Ambient-Loaded Citrus in Refrigerated Containers - Effect of Package Design
Description
This data is from a submitted (currently under review) research paper titled: "Cooling of Ambient-Loaded Citrus in Refrigerated Containers: What Impact Do Packaging and Loading Temperature play?" The experimental design and setup for the collection of this data are listed in detail in this paper.
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Steps to reproduce
A detailed methodology is listed in the submitted paper. Below are the materials and methods: 2.1 Temperature monitoring Fruit temperatures were monitored using ibutton loggers (eTemperature thermochron, Onsolution). Loggers were inserted into the pulp of the fruit, which were positioned in cartons in the centre of the pallets. Six pallets were monitored in each container, distributed from back to front and 3 pallets on each side of the containers (Figure 1). Loggers were placed in the top, middle and bottom layers of cartons in each pallet (Figure 2). 2.3 Treatments This study examined the effectiveness of ambient loading using two different packaging designs and three separate initial fruit loading temperatures. Loading temperatures included: (i) pallets loaded without first being precooled, which in this case were 20°C ±2°C (a result of ambient temperatures in the packhouse and during container loading); (ii) pallet stacks precooled to 15°C and (iii) precooled to 10°C. The RC delivery air temperature was set to 2°C and shipped from Port Elizabeth (South Africa) to Rotterdam (Netherlands) over an 18-day period. The respective pallets were loaded into the six containers, each container thus carried about 24 tonnes of citrus fruit. Containers were loaded simultaneously and shipped on the same vessel to the Rotterdam, where the loggers were retrieved and downloaded.