Guide To Food Transport - Fish, Meat and Dairy Products

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FISH, MEAT AND DAIRY PRODUCTS
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GUIDE
TO FOOD TRANSPORT
FISH, MEAT AND DAIRY PRODUCTS
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1990 by Mercantila Publishers as

Lay-out and artwork:
Mercantila Publishers as, Copenhagen
Printed in Denmark by
Jydsk Centraltrykkeri A/S
ISBN 87 89010 97 3
Distribution by
Mercantila Publishers as
18 Upsalagade
DK-2100 Copenhagen
Denmark
Tel: +45 3543 6222
Fax: +45 3543 5151
All rights reserved. No parts of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form, or by any means - electronic, mechanical, photocopying or other wise, without the prior written permission of Mercantila Publishers as
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CONTENTS
CONTENTS
Preface
CHAPTER 1
General about Foods
11
1. Chilling injury
11
2. Controlled atmospheres
12
3. Relative humidity
12
4. Packaging
16
5. Refrigeration
24
6. Regulations
25
7. Temperature monitoring and temperature measurement
36
CHAPTER 2
Transport conditions
43
1. General information on transport
43
2. Mechanical refrigeration
50
3. ISO intermodal containers
54
4. Primary distribution vehicles (trailers)
62
5. Other types of refrigeration systems
69
6. Other types of transport equipment
70
7. Code of good transporting practices
72
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER 3
Practical storage life (PSL) of foods
79
1. Quality influencing processes
79
3. TTT-PPP concept
83
3. Deep frozen foods
88
4. Frozen foods
111
5. Chilled foods
114
CHAPTER 4
1. Liability for carriage of goods
143
2. Insurance
145
3. Instructions for the carrier
146
CHAPTER 5
Definitions and explanations
151
Index
155
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PREFACE
PREFACE
The GUIDE TO FOOD TRANSPORT,
Meat, Fish and Dairy products, provides
information and guidelines to help assure
that perishable foodstuffs reach their intended destination in the best condition
possible.
for avoiding such situations and the pursuing cargo loss claims. As such, it will
be invaluable to people in all branches of
the perishable food transportation industry, i.e. shipowners, carriers, shipping
agents, consignors and insurance
agents.
In July 1989 we published GUIDE TO

FOOD TRANSPORT, Fruit and Vegetables. The main part of this book describes one hundred of the most important products in the fruit and vegetable
category. It was quickly realized that there
was a definite need for a book describing
the other perishable foodstuffs, i.e. chilled
and frozen meat, fish and dairy products.
In preparing this new book it was decided

to put all the different perishable foodstuffs into 16 different product groups.
The description of these deep (quick)frozen, frozen or chilled groups is found in
sections 3, 4 and 5 in chapter 3. For each
product information is given on relevant
legislation, minimal requirements for raw
materials, processing and packaging, the
storage life at different temperatures, recommended or required transport temperatures, and sensitivity to temperature and
foreign odours. Section 3 also includes
general information about quality influencing factors, storage life, calculation of
quality loss etc.
Previous literature on this subject was

quite technical, aimed at experts who
already possessed some background
knowledge. This new book, and its predecessor, is written so that they can be
easily understood and used by all.
Improper or careless handling of perishable foodstuffs during manufacture,
storage and transportation can lead to
damaged cargoes (or even food poisoning) and extensive losses. The inadvertent destruction is often due to incorrect temperatures during manufacture
and transport.
The GUIDE TO FOOD TRANSPORT,
Meat, Fish and Dairy products, provides
suggestions and background information
Chapter 1 summarizes important aspects

in connection with foods such as packaging, legislation, temperature measurements etc.
Chapter 2 gives a description of transport
equipment, mainly trailers and containers.
This includes refrigeration units, air circulation, temperature control systems, loading and unloading.
Chapter 4 deals with the most important
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PREFACE
aspects of insurance, including information on the necessary procedures in case

of transport damage.
Chapter 5 gives definitions and explanations on some of the terms used in the
book.
Most of the book was compiled from information supplied by Leif Bgh-Srensen,
Danish Meat Products Laboratory, Ministry of Agriculture, who has experience in
all aspects of food technology. Mike Cowley (Cowley Industrial Consultants Ltd.)
was givin the responsibility of ensuring
the correctness of the text. Information on
legislation was given by food scientist
Linda Jensen, and on fish and fish products by food scientist Helle Emsholm. In-
formation and advice on transport equipment was given by several persons,

especially Mogens Eils and Hans Chr.
Lindhardt. The chapter on insurance is
based on material, prepared by Theo
Koch & Co, Average agents, Copenhagen. A number of the photographs
were supplied by the Danish Meat Research Institute or from Frigoscandia AB.
We would like to express our sincere
thanks to all contributors who have made
the publishing of this book possible.
September 1990
Mercantila Publishers as
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CHAPTER
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GENERAL ABOUT FOODS
GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT FOODS

The information contained in this book
covers frozen foods and chilled foods.
Produce for consumption as fresh fruit
or vegetables is not included, as they are
dealt with in the book GUIDE TO FOOD
TRANSPORT, FRUIT AND VEGETABLES.
Definitions and explanations of some of
the terms used in this book can be found
in chapter 5.
Chapter 1 comprises the following sections:
Section 1 Chilling and freezing injury.
Section 2. Controlled atmosphere.
Section 3.1 Relative humidity (RH), 3.2
water loss
Section 4. Packaging, including
4.1 Inner packaging.
4.2 Outer packaging.
Section 5. Refrigeration
Section 6 Relevant regulations on
transport equipment, including 6.1 The ATP Agreement
6.2 Foodstuffs, especially in
the EEC.
6.3 Regulations on packaging materials.
6.4 Irradiation.
6.5 The activities of Codex
Alimentarius are outlined.
Section 7. Temperature monitoring and
temperature measurement
including
7.1 Air temperature measurement.
7.2 Product temperature

measurement.
7.3 Temperature recording
during transport.
7.4 Temperature measuring
instruments.
1. CHILLING INJURY
Chilling injury is a very important quality
factor for fresh fruit and vegetables. For
several commodities, quality and storage
life will be reduced considerably when the
temperature of the food product is lowered to, or below, a critical temperature.
This critical temperature is usually the
freezing point of the liquid within the fruit,
usually just above 0C. However for
some fruits with a high sugar content,
such as citrus fruit, it is above 8C, for
bananas it is above 12C.
For the products dealt with in this book,
chilling injury seldom plays a major role.
This means that for practically all chilled
foods the optimum storage and transport
temperature is marginally above the freezing point of the food product. For most
raw foods the freezing point is -1.5C to
-2C , and the ideal temperature for these
chilled foods would be -1C with a minimum of fluctuations, i.e. -1C +/- 0.5C.
Freezing injury
Freezing injury occurs when the food is
exposed to freezing temperatures for
more than a short time. For most meat,
poultry and fish products, the freezing
process makes very little difference in the
11
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CONTROLLED ATMOSPHERES (CA)
eating quality of the foodstuff. There

would be no loss of quality if the product
temperature was accidentally reduced to
below the initial freezing temperature for
example during transportation. However,
the problem is that freezing during transport will normally be a very slow process,
so slow that severe quality degradation
could occur.
The significance of freezing time and
freezing rate is discussed in chapter 3
section 3.
2. CONTROLLED ATMOSPHERES (CA)
In normal atmospheric air - comprising
approximately 21% oxygen, 0.03% carbon dioxide and the rest nitrogen - most
quality influencing processes advance
readily.
In the case of chilled foods most microorganisms demand a certain amount of
oxygen to grow. The growth of microorganisms eventually leads to spoilage of
the food product, see chapter 3 section
1.1 Microbiology.
A method used to prevent or reduce the

rate of microbe growth is to alter the composition of the atmosphere surrounding
the food. This is normally done by reducing the oxygen content, or increasing the
carbon dioxide content, often both.
2.1 CA-storage
Storage in controlled atmosphere, usually
referred to as CA-storage is used to a
large extent for fresh fruits and vegetables, see GUIDE TO FOOD TRANSPORT, FRUIT AND VEGETABLES. For
the products dealt with in this book CAstorage is hardly ever used.
The use of a controlled atmosphere in
packaging of foodstuffs is discussed in
section 4.
2.2 Modified Atmosphere (MA)
Modified atmosphere as defined in
12
GUIDE TO FOOD TRANSPORT, FRUIT

AND VEGETABLES is not relevant to the
foods included in this book, as they do not
respire and cannot change the composition of the surrounding atmosphere. However, in vacuum packaging, for example
fresh meat, the concentration of carbon
dioxide will increase considerably, to more
than 50%, due to enzyme activity and/or
microbiological growth.
The term Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) is used , see section 4.1.3
below.
3. RELATIVE HUMIDITY (RH) - WATER

LOSS
3.1 Relative humidity (RH)

The fact that water is suspended in air is
illustrated in our day to day life by mist,
early morning dew and our breath condensing in cold air. It is not important to
understand the physics of water vapour
other than the fact that the relationship
between temperature and the amount of
water air can hold is non-linear.
The psychometric chart, see fig.1.1, is a
way of displaying the conditions relating
to water in air at a specific atmospheric
pressure, usually sea level. The dry bulb
temperature, i.e. the temperature measured by a normal thermometer, is shown
on the horizontal line, the wet bulb temperatures are those on the lines falling to
the right. The relative humidity ( RH ),
also referred to as humidity percentages
are the lines curved up, and the vertical
axis is the humidity ratio, i.e. the content
of water in 1 kg of dry air.
Relative humidity ( RH ) is a commonly
used term to describe humidity of air, but
without knowing the corresponding temperature (dry bulb temperature). It has no
precise meaning. It is more meaningful to
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RELATIVE HUMIDITY (RH) - WATER LOSS
025
Sea Level
25
Dew Point 14C
100
C 20
50
18
28
80
25
60
15
Bu
lb
We
t
015
Bu
40
10
010
20
5
-5
020
We
t
lb
midit
Hu
lative
10
005
Re
18
-5
Humidity Ratio (kg/kg)
Psychrometric Chart
RH
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10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
We
t
Dry Bulb (C)
Bu
lb
Fig 1.1 Psychrometric chart showing humidity and temperature relationship
The RH can be found at the point of intersection between the dry bulb and wet
bulb temperature lines, for example:
tain much more water than cold air with a

similar RH.
For example, air with 90% RH contains 10
g water/kg air at 15C, and 5 g water/kg
air at 5C, see figure 1.1. From other diagrams or tables it can be found that air at 20C and 90% RH contains as little as 0.6
g water/kg air. Therefore, a lower air temperature will reduce dehydration of foods.
A dry bulb temperature of 25C and a wet

bulb temperature of 18C will give a relative humidity of 50% (point A). By extending a line horizontally from point A to the
right hand scale (point B), you will be able
to read off the humidity ratio, 0.010 kg per
kg of dry air, which means that 1 kg dry
air contains 10 g of water vapour.
In a refrigerated storage room or a transport vehicle the RH is used to indicate the
rate of evaporation that the commodities
are subjected to. However this is not an
accurate method as warm air may con-
In cold storage rooms and transport

equipment, the air temperature varies.
The air delivered from the refrigeration
unit will take up heat from the produce
and other sources, so the air returning to
the refrigeration unit will be some degrees warmer than the delivery air. The
air closest to the evaporator, i.e. the delivery air, will normally have an RH close to
100%, while the circulating air will have a
lower RH. This indicates that there may
be considerable differences in RH in different locations in the same room.
talk of humidity ratio, that is the ratio of

the weight of water in suspension in the
air, to the weight of the dry air. This can
best be explained by an example and by
reference to fig.1.1.
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If the air at point A was cooled, the horizontal line from point A should be extended to the left, progressively increasing in
relative humidity until it reaches 100% at
14C (point C). Any further cooling would
result in water condensing out of the air
(dew would form). The dew-point is 14C.
To avoid free water forming on foodstuffs,
packagings or inner surfaces of the transport equipment, the air circulating over
cold surfaces must not be warmer or have
a higher RH than the corresponding point
between A and C.
The important point to note here is that
with perishable foods requiring a temperature near 0C, and a high RH, the circulating air must be cooled to a sub zero
temperature, about -2C, by means of the
evaporator. Unfortunately this will cause
water condensation at the surface of the
evaporator subsequently lowering the
RH.
One way of keeping the humidity high is
to ventilate the room with warm air from
the outside. For example, air from outside
with a dry bulb temperature of 25C and
wet bulb temperature of 18C (point A)
entering the vehicle or storage room
where the internal temperature is 0C and
RH 95%, will add moisture as the air is
cooled to 14C (point C) when it will loose
water and will continue to do so until its
temperature reaches 0C. The moisture
content of the newly introduced air dropping from 10 g to 4 g per kg, will add 6 g
water for each kg of outside air introduced. The limiting factors to using
outside air to raise humidity are power
consumption and having the external air
in the appropriate condition.
1 kg of atmospheric air has a volume of
about 0.8 cubic metres.
3.2 Water loss
Water loss (dehydration, desiccation or
evaporation) can result in quality deterio-
14
ration in chilled and frozen foods. Weight

