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How Food Retailers Help Maintain the Produce Cold Chain

By: Hilary Thesmar, PhD, RD, FMI Vice President, Food Safety Programs, Food Marketing Institute Produce Cold Chain

FMI had the opportunity to participate in a symposium at IFT 15 titled “Cold Chain for Produce Safety:  The Status Quo and Technologies to Minimize Food Safety Risk.”  For retailers, the produce department is a key differentiator along with other fresh departments.  In fact, according to the FMI U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends Survey in 2014, 38 percent of consumers report shopping at a retailer that is further away because of the quality of the fresh food.  Consumers want fresh, and in order to deliver customers what they want, the cold chain must be maintained. 

Only several produce items need to be maintained below 41°F for regulatory requirements. Examples of these foods are cut leafy greens, cut melons, sprouts, and cut tomatoes. All other produce can be stored above 41°F, but when it is stored for longer periods of time, the quality may suffer and increase shrink.  Retailers are at the end of the supply chain, and by the time product reaches store shelves it has gone through many steps.  Successful management of the cold chain is critical to safety, quality, and ultimately minimizing shrink of produce products.

Retail food operations are well orchestrated—products are continuously coming in and going out.  From the time produce leaves the farm and arrives on store shelves, it is constantly being monitored to ensure that proper conditions are being maintained with the main focus on controlling the time and temperature.  Time and temperature play a huge role when it comes to safety and quality of produce products. 

Different products have different temperature requirements.  While for some products, Time Temperature Controlled for Safety Foods (TCS) like raw seed sprouts, cut melons, cut leafy greens, cut tomatoes have more stringent temperature requirements for safety, other non-TCS products have temperature requirements in order to optimize quality and extend shelf life.

The FDA Food Code outlines specific temperatures for food safety.  Often retailers will utilize cooler temperatures to slow respiration and to extend the shelf life of fresh products based on research, guidelines such as USDA Handbook # 66, and on industry established practices.

The challenge is that retail food stores are not designed to store a large volume of produce for extended periods of time, and space and time are a balancing act.  Product rotation is essential to ensure that the first products in are the first products out.  Getting product in and getting product out is a key factor for retailers to provide the highest quality produce to their customers as well as minimize shrink.   

Produce, along with any food, can become contaminated anywhere along the supply chain—from farm-to-fork.  That is why we developed, with our supply chain partners, a produce guidance document designed to reduce risk of foodborne illness through the development and implementation of best practices in procurement process to in-store handling.  Following the steps outlined in this best practices guide will help all of us further protect the health and maintain the trust of customers. Click here to download the Produce Safety Best Practices Guide for Retailers. 

Retailers along with our supply chain partners, have every reason to maintain the cold chain whether it is to assure the safety and maximize quality of produce in order to provide the best shopping experience for our customers.