According to SEEDS, fruit and vegetable producers can significantly increase both the region of sale and the terms of sale by freezing their products. Choosing the best method is the most important thing, says Sergey Vystavnoy, head of the design department at Alternative Technologies PF. Having worked in the refrigeration and climate control equipment field for more than a decade, the company has developed relationships with more than 60 manufacturers and suppliers worldwide.
“Compared to blast freezing versus conventional freezing, an important factor is the rate at which the product temperature drops and the capacity of the equipment. The differences in the equipment itself are not very big. You need a camera, a refrigeration unit, a cooler and automation. However, if we are talking about a full-fledged production cycle, one chamber will not be enough – it is advisable to build a complex where there will be a ramp for receiving and shipping goods. With shops for sorting, packaging, with chambers for cooling, freezing, storage. And it is advisable to place everything as close to the field or garden as possible, so as not to waste time on the transportation of products, ” Vystavnoy said.
“Now we have begun to actively build both shock freezers and tunnel shock freezers for blueberries. Currently, there is just a crazy boom in the installation of such equipment. Interestingly, blueberries are often used as the main product. However, so that the whole complex does not stand idle during the off-season, other cultures are also preserved there. For example, strawberries. We have experience and are familiar with such sharing of cameras. Garden strawberries ripen much earlier than blueberries. Its season starts earlier, ” he says.
During the winter, if there are empty chambers for storing frozen products, they are rented out to different products.
“Based on the experience of one of our customers, who works with blueberries in summer and leases cameras in winter, this is quite promising. This year, his cells were not idle – they were rented to store regular ice cream, ” says Sergei.
“We have another interesting project. Storage chambers for frozen products are focused on the blueberry season. However, then, when the blueberries are over, which is about October, apples are brought into the chambers for storing chilled products for 3-5 months. By the way, it is not necessary that different products, even the same apples, be grown by the same enterprise. After all, apples can be purchased, pledged and eventually sold for much more than in season, ”he concluded.