loss is normally of far greater importance
due to the high monetary value of most
chilled and frozen foods. Therefore, an
ever increasing number of chilled and
frozen foods are protected against dehydration by means of appropriate packaging.
Water loss from unwrapped foods can be
reduced by maintaining the correct temperature and humidity in the storage
room. Evaporation of water from food occurs primarily because of the difference in
vapour pressure between the surface of
the food and its surrounding atmosphere.
As mentioned above, most chilled and
frozen foods are packaged for protection
against water loss during storage and
transport.
The air surrounding unwrapped deep
frozen foods is -18C or less and can
contain very little water. In practice, very
little is done to adjust the RH in unwrapped frozen foods, either in freezer
storage rooms, or in transport equipment.
Frost formation inside the packaging.
Even when a package with a low water
vapour permeability is used, dehydration
of the frozen product still occurs if the
package does not fit tightly around the
product. The main reason is that, in practice, the temperatures will never be constant, but always fluctuate. The water removed from the food itself remains inside
the package as frost. The mechanism of
the interior frost formation in a package
which does not fit tightly around the product is as follows:
- The layer of air between product and
packaging is subject to temperature variations. As the temperature outside the
package decreases, the temperature of
the inner surface of the packaging will
drop below the product surface tempera-
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ture and ice from the product will form and

condense on the inside of the package.
- When the outside temperature increases,
the process is reversed and the water vapour will condense on the product surface.
- As the cooling-heating cycle recurs, the
ice crystals on the product surface tend
to follow package temperature more
closely than the mass of the product, and
this results in further sublimation of ice
from the product. Frost in packages can
amount to 20% or more of product
weight. Since the desiccation of the surface layers results in an increased surface area and thus greater access to oxygen, the rate of the quality degradation of
the food at the surface may also increase.
For retail packed frozen foods such as
vegetables, meat balls, etc. the problem is
difficult to solve, as it is not possible to
pack them so as to remove the air between the particles. Such products are
very susceptible to internal frost formation,
especially if they are allowed to spend a
long time in the outer layers of display cabinets. By using laminates that include a
layer of aluminium foil, internal frost formation can be reduced considerably.
Freezer burn.
Unwrapped frozen foods continue to lose
weight through desiccation during storage, but lower storage temperatures result in less weight loss. For packaged
frozen foods, damage to the packaging
material will cause an increased rate of
dehydration.
Light (white) spots on the surface of frozen
foods are caused by local dehydration and
can result in an unacceptable appearance.
Light spots normally disappear on thawing
and cooking and have no influence on
taste or texture.
Severe dehydration leads to freezer

burn, i.e. formation of greyish zones at
the surface due to cavities forming in the
superficial layer. Freezer burn causes the
lean surfaces of meat to become rancid,
discoloured and physically changed.
Freezer burn is irreversible, does not disappear on thawing and cooking, and signals undesirable changes in taste and
texture.
Meat, poultry, fish, game in particular can
be severely affected by freezer burn.
Temperature fluctuations. The effects of
temperature fluctuations depend on the
average storage temperature. The higher
the storage temperatures the more effect
the temperature fluctuations will have on
ice sublimation pressure and the growth
of ice. Minimum desiccation is achieved
at colder storage temperatures, i.e. -18C
or colder, with a minimum of fluctuations.
As mentioned above, evaporation of
water from the food surface depends on
the difference in water vapour pressure.
The water vapour pressure, as well as the
water content in the air decreases with
temperature, see fig. 1.1.
Therefore, rapid cooling of food products,
especially unwrapped food products, to
their required storage temperature is very
important. The colder the food surface,
the smaller the evaporation effect, hence
a smaller weight loss.
When cooling either in the chilling process or the freezing process the food surface temperature will drop faster than the
internal temperature. This is an advantage when it comes to weight loss, as
evaporation depends on the product surface temperature. An ultra rapid chilling
process results in minimal weight loss,
and is an advantage in relation to microbiology. The faster the temperature is
15
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PACKAGING
lowered, the faster the growth of microorganisms is retarded. As discussed in

chapter 3 section 5.0, a very rapid chilling
process may result in problems in quality
such as toughening of meat due to cold
shortening.
4. PACKAGING
Packaging for foodstuffs is divided into
two categories, inner and outer packaging.
The inner packaging is in direct contact
with the food product. It can be a package
intended for the final consumer; common
terms are consumer pack, sales packaging, retail packaging, or primary packaging. This includes packaging intended
for catering and larger consumers such
as canteens, hospitals,etc. Inner packaging is also used for packaging of food
intended for further processing.
Outer packaging normally contains a
number of inner packagings. Common
terms are outer cases, transport packaging, transport carton, shipping container, secondary packaging, etc.
4.1 Inner packaging

Packing of products in consumer packs
has disadvantages as well as advantages.
Advantages: Protects against contamination - Reduces or prevents dehydration Facilitates sales distribution - Necessary
for hygiene purposes for foods to be sold
in self-service shops, such as supermarkets - Necessary to attach information
prescribed in labelling directives etc. and
convenient to attach consumer information and instructions
Disadvantages: Cost - May slow down
the chilling process if the food has not
achieved the correct temperature prior to
the packing process.
16
Choice of packaging should be based primarily on the requirements of the individual product. The nature of the food, product composition, the temperatures it is
likely to experience, the expected storage
life should be taken into consideration.
Some important aspects of packaging
such as sales appeal, colour and marketing issues are not considered in this
book.
A wide range of materials and packaging
forms are available.
The most predominant form of consumer
packs are plastic bags or foodtainers a
tray made of wood-pulp or plastic, overwrapped with a plastic film.
4.1.1 Important properties of packaging materials.
The most important properties of packaging materials to be used for food products are:
Water Vapour Permeability
- Permeability to water vapour, called
Water Vapour Transmission Rate
(WVTR). For almost all the products dealt
with here, WVTR of the packaging material, and of the packaging itself, should be
low or very low. Plastic laminates containing an aluminium foil layer have such
a low WVTR that there is hardly any
water vapour penetration.
Gas Permeability
-Permeability to gases, especially oxygen
and carbon dioxide. For a number of
frozen or deep frozen products it is
necessary to use a packaging material
with low oxygen permeability in order to
prevent or reduce the development of
rancidity. Rancidity is an oxidative process, hence there must be oxygen present to allow it to start, see chapter 3 section 1.2.
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PACKAGING
When vacuum-packaging is used, it is

necessary to use a packaging material
with an oxygen permeability less than 7090 ml/m2/day x bar, measured at room
temperature. For foods requiring extra
protection against oxygen, packaging
materials with an oxygen permeability of
10 ml/m2/day x bar or lower are used.
For packaging materials to be used for
MAP,the permeability to oxygen and carbon dioxide must be equal to or lower
than the permeability of plastic materials
used for vacuum packaging.
Physical properties
These comprise several different characteristics such as burst strength, tensile
strength, elongation, elasticity, etc. The
packaging material used must be able to
withstand the conditions it experiences in
the cold chain, such as drops, shocks, vibrations, etc. At present, internationally
recognized and standardized methods
are not available, therefore it is normally
necessary, and always advisable, to carry
out transport tests in order to ensure that
the inner packaging has sufficient
strength.
For deep frozen goods the material must
be able to withstand temperatures as cold
as -40C without becoming brittle. In
some cases, liquid nitrogen or solid carbon dioxide is used as a refrigerant, and
the packaging material must withstand
temperatures as low as -50C or even
lower.
The trend towards ready-to-eat dishes
means that an increasing amount of
packaging material as well as withstanding extremely cold temperatures must
also be able to tolerate high temperatures, e.g. 100C for Boil-in-the-bag
pouches, 200C or even higher for oven
cooked consumer packs.
Hot fillings are used for some foods. This
means that the food (usually liquid or

semi-liquid ) is put into the package while
still hot, often over 90C. Obviously, the
packaging material must be able to withstand this process.
Machinability
The term machinability is difficult to
define, but as packaging machinery is
often very expensive, it is an important
factor in the choice of a potential new
plastic that it can run on the existing
packaging machinery at least the same
speed and with lesser failures than the
material it is to replace.
Migration.
As stated in section 6.3, several countries
have legislation on packaging, including
maximum permissible limits for migration
of additives from the packaging material
into the foodstuff.
4.1.2 Packaging materials.
For chilled and frozen foods the most
commonly used plastic materials are:
Polyethylene(PE)
The low density form (LDPE) has a relatively low WVTR, but a high permeability
to oxygen. The heat sealability is excellent, and PE is comparatively inexpensive. It is frequently used in laminates as
the inner layer in contact with the foodstuff.
Polyamide(PA) or Nylon
This plastic material has good strength
and moulding properties, and relatively
low permeability. It is used in many laminates, e.g. for use in vacuum-packaging
or deep-drawn articles.
Polyester(PET)
This film withstands high temperatures,
some types up to about 240C. PET may
be used for double cooked consumer
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PACKAGING
packs. It has very good mechanical properties, but is rather expensive.
well be one of the layers. Paper is also

used as a layer in some laminates.
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

This film has good mechanical properties,
good optical properties,and is rather inexpensive. Soft PVC, i.e. PVC where a certain amount of plasticiser are incorporated, has high permeability. Plasticised
PVC is used for retail packaging of several foods, e.g. meat, poultry, fruits. Other
types of plasticized PVC are used for
rigid or semi-rigid containers, often
thermoformed.
The different layers may be held together

by means of adhesives, or they can be
produced as a co-extrusion. By using
laminates it is possible to combine the desirable characteristics of different plastic
materials at a reasonable cost. Today it is
possible to manufacture packaging materials with the desired permeability properties.
Beside these plastic materials, there are
some other packaging materials used for
chilled and frozen foods.
Aluminium foil.
The use in laminates is mentioned above,
but aluminium foil, in the form of trays, is
used for a range of foods, for example for
ready-to-eat meals to be heated in a conventional oven and for meat products
such as pate.
Paper.
Paper Is used as a layer in some laminates, for example in composite cans,
used for frozen concentrated juice etc. As
greaseproof paper is it used for dairy
products such as butter and margarine,
and for animal fats such as lard.
Barrier-layers.
The two best known barrier materials are
PVDC and EVOH. Both plastic materials
have very low oxygen-permeability and
are used as barrier-layers in laminates intended for products where the oxygen diffusion must be minimal, for example in
plastic materials intended for use in vacuum-packagings of oxygen sensitive
foods, or for use in MAP.
Laminates.
A laminate comprises several layers, normally of different materials. In most cases
all layers will be plastic materials, but aluminium foil (or a metallizing sheet) could
18
Cartons.
Consumer packed frozen foods and ice
cream, milk etc. are often packed in cartons which are coated with plastic (normally PE). The paperboard used is described in section 4.2.3 below.
Metal cans.
Metal cans are used for some perishable
products that should be kept at 5C or
below, for example keep refrigerated
cured meat products which have been
pasteurized (a centre temperature of
about 72C), resulting in a practical storage life (PSL) of 6 months or more at 5C
or below. Plastic packaging has replaced
cans for many of these products.
4.1.3 Packaging forms
Consumer packs of frozen and chilled
foods are found in various forms. Basic
package forms may be grouped in three
major categories: rigid, semirigid, and
flexible.
Rigid packages are formed into a definite
shape from sufficiently strong materials,
so that they retain their shape when filled.
The materials normally used are metal
and glass.
Semirigid packages are formed into a definite shape but are made from weaker
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PACKAGING
materials, so they can be distorted by the

application of moderate force. Semirigid
packages are made of metal, such as
aluminium foil, plastics and paperboard.
Flexible packages are made from flexible
materials such as plastic, paper, thin
metal sheet etc., and generally their
shape conforms to the shape of the product. They may be distorted with ease.
Rigid materials become more and more
flexible when fabricated to thinner and
thinner sections, and the distinction between rigid and semirigid and between
semirigid and flexible packaging forms is
often hard to determine. There is some
overlap in the naming of certain packaging.
material, but combinations are being

used in an increasing amounts.
A number of chilled and frozen foods require protection against dehydration but
do not need a special barrier against oxygen. For such foods a pouch made of PE,
for example, would be sufficient to secure
the expected storage life. Several frozen
as well as chilled products belong to this
category.
Plastic bags and pouches are often heat
sealed. The package is closed by means
of heat and pressure in such a way that it
is completly sealed so micro-organisms
cannot penetrate the package. A heat
seal of this type is sometimes referred to
as hermetically sealed.
Wrappers
The simplest type of flexible package is
the wrap, where a sheet material is used
to enclose a quantity of product. Greaseproof paper is very useful as a wrap for
butter and margarine. When meat, fish
and many other foods must be transported in bulk over long distances, wrappers
are seldom used.
Vacuum-packaging
When the package has been filled with
foodstuff, the air is drawn out, and the
package is sealed (usually heat sealed).
With a flexible package, the plastic material will be pulled against the foodstuff. As
mentioned above, a packaging material
with a low oxygen permeability must be
used. In this way, the food is protected
against oxygen in the atmosphere, and
the quality degrading processes should
proceed at a reduced rate, resulting in an
increased storage life.
Overwrapped trays
In supermarkets, fresh meat and poultry
is traditionally displayed in trays made of
wood pulp or a rigid plastic, some times
called a foodtainer. The foodtainer and
the meat is then overwrapped with a plastic film with high permeability to oxygen.
Fresh fruit and vegetables are also marketed in this way.
In some countries it is a legal requirement that foodtainers used for fresh meat
shall be transparent. In these places
foodtainers are made of a transparent
plastic.
Bags, pouches.
Plastic bags and pouches are the most
widely used consumer pack. They may
be manufactured from a single plastic
It is recommended that at least 95% of

the air should be removed from the package during the vacuum process. The
small amount of air remaining inside the
package will have its oxygen consumed
by enzymes and micro-organisms with a
byproduct of carbon dioxide. For foods
such as fresh meat the concentration of
carbon dioxide in the small amount of air
remaining in the package is often well
above 50%. This contributes to the long
storage life of vacuum-packed beef.
Plastic bags and pouches are often evacuated in this way as are most other packaging forms.
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PACKAGING
VSP (Vacuum Skin Packaging)

