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Precooling Tips and Techniques now available online
(Philadelphia, PA, USA)
According to the experts, the single most important step in postharvest care of fresh produce is
prompt and proper precooling. (Precooling is defined as reducing the temperature of freshpicked
or -packaged perishables down to their ideal storage temperature as quickly as possible.
This is also known as blast-cooling or blast-chilling.) Once a product has lost some of its
moisture, there is no way to “put it back in.” As we all know, moisture is freshness, and
freshness sells.
For a grower, packer, or logistics provider, often the learning curve for forced-air precooling can
be steep and difficult. There is no website or book that concentrates only on precooling. “While
precooling temperature reduction time can be very difficult to predict,” explains Jim Still of
Global Cooling Inc., “there is a science to precooling, that applies to all commodities and all
packaging.”
Global Cooling is one of the world’s leading designers and manufacturers of forced-air cooling
equipment and controls, pioneering the Jet™ and Rapid-Cool™ precoolers, as well as Smart-
Cool™ operating software.
“We decided to put all of our forced-air precooling information in one place,” continued Still, “and
make it available for free to the public. An educated customer is our best friend,” he said with a
smile.
Jim Thompson, of UC-Davis, is an adviser to Global Cooling, and co-author of “Commercial
Cooling of Fruits, Vegetables, and Flowers”. Dr. Thompson has authored five special reports -
which take some of the mystery out of precooling – and these are all available exclusively at
Global’s precooling website, www.PreCoolers.net, in the Knowledge Base section.
The report titles include: Temperature and Quality, How to Cool Produce, Tips for Successful
Forced-Air Cooling, Product Temperature in Forced-Air Cooling, and Measuring Product
Temperature.
The website page also contains a number of other articles about precooling, and more are
slated to be added on an ongoing basis.
“I think that the most important thing to keep in mind about forced-air precooling, for those who
are not doing any as of now,” Still concluded, “is that you just need to make a start, and then
learn by doing. And they can always come to us with any questions they might have.”
For more information, see www.Pre-Coolers.net. Or eMail to: [email protected]. Or
call 1-610-248-9800. Jim Still, President/CVO, Global Cooling Inc.
