Let’s say you have a massive amount of perishable food you need to transport. You cram everything into the same ambient-temperature compartment and leave for your journey. Unfortunately, when you arrive at your destination, all the food is rotten and inedible!
If you don’t know how to properly regulate the temperature of your food when transporting it, this nightmare scenario could very well happen to you. So how do you stop this from coming to pass?
Well, you’re in luck. We’re here to provide you with all the do’s and don’ts of refrigerated transport! So let’s get started!
The Do’s of Refrigerated Transport
One of the most critical things you can do to keep your refrigerated goods fresh is to have a system for regulating the temperature of your refrigerator and freezer compartments. Frozen items should stay at a constant temperature of about 0 degrees Fahrenheit to prevent harmful bacteria from growing. Refrigerated goods, on the other hand, should stay at about 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
Another good rule of thumb is to not store all of your food bundled together in a single refrigerated compartment if you are transporting different types of foods. You may want to consider having several compartments for refrigeration if your food items keep best in different environments.
One example of this is transporting fruits and vegetables together. Because fruits produce a chemical called ethylene, they signal other nearby plants (i.e, other fruits or vegetables) to begin ripening, which can cause them to spoil faster.
Finally, remember that transporting refrigerated food should not be a leisurely process. Regardless of how far our refrigeration technology has come, it’s still vital to transport these items as fast as possible to ensure they keep their flavor and consistency.
What You Shouldn’t Do With Refrigerated Transport
One of the worst things you can do for your refrigerated transport vehicle is not cleaning your refrigeration compartments regularly. Make sure you are cleaning doors, shelves, walls and floor—any surface that could harbor harmful bacteria.
Also beware of what type of cleaner you use: certain kinds can leave behind residue that can stick onto food and prove dangerous to humans if ingested.
In addition to regulating fridge and freezer temperatures as we mentioned earlier, you should also know what the safe refrigeration values are for any food you transport. Different foods need different temperatures, and failing to cater to that can be disastrous.
Venturing Further Into The Frozen Lands
Congrats! You now know the do’s and don’ts of refrigerated transport. Keep these steps in mind, and your path to achieving safe, reliable food transport will be that much easier. If you want more information on how to transport food safely, check out the other posts on our blog.
Don’t have the fridge or freezer capacity to pull this off? We can help! Contact us today about your custom temperature-control vehicle made especially for transporting perishable goods.