A special type of vacuum-packaging is
used for some foods. A barrier plastic material with a low melting point is softened
by heating before applying a vacuum and
sealing the package. During this operation, the soft film moulds itself to the shape
of the foodstuff to give a skin-tight package. This can give the food product an attractive appearance and better protection
as no oxygen remains inside the package.
VSP is used for some meat products and
for fresh fish in some countries.
MAP
After having evacuated the air from the
package, a modified atmosphere can be
introduced before heat sealing the container. Thus, the packaged food will be
surrounded by a gas mixture differing
from the normal atmosphere. This is
some times called gas flushing.
The usual modified atmosphere is one
without oxygen, simply because oxygen is
involved in many quality degrading processes, see chapter 3 section 1. A number of combinations of nitrogen and carbon dioxide are used, for example 50%
nitrogen and 50% carbon dioxide; the
oxygen content must always be low, for
some foods the oxygen content should be
maintained below 0.5%.
As plastic materials are not impermeable
to gases, the composition of the gas mixture inside the package will change, albeit
very slowly provided the packaging material has a very low permeability to oxygen
and carbon dioxide, and the foods are
stored at low temperatures. Therefore,
this type of package should more correctly be called MAP (Modified Atmosphere Packaging) and not CAP (Controlled Atmosphere Packaging) as it is
sometimes erroneously called .
As mentioned in chapter 3 section 5.1
MAP with a rather higher oxygen content
is sometimes used.
20
It is comparatively easy to determine

leakers in vacuum-packages (leakers
are packages with a puncture or holes, so
they can not maintain the vacuum) because the packaging material will no
longer fit tightly around or be pressed
against the foodstuff. When using MAP, it
is much more difficult to detect leakers
as the package will usually look the same
whether it is intact or not. The only way to
check is to analyze the composition of the
atmosphere inside the package. This can
be done by using a comparatively cheap
and simple instrument. From records of
the initial composition of the gas mixture,
it can be calculated or judged whether the
package in question has a sufficient degree of tightness.
Masterpacks
A special system, called Masterpack, is
sometimes used, especially in the meat
industry. The basic idea is that several
consumer packs in conventional packages, such as overwrapped foodtainers,
are placed in a large bag, which may be
vacuumized or filled with a modified atmosphere. The bag is not opened until the
retailer wants to display the consumer
packs. If there is no oxygen in the master
pack the meat inside the masterpack will
change colour, but the normal bright red
colour will reappear some minutes after
exposure to normal atmosphere.
CAPTECH
This system was developed in New
Zealand to help in transporting meat over
long distances. The meat is packed in an
alufoil laminate with a permeability to
oxygen and carbon dioxide approaching
zero. The air in the package is replaced
by carbon dioxide, and the oxygen content in the package must be nil, or very
low, throughout the life of the package.
When the temperature in storage and
transport is maintained at about -1.5C
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PACKAGING
with a minimum of fluctuations, the storage life of lamb could be 20 weeks or

more. The package can contain whole
animals, wholesale cuts, or consumer
packs.
The system has been developed for container transport of chilled lamb from New
Zealand to Europe, but could presumably
be used for other types of meat.
Thermoforming-Deep drawing
Plastic materials become plastic when
heated, and this is utilized in the manufacture of plastic packages.
Thermoforming. Thick thermoplastic
sheets or films can be formed into
shaped containers by thermoforming. PS
(Polystyrene), PVC and PA (nylon) are
particularly amenable to this process.
The plastic material is brought to plasticizing temperature by heating and the
material is vacuum drawn or blown into the
cavities of a mould. The sheet is
thinned by this process and its permeability (barrier properties) may be reduced in
inverse proportion to the square of the
area increase. Thermoforming is used to
produce semi rigid packages, e.g. trays for
MAP meat.
Deep drawing.
Deep drawing is in principle the same as
thermoforming, but deep drawing is carried out at the food producers packhouse.
The packaging material is normally delivered in rolls. The food product is placed
into the package immediately after the
deep drawing process. The formed containers (trays) are lidded with a layer of
packaging material from a second roll.
The vacuum or MAP treatment can be
performed at the same time as the heat
sealing process.
Deep drawing is used for many chilled
and frozen products, especially in the
meat industry.
Many plastic materials used for deep
drawing will contain PA, as this material

has good elasticity properties. PE will
very often form the inner layer.
Form-Fill-and-Seal
Plastic pouches are often formed simultaneously with packaging the product. Preformed pouches are used, but most
pouches are formed from plastic materials in rolls on two types of equipment:
vertical and horizontal form, fill and seal
machines.
The packaging material may be a single
layer of plastic, but often has a more
complex structure, i.e. a laminate.
Injection moulding
Many rigid and semi rigid plastic packages (trays,boxes,etc.) are made by injection moulding.
Blow moulding
Plastic bottles and jars are normally
made by blow moulding.
4.2 Outer packaging

For most chilled and frozen food wrapped
in inner packaging, an outer package is
also used. As mentioned above, outer
packaging is also called outer case,
transport carton, transport packaging,
etc.
Proper transport packaging is essential to
maintain product quality and to minimizing product losses during transportation
and marketing. In addition, outer packaging serves to enclose the product and
provides a means of handling. Poor quality packaging will lead to damage, lowering prices, or outright rejection of the
often high value food products.
The transport packaging must withstand:
Rough handling during loading and unloading.
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PACKAGING
Rough handling may occur in all parts of

the chill/freezer chain, at the producing
plant, in different storage rooms, during
transport, and at its destination. The outer
packaging must have sufficient strength
to withstand these influences.
Compression from the overhead weight of
other cartons
Compression from outer packages
stacked above can be severe in storage
rooms, where stacking heights of up to 89 meters are sometimes used. However,
outer packagings are normally not
stacked so high, as racks etc. are used.
During transport the maximum stacking
height is about 2 meters.
Impact and vibration during transportation
Impact and vibration during transport depends on the mode of transportation, for
example road, rail or sea transport.
High humidity
High humidity may be found in cooling
down rooms, in most storage rooms, in
transport equipment or during loading
and unloading (if carried out unprotected
from the weather). Many outer packagings are made of untreated paperboard, and the compression strength of
such packagings can be reduced to less
than half in conditions of 90% RH.
Outer packagings used include:

Paperboard cartons,boxes ( glued, interlocking, stapled ).
Plastic trays, boxes, film wraps, etc.
Foam boxes, trays
Wood bins, trays, crates,etc.
4.2.1 Paperboard
Paperboard is the most widely used material for outer packagings. As mentioned
above, the compression strength of un-
22
treated paperboard is reduced very much

when water is taken up. Water take-up
can be caused by condensation, for
example when cartons containing deep
frozen foods are placed in warm and
humid surroundings for more than a short
time.
For outer cases where exposure to high
humidity and/or water may occur, the paperboard must be wax-impregnated or
coated with water resistant material, for
example plastic. Glued cartons should be
made using a water resistant adhesive.
Paperboard is divided into several categories:
Containerboard.
Containerboard is a general term used
to include a variety of paperboards.
Generally, it refers to solid fibreboard or
corrugated board used in the manufacture of outer packaging and related
products and their component materials,
e.g. linerboard and corrugating medium
(fluting).
Fibreboard.
The term describes a material made primarily from wood fibres. It may be solid or
corrugated and is used to make cartons
and drums.
In most countries, solid fibreboard should

have a minimum density of 1000 g/m2,
while the board is between 250 and 1000
g/m2, and paper is up to 250 g/m2.
4.2.2 Corrugated board.
Corrugated fibreboard, generally referred
to as simply corrugated board, consists of
a corrugated sheet of paper called the
corrugating or fluting medium, faced on
both sides with flat paper, called the linerboard or liner, see fig. 1.2.
-Linerboard is a general term, often prefixed by a quality or grade description,
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PACKAGING
such as kraft liner (short for kraft linerboard), jute liner, test liner.
Types of flutes.
Several types of flutes have become
standard:
A-flute is the thickest (4.6 mm), with the
least number of flutes ( 110-120 per m ),
and the greatest cushioning and shock
absorbing properties.
properties. It offers greater stiffness,

rigidity and crush resistance in the
direction of its fibres, and an improved
print reception surface for graphic
design and point-of-sale impact.
E-flute is widely used for liquor cartons,
and for fragile foods that require both protection in transit and display/presentation
provision.
Normally, outer packaging is made with
the flutes running vertically. In this direction they provide the greatest top-tobottom stacking strength.
B-flute is 2.6 mm thick and has 160-170

flutes per m.
C-flute falls between A- and B-flute.
E-flute is 1.15-1.50 thick and has 250300 flutes per m. It has the highest flat
crush and the least shock absorbing
Corrugated board construction.

There are several forms of corrugated
board. The name given to them varies
from country to country and sometimes
from region to region.
Some important types are:
double-faced corrugated board;

double lined;
single wall;
single flute corrugated board.
Double-double faced corrugated board;

treble-lined;
double wall;
twin flute corrugated board....
Fig. 1.2 The two forms of corrugated board most commonly used for transport cartons.
In double-wall or triple-wall boards the

flutes can be found in any combinations
of the four flutes mentioned above.
weight per unit area. The weight of the

most used material for packaging of foods
is 250-400 g/m2
4.2.3 Boxboard
Boxboard is a general term for grades of
paperboard used for fabricating boxes.
A measure and definition of grade is the
Folding boxboard is a paperboard made

from a large variety of raw materials,
suitable for the manufacture of folding
cartons. The board must possess
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REFRIGERATION
strength qualities that allow creasing, folding, etc., and surface characteristics suitable for printing, etc.
Special food boards are also a type of
folding boxboards. This group generally
comprises solid bleached cellulose
boards. Food boards are frequently coated, with PE for example and after printing
may be waxed. Examples are: frozen
foods, ice cream and milk cartons.
Frozen foods are sometimes wrapped in
thin plastic before being placed in a carton. However, some frozen foods are marketed in a folding carton with no extra protection, but in these cases the foodstuff
should not be susceptible to dehydration
or oxidation. Some breaded products are
packed in this way.
4.2.4 Types of cartons
There are a number of different types of
paperboard cartons, for example onepiece cartons, two-piece cartons with
cover, two-piece carton with a full telescoping cover, self-locking trays, etc.
Outer packaging for fresh fruit and vegetables should allow adequate air flow so
that the commodities inside will maintain
the desired temperature, see GUIDE TO
FOOD TRANSPORT, FRUIT AND VEGETABLES.
This is not necessary for the foods dealt
with in this book, as these foods are
dead, and therefore do not respire so do
not produce heat as do fresh fruits and
vegetables. However, for a few products
the type of outer packaging with holes in
the walls is used because the cooling
takes place after the inner packages are
placed in the outer package. The normal
procedure for most perishable foods is
that only products having the correct temperature are placed in outer cartons.
In the retail trade, outer packaging will
often be used for display purposes. Here,
24
a paperboard carton (perhaps after being

opened to for a better display) or a paperboard flat with consumer packs overwrapped with plastic film is placed directly
in the self-service shop.
5. REFRIGERATION
During transportation, chilled and frozen
foods preserve their quality if their optimum temperatures are maintained. This
implies that the foodstuffs must be cooled
to this temperature before being loaded
into the transport vehicle, as refrigeration
systems usually only have the capacity to
cope with minor chilling tasks and to
maintain product temperature.
As mentioned later, this does not mean
that the product temperature must be uniform throughout each piece of food.
When the average (or equilibrium) temperature of the foods has been brought to
the desired level, the transport can begin
without quality problems, as the temperature will equalize without any need of further refrigeration.
If the commodities are highly perishable

and, for some reason, have too high a temperature at the time of loading, they should
be cooled as quickly as possible to avoid
deterioration. When it is necessary to cool
the food products during transport, the
cargo must be stowed to allow the passage of air to all parts of the cargo. In all
cases cooling by means of the refrigeration
system in the transport vehicle will be a
rather slow process which will reduce the
quality and remaining storage life of the
foodstuffs involved.
The significance of refrigeration to a number of food groups is depicted in the relevant PSL diagram, see chapter 3 section
3,4 and 5. Here, the ideal and prescribed
temperatures for each group of foodstuffs
are also given.
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REGULATIONS
6. REGULATIONS
In many countries, much legislation, with
many regulations, directives etc. has
been issued on foodstuffs, including the
refrigerated transport of chilled and
frozen foods.
Specific regulations (legislation, standards, international agreements) on
transport vehicles have been prepared,
see section 6.1.
For several chilled and frozen foods, and
especially for meat and meat products,
most countries have specific regulations
on slaughtering, hygiene, temperatures,
permitted additives, labelling, etc. The
European Economic Community (EEC)
now slowly evolving into a political union,
so more correctly named the European
Community (EC) have set up a number of
regulations and directives concerning all
aspects of the trade in foodstuffs. Some
of the existing EEC-legislation today only
applies for products marketed between
the Member States and not for products
marketed in the domestic market. Harmonization of the food law of the member
states is still a matter of discussion and
has not been obtained in all fields. For
example the use of food additives, directive 89/107/EEC of 21. December
1988 on the approximation of the law of
the Member States concerning food additives approved for the use in foodstuffs intended for human consumption, only contains a framework, but more specific regulations on permitted additives and the
acceptable amounts are still to come.
The EEC-legislation in the above mentioned areas is summarized in section
6.2, as is the legislation in a few selected
countries.
In section 6.3 the situation regarding
legislation in the area of packaging materials is reviewed. Only a few countries
have set up requirements for the materials used for packaging foodstuffs. The
EEC has made a framework directive on
materials intended to come into contact

