Australian Vacuum Coolers for Fresh Vegetables

Check out the finest Australian-manufactured Vacuum coolers for vegetables and keep them fresh from the time of harvest.

Extending the shelf life of your farm fresh vegetables from the time of harvest until it reaches customers is essential. There are many vacuum coolers for vegetables and vacuum cooling solutions available to slow down the ripening process.

Vacuum Cooling

It is important to thoroughly cool fruits and vegetables immediately after they are harvested. This helps to preserve the quality of vegetables so that consumers can avail these same products many weeks later when they are still fresh. Vacuum cooling is a pre-cooling process that uses a Vacuum process to cool various types of fruits, Vegetables and flowers.

Pre-cooling is a process that helps to keep farm-fresh produce at the highest quality for as long as possible. It is essential to determine the kind of crops that you want to put into a Vacuum Cooling process because many of them are not suitable. The intervention of modern technology has boosted vacuum cooling solutions and the cooling process is highly convenient and effective.

What Is Vacuum Cooling?

The vacuum cooling process works by the rapid evaporation of water from produce under low-pressure situations. During the process energy in the form of heat is required to change water from a liquid to a vapour. This action is the principle of vacuum cooling.

The process of vacuum cooling works in the following way:

• A product is placed into a chamber where the pressure is initially equal to the ambient atmospheric pressure approximately 1000 millibar.
• The pressure in the chamber is reduced causing the boiling point of water (100°c @ approx 1000mb) to change to a lower temperature, thus the water present in the chamber will begin to change state and produce water vapour. For the water in the chamber to change to a vapour it needs energy to perform a latent heat change. This energy is taken from the produce itself therefore removing heat from the produce and cooling the produce.
• The vacuum cooling method of cooling is extremely fast reducing cooling times to minutes instead of conventional cooling which can take many hours. This means that food is fresher and lasts longer.

Packaging Considerations

The packaging of the products and stacking arrangement are important factors for the Vacuum cooling process. Some of the packaging to consider for the cooling process involve waxed-fiberboard cartons, bulk bins, wire-bound wooden crates and mesh poly bags. It is essential for the vacuum to penetrate the packaging and into the product.

Types of Vacuum Cooling

 Here are the best Vacuum cooling solutions for farm-fresh vegetables:

• Conventional Vacuum Cooling – This type of system uses Vacuum to cool the fresh produce and is extremely efficient for products like Lettuce, Beans, Celery & Mushrooms

• Hydro Vac Cooling – This type of system uses fresh chilled water along with Vacuum to rapidly cool dense products like, Broccoli, Carrots, and Brussel Sprouts.

Benefits of Vacuum Cooling

• Vacuum Cooling is one of the fastest and most economical ways to cool fresh produce. Average cooling times in the latest Quik-Cool Vacuum cooler range from 15 – 20 minutes.
• Produce can be picked packed and delivered to the customer all within the same day.
• When a Vacuum cooler is not in use it is not using power unlike a cool room that operates all day every day.

Takeaway

Vacuum cooling has its own benefits and disadvantages. These depend on the market conditions, type of product, and end results. Vacuum coolers are highly power-efficient and cut down extra costs of electricity.

These Australian-made vacuum cooling systems save energy and costs and help you earn higher profits.

However, the focus should be on keeping the products safe and cool and preventing the onset of pathogens from the farm-fresh vegetables used in hydro vac cooling.