eating healthy and striving to take care of themselves and their families. The result is more produce shipments need to be available to stay in step with the increasing demand. Then there are the variety of smoothies that call for everything from bananas to kale for a boost of good energy. Next, use any combination of fresh produce to create other tasty drinks through juicing.

The produce possibilities are endless. Make a great salad using whatever produce you want, there is really no right way to make a salad.

Yes, put in whatever you like! Then dive in and enjoy the burst of flavors grown in a number of different areas of the country. Is there a specific type of produce that you have not been able to find at the market? Why not take a moment to ask someone on staff if they can get it in stock. Rest assured, if a crop is in season near or far chances are good the item ships. The risk may be dealing with cost and shelf life on it arrives. The health benefits of produce are up for debate, especially regarding organics.

Take a close look at signage in the marketplace to see if the label reads organically grown. The niche market of organics is also a growing trend in produce shopping. Regardless of whether shopping for regular produce or organic varieties, they all have a short window of freshness.

So no escaping the veggies while eating out. Wholesale produce shippers fulfill daily orders for restaurants too. Send in the tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant and the rest of the list. Be advised the selection could change depending on what shippers are able to get on a truck headed to a multitude of locations.

Restaurant chefs like working with fresh produce because it allows flexibility to be creative with a dish. Amazing entrees, known as a chef special and not on the menu, are sometimes the result of extra produce on hand. Therefore, a savvy chef, not wanting a handful of produce to go unused, will instead whip up a little bit of delicious.

Go ahead and let mom you ate all of your veggies and you enjoyed every bite. Today, health-conscious diners are requesting more produce options on restaurant menus. The days of the kitchen just receiving a few boxes of tomatoes, carrots, lettuce or cucumbers for salads are gone. In addition to salad trimmings are items like squash, asparagus, and eggplant to name a few. In order to guarantee the kitchen has enough produce available, chefs and restaurant owners are working to develop networks of locally sourced produce.

The daily ebb and flow of produce make it a high priority item for most restaurants. Fast food restaurants are not immune to the demand for fresh produce items either. Keeping produce chilled at the right temperature is one of the most important steps in the entire process.

The entire process of shipping fresh produce means juggles many variables like weather conditions. The refrigerated truck, known in the industry as a reefer, is the workhorse for shipping sensitive freight. If the shipment spends even a few minutes either too cold or too warm it could damage much of the produce or ruin it all together. Depending on what part of the country is the point of origin or destination, the weather may play a role in how cool the reefer unit needs to be.

If transporting during winter months the interior of the trailer may only need a small adjustment to reach freezing range to transport apples or grapes. In reverse, cold weather outside can make it necessary to warm up the reefer to keep other freight at a balmy degrees for bananas and some crops of potatoes. A number of situations can occur such as traffic congestion keeping a truck in a warm climate longer than anticipated.

As required whenever shipping freight, a bill of lading or BOL, is attached to specify information such as temperature requirements.

The driver will need to pay close attention to all gauges and adjust as needed to maintain proper temperatures. If this step is missed and the produce is damaged upon arrival, the delivery can be refused.

Ultimately, it could be a costly mistake if temperatures are off by just a degree or two. Shippers will avoid contracting with trucking companies that fail to make on-time deliveries or disregard instructions regarding temperature ranges.

Refrigerated companies with the capacity to handle time-sensitive loads of produce are in high demand. As a leader in refrigerated trucking ABCO Transportation has the capacity to fulfill a variety of services to deliver freight. The company specializes in dedicated trucking for a large number of produce shippers. Our professional drivers are well- trained and provide excellent, individualized customer service.