with foods as well as a more specific directive relating to plastic materials.
Irradiation of foodstuffs in order to reduce
the number of micro-organisms and prolong the storage life is a matter of great
international interest. Until now no international regulation applies, but both the
Food and Agricultural Organisation
(FAO) of the United Nations, the World
Health Organisation (WHO) and the EEC
are preparing guidelines/regulations in
this area. A few specific countries have
national legislation including the kind of
foodstuffs to be irradiated and the acceptable doses. The situation regarding the
use of irradiation is reviewed in section
6.4.
With the intention of protecting the health
of the consumer and to ensure fair practices in food trade, an international food
standards programme has been
established by the FAO and WHO. A
short description of the work of the Codex
Alimentarius Commission can be found in
section 6.5.
6.1 Transport equipment
Transport equipment should be built in
compliance with relevant international
standards, and tested to ensure that they
conform. Transport equipment is classified on the basis of results obtained from
these tests.
Equipment for the carriage of perishable
foodstuffs comprises wagons, lorries,
trailers, semi-trailers, containers, and
other similar equipment.
International regulations have been
established by the Economic Commission
for Europe of the United Nations (ECE),
the International Organization for Standardisation (ISO), and International Rail
Union (UIC).
ATP-Agreement
The ECE Agreement on the International
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REGULATIONS
Carriage of Perishable Foodstuffs and on

the Special Equipment to be used for
such carriage (ATP) has been ratified by
24 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria,
Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Finland,
France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy,
Luxembourg, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden,
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics,
United Kingdom, United States of America, Yugoslavia.
The ATP Agreement is the most important
set of standards and regulations for the
construction and use of insulated and refrigerated equipment. It occupies a place
in road transport similar to that applicable
to marine containers by the ISO regulations.
The purpose of the agreement is to facilitate international traffic in certain perishable foodstuffs by setting common and
centrally recognized standards. These
standards should ensure that equipment
is capable of maintaining the required
product temperatures. ATP defines standards of insulation and refrigeration machinery as well as defining maximum temperatures for deep (quick) frozen, frozen
and chilled foodstuffs, although it does
not include fresh fruits and vegetables.
The agreement requires the listed foodstuffs to be carried in equipment which
has been certified by ATP, except where
ambient temperatures render such equipment unnecessary.
ATP does not apply to air transport, nor to
sea voyages exceeding 150 km.
Certificates of conformity to ATP are issued by officially designated test stations;
today there are 18 test stations, most of
them situated in Europe.
These stations measure the K-value of
the vehicle, and the performance of the
refrigeration system.
26
K-coefficient.
The K-coefficient (U-coefficient in some
countries) or K-factor or K-value of the insulated body is a measure of the effectiveness of the insulation of the equipment. The K-coefficient (W/m2C) is the
overall coefficient of heat transfer, i.e. the
heat transferred through the surface of
the equipment. The International Institute
of Refrigeration defines the K-coefficient
as the heat transferred, in steady conditions, through unit area of surface, in unit
time for unit temperature difference. The
lower the K-coefficient, the better the insulation.
The transport vehicle must have a Kvalue equal to or less than 0.4 W/m2C to
be classified as heavily insulated (IR),
and a K-value equal to or less than 0.6
W/m2C to be classified as normally insulated equipment (IN).
A K-value of 0.2 W/m2C or even lower is
recommended in order to reduce the refrigeration load and reduce ageing of the
insulation material. On average the Kvalue will increase by about 5% per year,
due to water uptake and due to diffusion
of freon from the insulation material into
the atmosphere.
Refrigeration system.
The refrigeration system must be able to
lower, and to maintain internal air temperatures according to the class of vehicle:20C or below (classes C and F), -10C
or below (classes B and E), 0C or below
(classes A and D).
ATP certificates.
After inspection and measurement, the
transport vehicle may be classified in one
of the some 20 categories. A Type
Approval Certificate is normally issued
with a six-year validity. For other vehicles
the certificate is normally valid for three
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REGULATIONS
years, after which a new inspection

and/or new measurement must take
place.
Transport temperatures.
The ATP-agreement, Annex 2, gives maximum permissible product temperatures
during transport of frozen or deep frozen
foods. Here it is stated that during certain
operations, such as defrosting the evaporator of mechanically refrigerated equipment, a brief rise of the temperature of
the surface of the foodstuffs of not more
than 3C in a part of the load, e.g. near
the evaporator, above the appropriate
temperature may be permitted. Annex 3
gives maximum product temperatures
during transport of chilled foods (which
does not include fresh fruits and vegetables). The temperatures given in annex 2
and annex 3 are included in this book,
see the different groups of foodstuffs in
chapter 3 section 3, 4 and 5.
The ISO standard is a recommendation
for performance and test of refrigerated
containers.
UIC is based upon ATP, and applies to
railway wagons.
There is very little difference between
ATP and ISO or UIC.
6.2 EEC, and a few specific countries.
Introduction.
In order to obtain an Internal Market without barriers to trade within the Community, several directives have been issued to
establish a common set of rules relating
to the production, marketing and distribution of foods which would apply in all
Member States. The EEC has sought to
establish both horizontal measures which
apply to a wide range of foods, for instance the directives on food labelling,
and on materials in contact with foods-
and vertical measures which apply to

specific food items, for instance directives
on fresh meat, fresh poultry, minced
meat, and meat products.
It is recognized that it is impossible to
make detailed technical standards for
every foodstuff, and the future legislation
is limited to consideration of public
health, consumer information and fair
trading.
The following summarizes some of the
above mentioned directives. However,
many of the directives are being reviewed
in 1990 and changes can be foreseen.
No general international standards have
been developed for the microbiological
requirements for chilled or frozen meat
products. This section includes a summary of the national requirements in this
area in France, USA and Japan.
Quick frozen food directive.
In December 1988, a Council directive on
quick-frozen (deep frozen) foods was
issued (89/108/EEC). Quick-frozen foodstuffs are defined as foodstuffs which
have undergone a suitable freezing process, whereby the resulting temperature
of the food product (after thermal stabilization) is maintained at -18C or colder
at all points.
Also, the foodstuffs must be marketed in
such a way as to indicate that they possess this characteristic.
Article 5 states that the temperature of
quick-frozen foodstuffs must be -18C or
lower, with possible brief upward fluctuations to -15C during transport. However,
tolerances in the product temperature in
accordance with good storage and distribution practice shall be permitted, up to
-15C during local distribution (in some
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REGULATIONS
EEC countries the limit may be -12C

until 1994), and up to -12C in retail cabinets. For retail cabinets, some countries
may prescribe colder maximum product
temperatures.
Article 11 states that a directive on sampling procedures for quick-frozen foodstuffs
and the procedures for monitoring their
temperature must be issued in 1990. In
this directive it will probably be prescribed
that the means of storage, warehousing
and transport must be fitted with suitable
recording devices to automatically and
constantly monitor the air temperatures to
which quick-frozen foodstuffs are subjected. The temperature recordings obtained
in this manner must be dated and stored
for a certain period. For retail display cabinets and for local distribution, temperature recording devices will not be mandatory. Here the temperature must be monitored by at least one thermometer.
Food labelling directive.
EEC directive 79/112/EEC on labelling,
presentation and advertising of foodstuffs
has been developed in order to provide
the consumers in the EEC with relevant
information on the foodstuffs concerned.
By the latest amendments of this directive
(89/395/EEC), the application field is
prepackaged food products for sale to the
ultimate consumer and for catering purposes.
The labelling must include the following
information:
The name under which the product is
sold,
the list of ingredients,
the net quantity,
the date of minimum durability, or - for
foodstuffs which are microbiologically
highly perishable -
28
a use by date,
any special storage conditions or conditions of use,
the name or business name and address of the manufacturer or packager or
of a seller established within the Community.
Furthermore, the directive includes specifications on how the above mentioned information should be presented on the label.
It is stated that it is prohibited to provide
information on the label or in the presentation and advertising of the foodstuff
which could mislead or confuse the consumer.
The directive on food labelling is supplemented by a directive on indications or
marks identifying the lot to which a foodstuff belongs (89/396/EEC). This identification should be preceeded by the letter
L and could be excluded if the date of
minimum durability or the use by date is
given in the label and at least includes a
statement of day and month.
Fresh meat directive
The trade in fresh meat within the EEC
shall comply with the regulations in the Directive 64/433/EEC relating to health
problems affecting intra-Community trade
in fresh meat (with further amendments).
Fresh meat must have undergone a
thorough veterinary health inspection outlined in the directive and shall be stamped
with a health mark before being dispatched. The meat shall be followed by a
health certificate. The directive includes
the conditions for the approval of slaughterhouses and cutting plants, and detailed
requirements for the hygiene of slaughter
and cutting as well as for the persons engaged in the handling of the meat. Also
mentioned are certain requirements for
the storage and transportation of the fresh
meat.
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REGULATIONS
Without undue delay, the meat must be

chilled to an internal temperature of 7C
or colder for carcases, half carcases, half
carcases cut into three wholesale cuts,
and quarter carcases, and 3C or colder
for offal. The meat should be kept constantly at or below that temperature.
Fresh meat intended for freezing must be
frozen by a rapid method and be stored
at -12C or colder. These temperatures
should be kept throughout the period of
transportation.
Poultry meat directive
The trade in fresh poultry and poultry
meat within the EEC must be in accordance with the Directive 71/118/EEC relating to health problems affecting trade
in fresh poultry meat (with further amendments). The directive lays down detailed
requirements to the slaughterhouses and
the veterinary health inspection as well
as provisions for health marking.
The internal temperature of the fresh
poultry should be 4C or below, and this
temperature should be kept during transportation.
For poultry marketed within the Community, a Commission Regulation (EEC) No.
2967/76 lays down common standards for
the water content of frozen and deep
frozen chickens, hens and cocks. Poultry
can only be marketed if the water content
does not exceed the technically unavoidable minimum absorbed from the chilling
processes stated in the Regulation as determined by further specified methods of
analysis. If the amount of water absorbed
is greater than the specified level, an appropriate description should be attached
before the poultry is marketed.
Minced meat directive
EEC Directive 88/657/EEC on minced
meat and pieces of meat less than 100 g
establishes requirements for the production and trade in the EEC of the type of
meats. If the meat is sold chilled in retail
packages, it must be prepared at latest 6
days after slaughter of the animal. The
temperature should be below 2C.
If the processing of the meat takes a
maximum of 1 hour, the temperature in
the centre of the meat must not exceed
7C, and the temperature in the production rooms should be 12C or colder. If
the processing takes more than 1 hour,
the centre temperature of the meat must
be a maximum 4C before processing.
Immediately after processing, the meat
must be hygienically packaged and stored at 2C or colder in the case of chilled
meat, at -18C or colder in the case of
deep frozen meat and at -12C or colder
in the case of frozen meat.
Deep frozen minced meat or packages of
pieces of meat less than 100 g should
reach a temperature in the centre of the
product of -18C or colder within 4 hours.
Frozen products should reach a temperature of -12C in the centre within 12
hours. However, the latter products must
not be retail packaged.
Intra-community trade of minced poultry
meat, minced meat containing mechanically recovered meat or offal or minced
meat from hoofed mammals is accepted
only into Member States which on their
own territory allow production and sale
thereof.
If spices are added to the minced meat,
the acceptable amount of spices is 3% of
the finished product when the spices are
dry if mixed with the meat, and 10%
when mixed in any other condition.
Meat preparations made from minced meat
mixed with other ingredients, e.g. spices,
additives and flour, can be dispatched only
on the condition that they are frozen at a
freezing speed of at least one cm/hour.
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REGULATIONS
These meat preparations must be marketed within 6 months of production.

The directive sets up compositional stan-
dards for different types of minced meat

regarding the fat content and the collagen/meat protein ratio:
Fat Content
Collagen: Meat Protein Ratio
Lean minced meat
7%
12%
Minced pure beef
20%
15%
Minced meat containing pig meat
30%
18%
Minced meat of other species
25%
15%
The products must comply with the following microbiological standards:

M
Aerobic mesophile bacteria

n=5; c=2
3x106/g
5x105/g
Escherichia coli
n=5; c=2
5x102/g
50/g
102/g
10/g
5x102/g
50/g
Sulphite-reducing anaerobes
n=5; c=1
Staphylococci
n=5; c=1
Salmonella
n=5; c=0
absence in 25g
M = acceptability threshold, above which results are no longer considered satisfactory

m = threshold below which all results are considered satisfactory
n = number of units making up the sample
c = number of units in the sample giving value between m and M
The directive includes specified interpretations of the results of the microbiological

analyses.
30
Meat products directive.

The EEC directive 88/658/EEC of 14.December 1988, amending directive
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REGULATIONS
77/99/EEC on health problems affecting

intra-Community trade in meat products
harmonized the regulation in this area.
This directive defines meat products as
products prepared from or with meat
which has undergone a treatment such
that the cut surface shows that the product
no longer has the characteristics of fresh
meat. Processed poultry products are included in this directive. Excluded from the
field of application are meat extracts, meat
consomme and stock, meat sauces, and a
number of by-products e.g. animal gelatin
and blood plasma. The treatments can be
heating, salting, curing or drying, or a
combination of these processes.
permissible percentages from a technological viewpoint should be taken before 1

January 1991.
Several of the Member States have their
own regulation on meat products, not
only for the incorporation of the above
mentioned substances but also requirements to the minimum meat content,
maximum water content etc. Until further
notice these regulations still apply for the
products marketed in the domestic market. A crucial principle of the EEC is that
products legally produced in one Member
State shall be allowed free entrance to
any other Member State provided that
they do not constitute any health hazard.
The directive includes conditions for the

approval of establishments and for hygiene. The production must be supervised by competent authorities, the products
must carry a health mark and must be accompanied by a health certificate.
For meat products in general, neither
compositional nor microbiological standards have been set up in the Community. Article 15 states however, that a decision on the incorporation into meat products of starch or proteins of animal or
vegetable origin and on the maximum
Other Standards for Meat and Meat

Products
For chilled or frozen meat and meat products in general, no general international
microbiological standard apply. However,
several countries have set up national
standards for these products.
In France, detailed requirements for the
microbiological standard of meat products are set up. The acceptable number
of micro-organisms per gram for selected
types of meat can be seen in the following table.
Aerobic Coliform, Coliform,

micro30C
faecal
organisms
Carcasses, frozen
or chilled
5x102
Minced meat
5x105
Cooked meat
products
3x103
Poultry, whole,
frozen or chilled
Staph.
aureus
Anaerobic, Salmosulphitenella
reducing
2
102
102
102
30
absent
10
102
30
absent
absent
in 25g
breast
muscle
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REGULATIONS
The US Meat and Poultry Inspection Regulations imposes requirements for meat
inspection as well as standards of composition for a number of meat products. The
minimum meat content for some of the
products are specified and the use of certain ingredients is restricted.
Japan has set up standards for the manufacture of meat products but does not
have specified compositional standards.
Sugar, starch and seasoning used in
manufacture must have not more than
1000 heat resistant bacteria (spore forming count) per g. Products must be sterilized to a centre temperature of 63C for
30 min. (or equal) unless they are dried.
Dried and smoked cured meat must be
prepared at temperatures below 20C or
above 50C, and the product must obtain
a water activiy less than 0.94. Meat products not being sterilized in airtight packages must be stored at a temperature
below 10C (frozen products must be
stored at -15C or colder).
6.3 Packaging regulations.
In many countries, the legislation on
packaging materials (and especially on
plastic materials) is not very comprehensive. Several countries have realized that
the area of plastic packaging is changing
so rapidly, that it is very difficult for the
legislators to remain up to date. However,
some countries have had detailed regulations on packaging materials (and other
materials intended to come into contact
with foodstuffs) for many years.
In this section, the regulations in USA,
West Germany and EEC will be summarized.
USA.
Packaging was brought into the Food,
Drug and Cosmetic Act by an amendment
issued in 1958. The use of plastics and
other packaging materials in contact with
32
food is under the direct jurisdiction of the

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) who
issues detailed positive lists for permitted
plastics and additives.
The FDA regulations are held in great respect throughout the world. Many countries tend to follow them, often in a simplified form.
The Governmental Regulations cover all
chemical components of the food supply
in the USA, whether these components
enter the food by direct addition or by indirect means, for example, by virtue of migration from a food packaging material.
Thus, there is a great deal of work in
bringing under control, by scientific
evaluation, the many thousands of substances involved in foods and in food
packaging materials.
All packaging materials and the additives
used must comply with the FDA regulations, which in a number of sections include positive lists for food packaging materials, i.e. lists of approved plastics and
additives with maximum concentrations,
all others being banned.
The user of packaging materials has to
obtain assurance from a particular supplier that the material in question actually
meets with provisions of a specific regulation.
Migration.
Migration of additives from the packaging
material into the foodstuff is one of the
areas where comprehensive tests are
run. Migration tests normally utilize a
range of solvent solutions capable of simulating food extraction, for example distilled water, 3% water, 3% aqueous acetic
acid, and vegetable oil.
USDA.
The Department of Agriculture issues reg-
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REGULATIONS
ulations on packaging, especially concerning the packaging of meat and poultry products. In order to import such products to the USA, it is necessary to obtain
a written concession, which includes the
packaging material that is to be used.
West Germany
The Ministry of Health (Bundes Gesundheits Amt) has issued comprehensive
guidelines for packaging materials, the
so-called BGA-rules.
This is not legislation, but if a packaging
material does not conform to the BGA
guidelines, the guidelines are treated as if
they were legislation, and the company
(or person) can be prosecuted.
BGA guidelines include positive lists, i.e.
lists including the components permitted
in the manufacture of food packages, and
the allowed maximum amount of each of
these components. The guidelines also
contain limits for the permissible migration from the packaging material, and
from the packages in contact with food.
EEC.
Some years ago, the EEC Council issued
a framework directive on materials and
articles intended to come into contact
with food.
Based on this, some directives have been
issued, for example a Directive on PVC,
which limits the quantity of vinyl chloride
(VCM=Vinyl Chloride Monomer) present
in plastic materials prepared with VCM,
and for the quantity of VCM released by
these materials, i.e. a specific migration
limit for VCM.
The compilation of positive lists for
plastic materials has been in preparation
for several years, as it was a difficult task
to harmonize the existing legislation in
the 12 Member States. However, Directive 90/128/EEC relating to plastic materials and articles intended to come into
contact with foodstuffs was issued in
February 1990. The Member States must
bring into force the laws, regulations and
administrative provisions necessary not
later than 31 December 1990, and prohibit trade in and use of plastic materials
which do not comply with this Directive
before 1 January 1993.
Only those monomers and other starting
substances listed in Annex II of this directive may be used for the manufacture
of plastic materials and articles. The directive also limits the overall migration
from plastic materials into foodstuffs: The
overall migration limit is 10 milligram per
square decimeter of surface area of plastic material (mg/dm2), or 60 mg per kilogram of foodstuff (mg/kg). The positive
lists in Annex II includes specific migration limits (in mg/kg foodstuff) for several
substances.
Earlier EEC Directives have laid down the
basic rules (time, temperature, etc.) for
testing migration of the constituents of
plastic materials, and have established
the list of simulants to be used in the migration tests. The simulants prescribed
are approximately the same as in the
USA regulations, see above.
As mentioned in the introduction, several
countries do not have detailed legislation
on food packaging. A few countries have
recommendations, while some countries
simply refer to the legislation in other
countries. This means that the authorities
in several countries simply demand certificates that the packaging materials comply with the legislation in West Germany
(BGA), or USA (FDA) or the Netherlands.
The regulations on packaging materials
to be used for foodstuffs is an important
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REGULATIONS
area as the authorities in several countries demand certification that imported

foods are packed in suitable and safe
packagings.
6.4 Irradiation
The use of ionizing radiation of foods is a
topic of great interest world-wide. There is
no international legislation in this field, but
FAO/WHO have drawn up a proposal for
international standards.
A FAO/WHO expert group has concluded
that irradiation of foodstuffs is a completely safe method, when the dose absorbed by the foodstuff is below a certain
limit, 10 kGy (1 Mrad). Several countries
have appointed expert groups with the
task to study irradiation of foodstuffs, but
all of them have supported this conclusion.
Irradiation may be used for several purposes:
to retard sprouting of potatoes and
onions. This demands a dose of about
0.2 kGy
to kill insects in for example wheat. This
demands about 0.7 kGy
to kill bacteria and micro-organisms, in
order to prolong storage life of for example fresh (chilled) strawberries, or to significantly reduce (eliminate) the number
of food poisoning micro-organisms, such
as Salmonella and Campylobacter, see
chapter 3 section 1.1. The dose normally
is 3 to 7 kGy.
to kill micro-organisms in spices and
herbs in order to increase the safety and
storage life of the foods to which these
spices and herbs are added. The necessary dose is 10 kGy.
in order to produce ambient stable food
34
products, i.e. food products stable for

some months at room temperature (20C)
it would be necessary to use a dose of
about 45 kGy. As this is above the maximum permitted dose of 10 kGy, shelf stable irradiated foods will not be seen in the
trade.
This implies that even when irradiation becomes a permitted method the irradiated
food products would still need cooling and
temperature controlled transport. The temperature requirements and the monitoring
of product temperatures during transport
(and during storage and display) would
probably be intensified for irradiated foods.
There is no advantage for the food industry in using as high a dose as allowed in
legislation, because irradiation may cause
pronounced changes, especially in flavour
and taste. The maximum dose to be used
in practice will differ, from about 10 Kgy
for killing most micro-organisms in spices,
to 3-6 kGy for killing of pathogenic microorganisms (Salmonella, Campylobacter),
down to 0.1-0.2 for potatoes. In several
foods, for example in many dairy products, significant flavour changes occur
when the dose exceeds 0.5 kGy, meaning
that irradiation can not be used commercially for such foods.
However, although (or perhaps because)
practically all experts agree that irradiation could be a very useful preservation
method for some foods, most consumer
organizations and media persons seem to
be convinced that irradiation is a very
dangerous, or at least unwanted or unnecessary method.
In the EEC, a draft Directive on irradiation
is being discussed in 1990. The draft includes a list of food groups with the proposed maximum allowable dose for each
group.
Irradiation of foodstuff, especially of
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REGULATIONS
spices, is employed in several countries,

such as USA, Netherlands and Japan,
but only to a very limited extent.
Irradiation is permitted in many countries,
but is often not applied in practice because of labelling regulations and public
opinion, which means that food producers
and retailers reject using this theoretically
excellent method.
It may be added that labelling of irradiated foods and ingredients is a crucial factor. If the industry was allowed to irradiate
some foods without having to state irradiated or ionized radiation on the label,
it might be a lot busier irradiating food,
especially spices, rather than confined to
sterilizing medical utensils, petri dishes,
and the like.
6.5 Codex Alimentarius
The international organizations FAO and
WHO established, in 1962, the Codex Alimentarius Commission to implement a
joint food standards programme. The
purpose of the programme is to protect
the health of the consumers and to ensure fair practices in food trade both nationally and internationally. In pursuit of
these objectives, efforts have been put
into the standardization of several types
of product categories as well as standardization of labelling, use of additives,
food hygiene, pesticide residues, etc.
Furthere, recommended international
codes of hygiene and/or technological
practice have been developed, for example in the fields of fish and fishery products, meat and poultry products, fruits
and vegetables. Foodstuffs complying
with the Codex can generally be considered as being safe, wholesome and
good quality.
As of 1989, 137 countries had become
members of the Commission.
The published work of the Commission

can be found in the Codex Alimentarius
which consist of Standards (at present in
17 volumes), recommended Codes of
Practice and Guidelines (at present in 8
volumes) and regularly up-dated tables of
government replies.
It should be noted that the Codex Alimentarius is advisory only, but that it can be
valuable in the communication between
buyer and seller.
Food Labelling
Codex standards and Guidelines for the
labelling of foods and food additives
(CAC/Vol. VI-Ed.2) include a standard for
the labelling of prepackaged foods. The
standard supplies the points of interest
for all consumers and the requirements
can be observed in practice. Countries
often base their food labelling law on this
standard which has also influenced the
regulation in this field in the EEC.
Standards
The programme has set up Codex standards for various foods, e.g. for processed meat and poultry products
(CAC/vol. IV - Ed. 1). These standards,
mainly dealing with composition and labelling of certain specified meat and
poultry products, applies only to canned
products. However, a recommended
code of hygienic practice for processed
meat products has been made especially
concerning requirements for the ingredients used, and the facilities in the factories. The end product specification states
that the product should not contain
pathogenic micro-organisms in amounts
that would constitute a health hazard to
the public without establishing limits to
the actual numbers.
For fish and fishery products (CAC/Vol. V
- Ed. 1), standards have been developed
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REGULATIONS
for some canned products as well as

some quick frozen fish species (e.g. Pacific Salmon, Cod, Haddock, Flat Fish,
Shrimps). These standards include lists of
defects in the fish products which can be
used in quality evaluation.
For certain quick frozen fruits and vegetable the standards also include defect
lists (CAC/Vol. VIII - Ed. 1).
6.6 Other regulations
It should be noted that besides all the topics dealt with in this section, there are
many other special regulations throughout
the world. The use of chlorine in the
washing and chilling of chickens is recommended in certain countries, but forbidden in others.
Some additives are considered useful in
some countries, but are forbidden in
neighbouring countries.
The application of colouring to fresh fruits
and vegetables is allowed in some countries, such as Japan, but there are no international regulations or outlines on this
matter. It is appropriate, therefore, to
refer to the particular countrys regulations in each case.
Such a procedure would only indicate the

temperature at that moment in time, and
give no indication of the time- temperature history of the load, which may be important for the quality of the foods, and for
the safety of chilled foods.
Checking temperatures in transported
cargoes is straightforward, provided certain procedures are followed. Transport
vehicles in themselves are relatively simple however, the refrigeration system as a
whole is complex and its temperatures
are neither uniform in distribution nor constant in time.
It is recommended to use the following
sequence of inspections and measurements in checking temperatures in transport of chilled and frozen foods:
a. - Inspection and checking a log or a
record of air temperature measurements. In most cases, further action will
be superfluous.
b. - Use of a non-destructive product tem-
7. TEMPERATURE MONITORING AND

TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT
This looks at what methods should be
used in checking that the food in the vehicle or container has been maintained at
the prescribed temperature.
It is in the interest of all parties that there is

minimal disruption during the journey of
perishable produce, especially at border
crossings. Any manual temperature measurement carried out by inspection authorities will require the vehicle to be opened,
temperature measuring devices inserted,
etc.
36
Fig. 1.3 Vehicle seen from behind,

indicating the position of product
temperature (by a non-destructive
method) in transit or before unloading
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TEMPERATURE MONITORING AND MEASUREMENT
perature measurement, should the air

temperature measurements leave reasonable doubt about the temperature of
the food products.
c. - Use of a destructive temperature measurement method. This stage should only
be undertaken, where the evidence from
stages a and b lead to the conclusion that
the food could be outside the required
temperature limits.
7.1 Air temperature measurement.

Suitable air temperature recorders should
be installed in all types of transport equipment for long-distance transport of perishable foods.
At the receiver, the air temperature
record should be examined. Verification
of the position and accuracy of the sensors is difficult in a loaded vehicle. It may
be possible to check the accuracy of a
sensor situated near the rear of the vehicle. The readout of this sensor and a
calibrated control instrument should be
the same.
As mentioned above, the temperature
check will normally end at this point.
However, if air temperature data are not

available, or the air temperature record is
not satisfactory, then the product temperature should be measured by a non-destructive method, (the between pack
method, see section 7.2.1).
A number of companies have specific
guidelines on testing temperatures of incoming foods. When a transport vehicle
arrives, inspectors test temperatures, and
the guidelines for such temperature tests
may include one or more measurement. It
seems that more and more companies
carry out quality control, including temperature measurements, of practically all
foods received, whether chilled or frozen,
whether raw materials or finished products. Such procedures should be considered an advantage for all parties involved.
7.2 Product temperature measurement
Product temperatures may be checked
whilst the vehicle is still loaded, but inspection should not cause rises in load
temperature, and only those packs available from the doors should be examined.
When it is considered necessary to check
Fig. 1.4 Vehicle with a

single set of doors. It is
indicated (x) where
product temperatures
should be measured,
preferably using a nondestructive method.
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product temperatures during transport or

before unloading, it is recommended to
take a measurement at the position
shown in figure 1.3, but the exact position
may depend on type of packaging and
stowage. It is recommended to begin with
a non-destructive product temperature
measurement, see section 7.2.1.
If further investigation is required, then
unloading should take place and measurement be conducted under controlled
conditions, i.e. the load should be placed
in a room having about the same temperature as the foods. Unloading of the vehicle should be carried out so that the products to be measured can be identified or
marked for measurement under temperature controlled conditions.
For vehicles with a single set of doors,
the product temperature should be measured at six points, as shown in figure
1.4:
At the centre of each doorway, at the top
and bottom
At 1/4 and 3/4 the distance from rear and
front, at the centre of the load
At half the distance from the rear, at the
top of the load
At the front, one sample from the bottom
centre position
For vehicles with more than one set of

doors, a more complicated sampling plan
is necessary.
In all cases, product temperatures should
be determined using the non-destructive
method.
If between pack temperatures are too
high, the packs should be set aside for
38
destructive measurement (section 7.2.2,

below), which should be carried out with
the minimum of delay.
7.2.1 Non-destructive measurement
If the top of a case is accessible, it should
be opened, and the sensor inserted between the food packs. If not, a small flap
should be cut at the edge of the outer
case, taking great care not to damage the
food packs, see figure 1.5. A sensor can
be placed between food packs, which
should be under sufficient pressure to
give a good contact, and the temperature
read after reaching a steady value.
Between pack measurements can give
rise to a 2C difference between measured and true product temperature.
7.2.2 Destructive measurement
As mentioned above, the destructive
measurement should not be used until
the non-destructive measurements have
lead to the conclusion that the food may
be too warm.
For frozen foods, it is necessary to precool the temperature sensors, and for
solid food products it is necessary to make
a hole of the appropriate diameter, using a
pre-cooled punch or drill. The drilling or
formation of a hole generates heat. This
can cause large errors in reading the true
temperature, especially in foods having a
low capacity to absorb heat. This is particularly true of small consumer packs.
For chilled foods there is normally no
need for pre-cooling the temperature sensor or taking other elaborate precautions.
The measurement should be made whilst
the food remains in chilled/frozen surroundings, and the temperature measured at least 25 mm below the surface
(or in the centre when the product is less
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Fold
back
Cuts made with a

sharp knife
Temperature sensor
Fig. 1.5 Illustration of non-destructive (between pack) temperature measurement
than 50 mm thick). The temperature

should be recorded after reaching a
steady value. The sensor should remain
in the test package until it is required for
the next measurement.
7.3 Temperature recording during
transport
As mentioned before it is highly recommended - and in the EEC countries
mandatory for long distance transport of
deep frozen foods and for transport of
some chilled foods- to install a suitable
temperature recorder in the transport
equipment. Temperature recorders are
dealt with in chapter 2 section 3.4
7.4 Temperature measuring instruments
Temperature measuring instruments
should meet the following requirements:
stable temperature reading should be
achieved within 2 minutes.
the instrument should give readings to an
accuracy of +/-0.5C or better in the temperature range -20C to +20C.
the accuracy of the instrument should not
be affected by the temperature of the surroundings, between the temperatures 20C and +40C.
the markings on a scale should be readable to 0.5C, or a digital readout of the
same order or better.
the temperature sensitive element
should be enclosed or constructed from
materials that are non-toxic and capable
of being sterilised.
the temperature sensitive part of the instrument should be constructed to facilitate good thermal contact with the food
product.
The instrument used should be powered

by a dry cell battery and incorporate a
method of checking the battery voltage to
indicate when replacement or recharging
is necessary. The read-out may be digital
or dial display.
The temperature sensor should be built
into and form either a robust rigid stem
with a sharpened point suitable for insertion directly into the product or into a predrilled hole or be formed into a flat head
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suitable for measurement of surface temperature on or between packages.

Calibration of instruments
The temperature measuring instrument
should be tested at regular intervals.
Instruments may be checked by comparison to a readings with a reference thermometer known to be accurate.
40
Modern electronic instruments often have

their calibration factory set. Therefore if
and when comparing with a reference
temperature the difference is greater than
0.5C, the thermometer should be sent
back to the manufacturer for re-calibration. On older models adjustments can be
made until the readings are within that
value, but the instrument should be
rechecked after adjustment.
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2
CHAPTER
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GENERAL INFORMATION ON TRANSPORT
TRANSPORT CONDITIONS
Chapter 2 deals with the transport equipment used in the transport of chilled and
frozen foods.
Section 1:
General information on transport. Heat sources, insulation,

temperature requirements,
pre-cooling, loading/ unloading, mixed loads.
Section 2:
Mechanical refrigeration. Principle, mechanical

refrigeration units, thermostats, defrosting.
Section 3:
ISO intermodal containers, including air ventilation,

controllers, temperature
recording, loading.
Section 4:
Primary distribution vehicles

(trailers, trunkers).
Section 5:
Other types of refrigeration

systems
Section 6:
Other types of transport

equipment.
Section 7:
Code of good practice for

refrigerated transport.
Before loading, unloading,
pre-cooling of foodstuffs.
1.GENERAL INFORMATION ON TRANSPORT.

The transport of chilled and frozen foods
can involve movement by road, rail, sea

or air or combinations thereof, employing
thermally insulated vehicles or containers
which are normally equipped with a refrigeration system for maintaining the
desired temperature in the cargo space.
The mode of transportation and type of
equipment used should be based on
destination
outside temperature conditions during
transport
amount and value of the product
recommended temperature during
transport
time in transit to reach destination
product perishability
The following transport equipment is
available:
ISO containers
Primary distribution vehicles (trunkers,
trailers)
Secondary distribution vehicles
Piggyback trailers, for rail,road and rollon/roll-off sea transport.
rail cars
ocean vessels, with refrigerated holds.
air cargo containers
This book concentrates on long distance

transport, and in this chapter mainly ISO
containers (section 3) and primary transport vehicles (section 4) will be described.
A few other types of transport equipment
will be described in section 6.
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Long distance transport require welldesigned equipment, and desirable

features include:
sufficient refrigeration capacity
a continuously operating high capacity
evaporator air circulating fan for more
even product temperatures
adequate insulation
adequate air circulation under the load
containers: delivery air temperature sensors are used for chilled foods in order to
reduce freezing injury
containers: return air sensors are always
used for the transportation of deep frozen
(and frozen) foods
trailers: inlet air ducts to ensure even air
distribution
trailers: provisions, e.g. a solid return air
bulkhead, at the front to ensure air circulation
trailers: vertical ribs on the rear door to
assist in air circulation
1.1 Heat sources
The refrigeration system in transport
equipment must have sufficient capacity to
remove heat from the following sources:
heat conducted through the insulation
from warm outside air
heat absorbed from radiation from the
sun or the road
infiltration of heat from warm outside air
through small holes and cracks
heat from the evaporator fan and motor
heat from any internal electric lights, if fitted
heat introduced through open doors (very
important in local distribution)
residual heat from the air inside the cargo
space, and residual heat in the insulation
and inner lining
foodstuffs with a temperature above the
required temperature
heat of respiration is not relevant for the
foodstuffs dealt with in this book.
The refrigeration system must have suffi-
44
cient refrigeration capacity to remove the

sum of these sources. This should be
done in such a way as to minimise the
temperature difference of the air passing
over the evaporator coil so as to avoid the
dehydration effect caused be water condensing from the circulating air, see section 2.4 below.
It must be emphasized that the foodstuffs
must have the desired temperature when
loaded into the transport equipment. If the
foodstuffs are at a higher temperature,
they must be cooled to the desired transit
temperature before loading.
1.2 Insulation
Transport equipment to be used for transporting perishable foods, should be well
insulated to retard the flow of heat
through its walls. Insulating quality is
measurable, and the commonly used unit
of measure is the K-coefficient (K-factor,
K-value), see section 6.1 in chapter 1. To
obtain an ATP certificate for international
transport of frozen and deep frozen
perishable foodstuffs, the K-value for
heavily insulated equipment must be
0.4 w/m2xC or less.
The lower the K-value, the better the insulation.
Plastic foams, and especially polyurethane foam, are the predominant materials used in insulated refrigerated equipment. Polyurethane foam almost always
incorporates a low conductivity halocarbon gas within closed cells to improve the
performance. The insulation thickness
was usually about 70-80 mm for the side
walls and about 100 mm for roof and
floor. Due to improvements in polyurethane insulation technology, side walls
with a thickness of about 60 mm are now
being used by some manufacturers.
Plastic foams give a low K-value, are
lightweight, waterproof, and noncorrosive.
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Side 45
In 1989 the EEC decided to increase the

maximum external width of road vehicles
in ATP class FRC, i.e. vehicles capable of
maintaining -20C. For such vehicles, the
maximum permissible width was changed
from 2500 mm to 2600 mm. With a maximum width of 2500 mm, thin wall vehicles
were used to some extent, see section
6.3 below.
temperature may accelerate water loss

and can cause frost formation inside retail packed deep frozen foods such as
vegetables, meat balls, see chapter 1
section 3.2.
The ideal and the prescribed transport
temperatures for some groups of deep
frozen, frozen and chilled foods can be
found in chapter 3 sections 3, 4 and 5.
Most new vehicles have bodies constructed of sandwich panels, with plastic foam
laminated between fibreglass or stainless
steel or aluminium walls. Sandwich panels give a low K-value, even at reduced
wall thickness.
Chilled foods.
Generally, the temperature should be as
cold as possible. This very often means
that the temperature should be maintained a little above the freezing point of the
foodstuff, for example 0.5C,. As mentioned in chapter 1, the freezing point for
most raw foods is about -1C to -2C.
Thus, the ideal transport temperature for
such chilled foods is -1C with a minimum
of fluctuations. As stressed below, it is not
possible to maintain constant temperatures in transport equipment. If the controller in a container is set at 0C, the delivery air temperature will be around 0C.
The return air will be warmer, e.g. 1-2C,
and the average temperature of the load
will be 0.5-1C.
The outer cladding should reflect heat radiation; reflective paints could also reduce the heat load. However, the reflecting effect is reduced if the outside of the
vehicle is not kept clean. As mentioned
later, polished metal (stainless steel or
aluminium) is normally used for the outside skin on ISO containers.
Insulation materials of high quality are of
little value if door seals etc. are leaking.
The door seals must be kept properly fitted and in good repair.
Polyurethane foam deteriorates with age,
partly due to loss of halocarbon, partly due
to moisture ingress. The overall range of
rate of deterioration is about 5% per year,
somewhat lower for some of the newer
sandwich panels.
1.3 Temperature requirements
With perishable products of all types temperature is of prime importance, i.e. the
food products must maintain low temperatures throughout the cold chain. In
transportation of chilled foods freezing injury must not occur, i.e. it is often necessary to ensure that the circulating air
does not become colder than about -1C.
Also, the air temperature must be as constant as is practicable, as fluctuating air
Frozen foods
The quality is maintained best when the
temperature is as low and constant as
practicable. In freezer storage rooms the
temperature is very often about -28C,
and in transport the temperature is normally -18 to -25C.
Air circulation
Regardless of the method of refrigeration,
provision should be made for the conditioned air to circulate uniformly. In warm
weather, the primary purpose of air circulation is to carry heat penetrating walls,
floor and ceiling of the transport equipment to the refrigeration unit which removes the heat. Circulating air, like water,
tends to take the path of least resistance
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Side 46
or short-circuit back to the refrigeration

unit. The cargo must be uniformly stowed
to achieve uniform air passages, necessary to obtain uniform product temperatures.
1.4 Pre-cooling
Transport equipment is designed to hold
the product at a desired temperature.
Containers or trailers rarely have sufficient refrigeration power to reduce the
temperature of the mass of the cargo to
the required level as quickly as is normally required. The foodstuffs must have the
correct temperature when loaded. For further information on pre-cooling of foodstuffs, see section 7.4 below.
Pre-cooling the transport equipment
As the outside temperatures, refrigeration
unit capacities, and insulation (K- values)
all vary, there can be no set rule for precooling of the transport equipment.
In most cases, there is no need to precool the equipment before loading as the
heat from the equipment will warm the
cartons against the walls by only about
0.5C.
In several countries, a recommended procedure before loading is to set the thermostat at the desired temperature, close
the doors, and run the refrigeration unit
for about half an hour. This is especially
recommended for deep frozen foodstuffs.
Some countries prescribe pre-cooling, i.e.
it is mandatory to pre-cool the transport
equipment before loading.
It is obvious that ambient air should not
be allowed to pass into pre-cooled trailers
or containers, as this would cause condensation.
1.5 Loading
The most important factors to take into
consideration during the loading process
are time and contact with ambient air.
46
Ideally, the loading bay should be kept at

the same temperature as the required
carriage temperature. In that case, the
trailer/container should be connected to
the cold room or the loading area via a
port door with seals.
This is not always the case, but vehicles
should at least be placed so the loading
doors are under cover away from direct
sunlight.
Because of restriction in space, before
vehicles are backed into loading bays the
hinged doors must be opened and folded
back. If delays in loading occur and the
bay is not temperature controlled, then
undesirable large temperature rises can
occur.
Perishable foodstuffs must not be allowed
to remain outside the cold room unnecessarily while waiting to be loaded into the
transport equipment.
If a pallet load of deep frozen foods with a
temperature of -25C is placed at +15C,
the temperature of the foods placed in the
outer corners will be about 12-15C warmer, i.e. about -10C, after a period of 2
hours. After 4 hours at +15C, the corner
temperatures will be around -5C, while
the foodstuffs in the centre of the pallet will
still be colder than -20C. Of course, if the
ambient temperature is warmer than 15C
and/or the pallet is left in the sun unprotected, the increase in temperature of the
foodstuffs will be much more pronounced.
Loading patterns
Packaging and packaging materials are
described in chapter 1 section 4.
It is self-evident that whatever packaging
is used, it must be secure. What is important is that while remaining secure, the
packaging must allow air to circulate
freely around the periphery of the container and in the area of the door. The
important criterion here is to have uniform
distribution of air throughout the load.
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Side 47
This requires the cargo to be uniformly

stowed. Different sized packaging obviously dictates different stacking patterns.
The higher the resistance to the air pressure developed by the fans, the smaller
the volume of air that will pass over the
cargo and, subsequently, the lower the
rate of heat exchanged between the air
and the cargo. In an extreme case, the
high resistance to air flow will mean that
cargo will have relatively little or no air
flowing over it. Conversely, in cargo
stowed with large gaps and no resistance, the air will short-circuit through the
low-resistance areas and return to the refrigeration unit without cooling the bulk of
the cargo. As stated earlier, the key to
uniform cooling is uniform air distribution.
For the foods touched on in this book, the
transport cartons should be loaded in a
solid block. The goal is to keep the heat
that penetrates the vehicle from reaching
the cargo by keeping the load encircled
with an envelope of cold air.
The internal dimensions of containers/
trailers differ considerably, and carton
sizes also differ. Thus, it is not possible to
specify one standard stowage pattern.
Most outer cartons are designed to withstand more pressure or weight on one
side without collapse. Some outer cases,
e.g. wooden crates, should always be
stacked so that all overhead weight is
born by the ends.
Corrugated board cartons are designed
to bear vertical overhead weight on their
four walls. The midsection of the top is
usually the weakest point, and the cartons should not be stacked in a manner
that will cause excessive weight on the
foods at the carton midsection.
A common mistake is to load pallets or
cartons up to ceiling height, restricting air
flow along the return air passage over the

top of the cargo to the evaporator fan.
Where dissimilar sized packaging is
used, or cargoes do not fill the container
or trailer fully, it is recommended that additional empty cartons or some other material is used to fill up the void space so
that the air passages remain uniform. In
vehicles with canvas ducting on the roof,
these should always be free and not restricted by the load.
Most containers have bottom air delivery,
and it is absolutely essential not to stow
above the red load line, see also section
3.5 below. In most containers the load
line is approximately 10 cm below the
ceiling. In transport equipment with bottom air delivery, there must be a gap of at
least 10 cm between the top layer and
the ceiling.
Unit load patterns should be designed to
reduce the contact of the product with the
walls and the floor, especially if the vehicle is without ribbed walls and without a
ducted floor, e.g. a T-bar floor.
Reducing the amount of surface contact
will improve product arrival temperature
and reduce the chance of product warming.
Fig. 2.1 shows three basic pallet patterns
in a vehicle or container.
The loading pattern should also take into
account that the vehicle might be scheduled for more than one receiver. Of
course, the cargo intended for the first
customer should be placed so it is easy
to unload.
Proper loading practices are also dealt
with in section 7.2 below.
1.6 Pallets, slipsheets
Most shippers and receivers have switched from handling of individual outer pack-
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Side 48
Bulkhead
wall
Bulkhead
wall
Fig 2.1 Overhead view of three basic pallet or unit load patterns in a trailer og
container
aging to unit loads on pallets or slipsheets.
racks, and provisions for forklifts and pallet jacks are necessary.
Unit loads offer the following advantages:

reduced handling
less damage to the packaging and to the
foodstuffs inside
faster loading and unloading of transport
vehicles
reduced pilferage
In transport equipment without a ducted

floor, the pallets should be placed so they
do not block air circulation under the load.
The cartons and other outer packaging
used in unit loads must have dimensions
suitable to fit the pallets used. The object
is to achieve utilization of 90-100 percent
of the surface of the pallet with no overhang, more stable pallet loads, and
reduced transportation costs.
Cartons should be placed correctly and
must not overhang the edges of the pallets, as this can reduce the strength of the
paperboard cartons.
Unit loads may be standard wood pallets

(Europallets 800 mm x 1200 mm, or Isopallets 1000 mm x 1200 mm), plastic netting around a pallet load of cartons, slipsheets, cornerboards (plastic or metal),
plastic or metal strapping around cartons
and cornerboards.
Wood pallets must have sufficient
strength to allow storage in three tier
48
Slipsheets
These cost less than pallets and also eliminate the cost of transporting and returning
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Side 49
pallets. A special forklift is needed to transfer slipsheet loads to and from pallets at
the shipper and at the receiver. If a receiver does not have the proper handling
equipment, the packages are unloaded by
hand onto pallets for storage. Outer cases
on slipsheets are cross-stacked and film
wrapped, or otherwise stabilized with cornerboards and strapping.
1.7 Mixed loads
In practice, several commodities are
sometimes stored in the same container or
in the same trailer, even though the commodities may have different ideal tempera-
tures. For short-term storage and transport, this is usually of no significance.

Dairy products, eggs, and fresh meat are
highly susceptible to strong odours. Packaging reduces the problem, but most
plastic materials allow quite a lot of odour
to penetrate. Thorough cleaning and airing of vehicles or containers previously
used for transporting fish, apples, cabbage, citrus fruits, onions and other odorous products is necessary.
Odours from some products are nearly
impossible to remove, and such products
should not be transported if it is planned
to shortly transport fresh meat etc.
Fig 2.2 Pallet and slipsheet
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Side 50
MECHANICAL REFRIGERATION
2. MECHANICAL REFRIGERATION
Mechanical refrigeration systems used in
transport equipment usually operate with
refrigerant R12 (Freon 12), and have
reciprocating compressors mostly in the
5-8 hp range.
2.1 Principle of mechanical refrigeration

The refrigeration process, or the refrigera-
tion cycle, includes four stages, as shown

schematically in fig. 2.3:
Compression. In the compressor, the refrigerant gas is compressed, i.e. the pressure and temperature of the gas is increased. Then the high pressure gas is
discharged into the condenser.
Condensation. In the condenser, the high
temperature and high pressure gas is
Expansion Valve
Condenser
Evaporator
Compressor
High Pressure
Fig. 2.3 Schematic diagram of a refrigeration cycle
50
Low Pressure
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Side 51
cooled by means of air or water. The gas

is changed into a liquid, still at high pressure.
Expansion. The expansion valve controls
the flow of refrigerant, which it receives
from the condenser (possibly via a liquid
receiver) so that the correct amount of refrigerant passes to the evaporator.
Capacity reduction.
In most modern transport equipment, the
mechanical refrigeration unit has some
sort of mechanism controlling the refrigeration capacity, in order to achieve prac
tically constant air temperatures. This is
essential for many chilled foods, where
precise control at the lowest temperature
the goods can tolerate is necessary.
Evaporation. On entering the evaporator

section the refrigerant passes from the
high pressure side, through a small orifice in the expansion valve, to the low pressure side of the system. The low pressure causes it to evaporate. The latent
heat of evaporation is extracted from the
surroundings, for example from air passing the evaporator coils. The refrigerant
gas is then drawn back to the compressor
and the cycle is repeated.
A common way of reducing the refrigeration capacity of the refrigeration unit is

hot-gas bypass, where a certain part of
the hot refrigerant gas from the compressor is injected into the evaporator. There
are several ways of controlling how much
gas should bypass the condenser and is
injected into the evaporator. The refrigeration unit runs continuously, this gives a
more accurate control over the temperature but an increase in energy consumption compared to on/off control.
Refrigeration capacity
Refrigeration capacity is the measure of
cooling power available. Gross capacity is
the total cooling done by the refrigeration
unit. Net capacity (or effective capacity) is
that available to the cargo space after removing the heat generated by evaporator
fans and motors. The capacity is reduced
as the evaporator temperature falls; the
reduction is 3-4% per degree C at temperatures below 0C.
Other methods of capacity control are

cylinder unloading (see section 4.2
below), suction throttling, where the flow
of refrigerant to the compressor is regulated, and control of the speed of the compressor motor. The latter method would
result in lower energy consumption, but
the system is still not fully developed.
The capacity is also reduced as the difference in temperature between the inside and the outside the vehicle increases.
Generally, every 2C rise in ambient temperature means that the minimum achievable internal temperature becomes 1C
higher. If the minimum achievable temperature is -20C at an ambient temperature of 22C, it will be -19C at 24C ambient.
In many trailers the compressor runs at

high speed (HS) when the air is some degrees C warmer than required, and at low
speed (LS) when the air temperature is
close to the required temperature, see
section 4.2 below.
2.2 Transport refrigeration units

A transport refrigeration unit is a conventional circuit consisting of a compressor,
a condenser, an expansion valve, and an
evaporator coil, with the thermal expansion valve providing the primary control to
the circulating refrigerant.
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Side 52
culates in the reverse direction: top air delivery, see figure 2.11.
The fans (1) force the air through the
evaporator coil (2) which cools the air to
the required temperature. The air then
passes over the delivery air thermostat
(4) used by the controller and out into the
cargo space by way of the ducted floor
(5). The most common form of ducted
floor is known as T-bar floor, taking its
name from the T-shaped cross section
aluminium extrusions that form the floor,
see fig. 2.9.
It is necessary to minimize the space occupied by the refrigeration unit, but at the
same time securing the correct functioning of the unit. A cutaway view of a typical
layout of a container refrigeration unit is
shown in fig. 2.4.
The internal air is circulated through the
cargo space and the evaporator coils.
The direction of the air flow is shown by
the arrows. This is known as bottom air
delivery, see fig. 2.9. In earlier containers
and most long distance trailers, the air cir-
1
6
2
3
3
9
10
11
8
5
4
7
Fig 2.4 Cutaway view of refrigeration unit and container
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Side 53
The air returning to the fans (1) is warmer

than the delivery air as it has absorbed
heat from the cargo space.
The low pressure refrigerant in the evaporator (2) absorbs heat from (and cools)
the air passing the evaporator coil, via the
compressor (7) the refrigerant gas flows
to the condenser (8) where the refrigerant
gas is condensed by outside air forced
through the condenser by the condenser
fan (9). The now high pressure liquid refrigerant returns to the evaporator via the
thermal expansion valve (not shown). On
passing through the expansion valve from
the high pressure to the low pressure
side, the liquid refrigerant expands to a
mixture of liquid and gas, which reduces
the temperature of the refrigerant. The refrigerant in the evaporator coil again absorbs heat from the air passing the evaporator coil.
The temperature recorder (10) measures
and records the internal air temperature
by a separate sensor (6), shown here in
the return air passage but more often located in the delivery air duct, or both
places, see section 3.3 below.
2.3 Thermostats
In refrigerated transport equipment the
temperature is maintained by a thermostat
controlling the refrigeration machinery.
The thermostat sensor measures the
temperature (practically always an air
temperature) and sends a signal to the
controller which adjusts the refrigeration
system. Generally speaking, the refrigeration system, if an on/off control type is
switched on, or if a capacity controlled
type is in its full capacity mode when the
measured temperature rises to above the
pre-set temperature. The refrigeration
system is switched off or uses reduced
capacity when the measured temperature
falls below the pre-set temperature.
Controllers are described in sections 3.3
and 4.2 below, where the importance of

the location of the thermostat sensor is
also stressed.
2.4 Defrosting
During operation of the refrigeration unit,
water vapour is transferred from the air
and unwrapped food products, and the
outer cases to the evaporator coils. If the
temperature of the coils is below 0C,
then frost builds up, and the air circulation
rate and refrigeration efficiency falls.
Many units are fitted with timers to give a
defrost at set periods, commonly once or
twice a day. In some units, a differential
pressure controller starts the defrosting
process when the resistance to air flow
across the evaporator reaches a pre-set
value. In some units, the defrosting process is initiated when the difference between the evaporator temperature and
the air temperature (return or delivery air)
exceeds a pre-set value.
The defrosting process, i.e. heating of the
evaporator coil is provided for by electrical
resistance heaters or by hot gas from the
compressor bypassing the condenser,
going directly into the evaporator coil. The
air circulation fans in containers are turned off so that the heat is utilised in melting
the ice on the evaporator coils, and not in
heating the cargo. In most trailers, the fans
continue during defrosting, but by closing
of air vents, the circulating air is kept inside
the evaporator section.
The melt-water (melted ice) falls into a
tray and then runs outside. By means of
electric heaters, see (3) in fig. 2.4, the
melt-water is kept above 0C and can
flow out.
When the outlet is blocked, water may accumulate on the floor with potential damage to the outer cases and the food. The
water on the floor may freeze and block
the air flow leading to a rise in temper-
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Side 54
ISO INTERMODAL CONTAINERS
ature of the food products. Of course,

blocked outlets should not occur, and the
outlets should be properly cleaned before
the transport begins.
During defrost, the temperature in the
evaporator section rises, and this can
usually be seen as a sharp rise and fall in
temperature on the temperature recorder.
3. ISO INTERMODAL CONTAINERS
During the last few years a large number
of ISO intermodal containers have been
built. In 1990, about 180,000 refrigerated

(thermal) containers are in operation, and
the number of containers increases every
year.
A container essentially consists of three
parts:
an insulated box
a refrigeration system
an air circulation and distribution system
The work of international standardization
Clip-on
unit
Fig 2.5 Porthole container showing ports, plenum and

clip-on unit. The arrows show the air flow from bottom to
top. (Bottom-air delivery)
Return air
temperature sensor
Delivery air
temperature sensor
Fig 2.6 Integral container with refrigeration unit built into

the container and showing the positions of the temperature sensors for the controller/recorder. The arrows
show the air flow (Bottom-air delivery)
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Side 55
in the field of freight containers is carried

out by Technical Committee 104 of ISO.
The insulated box is mostly 6.06 m (20 ft)
or 12.12 m (40 ft) or even 13.64 m (45 ft)
in external length, and 2.44 m in width.
The height of older containers is 2.44 m,
but most new ones are 2.57 m (or even
2.74 m) high. Insulation is described in
section 1.2 above.
The floor of the container is normally
made of T-bar channel sections to allow
movement of air beneath the cargo, see
figs.2.7 and 2.9.
In most modern containers aluminium or
stainless steel is used as a material for
outer cladding. High grade stainless steel
inner linings have replaced the damage
prone glass reinforced plastic inner linings.
3.1 Types of containers
There are several types of refrigerated
containers, or thermal containers as they
are described by ISO, especially
insulated containers, having no devices
for cooling or heating (porthole containers, see below)
refrigerated containers, using a means of
cooling such as dry ice and liquid nitrogen
mechanically refrigerated containers, having a refrigerating appliance such as a refrigeration unit as shown in fig. 2.4. Most
mechanically refrigerated containers also
have a heat-producing facility
removable equipment, such as clip-on
units for porthole containers
The two main types of refrigerated
containers are the insulated container
and the integral container.
Porthole container.
The insulated container is very often called a porthole container or an isothermic
container. This is an insulated box with
two holes or ports in the end wall, see fig.
2.5. Refrigerated air is delivered to the
Fig. 2.7 Container with slightly corrugated walls. The T-bar floor and the
red load line can also be seen
bottom porthole and is distributed into the
T-bar floor channels. This is called bottom
air delivery. The air flows from the T floor
into and through the cargo space and
leaves through a slot, 50-100 mm deep,
which runs the full width at the top of the
container rear wall. The air leaves
through the top porthole. Provision is
made for closing the portholes when they
are not being used.
On land, while awaiting loading onto a
ship, a portable refrigeration unit ( a clipon unit) can be fitted to the end of the container. On board a cellular ship, i.e. a ship
built to carry porthole containers, the containers are stowed below deck and are
supplied with air from a central refrigeration plant which the ships engineers supervise. Sometimes porthole containers
are shipped on deck with a clip-on unit
attached and then they are essentially the
same in operation as an integral container.
Integral containers.
Integral containers constitute more than
80% of refrigerated containers, and the
proportion seems likely to increase in the
future.
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Side 56
The integral container has an electrically

driven mechanical refrigeration unit,
plugged into electric power at depots or
aboard ships. The unit will often resemble
the unit shown in fig. 2.4. Fig 2.6 shows
(schematically) an integral container with
bottom air delivery, see fig. 2.4 and fig.
2.9. During land transport, the all-electric
refrigeration units require the support of a
diesel engine driven generator set (genset). Current designs of gensets include
clip-on gensets, mounted over the front of
an electric unit
nose mount gensets, fitting within the ISO
profile
undermount gensets, mounted beneath
the chassis on which the container is
being transported.
Fig. 2.8 Clip-on genset

Two types are seen in fig. 2.8
Fig. 2.8 Undermount genset
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Side 57
All refrigerated containers must be suitable for the carriage of both frozen and
chilled foodstuffs on different occasions.
Therefore, most containers are able to
maintain temperatures from about +20C
to about -23C.
the process for maintaining prescribed

temperatures. Cold air is constantly circulated through the cargo space to remove transmitted heat. For unwrapped
products water vapour will be removed as
well.
3.2 Air ventilation in containers

Ventilation during transport of the chilled
and frozen foods dealt with in this book,
is internal ventilation (forced air circulation) with cold air to maintain the required
product temperature.
Bottom-air delivery
Most containers are equipped with bottom air delivery. The air is forced down
the bulkhead and through the T-bar floor,
under and up through the load. The air
returns to the evaporator over the top of
the load and through the top of the bulkhead, see fig. 2.5 and fig. 2.9.
For the foodstuffs dealt with in this book,

it is absolutely essential that the fresh air
ventilation is closed. The fresh air vents
should only be opened during transport
of, for instance, fresh fruit and vegetables.
Internal ventilation is an essential part of
For maximum efficiency with bottom-air

delivery, the following factors are important:
the product should be loaded tightly
together
Board or plate
Board or plate
T-bar floor
Fig. 2.9 Pathways of air in trailer with bottom-air delivery
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Side 58
Adequate space must be left between the

top of the load and the ceiling for air to return to the evaporator. Adequate space
means at least 10 cm, and when
the load is kept below the red load line,
this will be attained. If the gap is less
than 10 cm, the air circulation is restricted, resulting in foods at the door end
being carried at higher temperature than
desired. This effect will be even greater if
the cartons bulge and allow the air to
short-circuit through the resultant vertical
gaps near the refrigeration unit.
It is important to block unloaded space
over the T-bar floor between the end of
the load and the rear doors to maintain air
pressure under the load. Heavy paperboard is suitable for this purpose.
3.3 Controllers in containers

The main object of food transport is to assure the minimal loss of quality during
transport, and therefore, precise control at
the lowest temperature the foods can tolerate is necessary.
In addition to the primary control provided
by the thermostatic expansion valve,
there are a number of alternative
additional controls providing a choice of
sophistication and accuracy.
The operation of the refrigeration system
depends on its construction and control
system. It is therefore important that the
handling agent is familiar with the directions supplied by the manufacturer.
Temperature control systems

Set-point.
The set-point is the temperature at which
the controller is set. However, the temperature in the cargo space depends on
where the temperature sensor for the
controller is placed. Most of the earlier re-
58
frigeration units are controlled from a temperature sensor located in the return air
(see fig. 2.6), i.e. the air coming back to
the refrigeration unit after absorbing heat
from the cargo space. This is called return air control.
When transporting chilled foods, most
modern refrigeration units are controlled
by a sensor located in the delivery air
stream, i.e. the air leaving the unit and
about to enter the cargo space. This is
called delivery air control. These units
retain a sensor in the return air for control
when transporting frozen foods.
It must be emphasized that the set-point
temperature should not be confused with
the product temperature.
The air warms up as it moves through the
cargo space, and the temperature of the
return air will be higher than the temperature of the delivery air. Exporters must understand this difference when they make
requests to a shipping company regarding
the setting on a container. Some exporters
do not differentiate between the set-point
and the food product temperature.
Return air control
Most units that are controlled from a return air sensor operate in an on/off mode.
When the temperature of the return air
falls to the set-point, the controller
switches the refrigeration unit off. To avoid
short-cycling, i.e. switching on and off too
frequently, some refrigeration units are
not switched on again until the air temperature becomes 1-2C warmer than the
pre-set temperature. This means that the
temperature of the return air will cycle
1-2C, but the delivery air will cycle more
than that, sometimes 3-6C.
Delivery air control.
Most of the units that are controlled from
a delivery air sensor, have some method
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Side 59
of (controlling) reducing the refrigerating

capacity of the unit, see section 2.2
above.
portable) PC. This allows much more accurate records to be obtained and has
the potential for more reliable control.
Combined control
A theoretical good control is an electronic
delivery air controller and a mechanical
return air controller, operating together.
The delivery air is kept at the temperature
setting on the delivery air controller, but if
the return air temperature falls to the setting on the return air controller, the unit is
switched off. In practice, this type of control may give problems, mainly due to a
poorly set or calibrated return controller.
The controller often provides other facilities, such as testing the machines functions prior to loading as a part of the PTI
(Pre-Trip Inspection).
If the temperature is set to a temperature
between +20C and -5C (-4C to -6C
depending on the manufacturer), it is
automatically decided that the delivery air
sensor shall be used to control the refrigerating unit. If the temperature is set to
-5C or colder, the control is taken over
by the return air sensor. The evaporator
fans often run at full speed when the setpoint is -5C or warmer, and at reduced
(half) speed when the set-point is colder
than -5C. A typical control system works
in the following way:
Mechanical safety thermostats that should

secure against freezing of chilled foods,
need careful supervision to obtain the
best results. If set inaccurately, the
refrigeration unit may operate in an
on/off mode with the result that the cargo
is transported at a warmer temperature
than desired.
The modern electronic controllers
described below ensure a combined control without significant problems.
Modern control in containers.
With advances in electronics and microprocessors, many newer refrigeration
units are fitted with controllers/recorders
that have both a return air and a delivery
air thermostat feeding control signals to
an electronic, often computer based, controller. The controller adjusts the refrigeration unit, the fans, and the overall capacity of the refrigeration unit to give a very
precise delivery air temperature. The signals (temperatures) from the two thermostat sensors are recorded and stored in
memory, along with other information, for
later retrieval. Such microprocessor controllers have a digital readout, and can
display the temperatures and other
events stored in the memory. Printout is
obtained by means of an ordinary (or
The refrigeration unit operates on full

cooling capacity until the delivery/return
air is a little above the set-point. Then the
unit will operate on reduced (e.g. 50%)
capacity until for example 0.1C above
the set-point, where further reduction in
capacity (to for example 25 %) will be introduced. If the delivery air becomes a
little (e.g. 0.3C) colder than set-point, a
heating cycle will be introduced. By
means of such systems, the delivery air
can be maintained within 0.2C of the
set-point.
When the set-point is -5C or colder,
heating (and sometimes also capacity reduction) is locked out, and the unit will be
de-energized when the return air reaches
a little (e.g. 0.6C) below set-point.
The control system is somewhat similar
to the system used in modern trailers,
see section 4.2 below.
Some modern ISO containers have controllers that will allow information about
59
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Side 60
individual containers to be obtained

through pulses down the power lines.
This will enable integral containers to be
monitored from the ships control room. A
broad band high data rate system will be
included in ISOs remote reefer container
monitoring standard.
Experimental results have shown that actual maximum cargo temperature

ranges are about twice the difference between delivery air and return air.
The temperature difference between the
coldest and the warmest foods can be
about 1.5C.
Temperature differentials.
This refers to temperature differences
within the cargo space. These differences
depend on the volume of circulating air,
the effectiveness of floor design, the
stacking pattern of cargo, and the control
system.
3.4 Temperature recording in containers

Any temperature measurement, for example at border crossings or on arrival at
destination, only indicates the temperature at that moment in time, and cannot
disclose what might have occurred during
the journey. There are a number of possible causes of failure in long distance
transport, such as a refrigeration unit
breakdown which has been repaired but
not reported, or the unit deliberately has
been switched off. A temperature recorder
indicates the time-temperature history
from loading to unloading and would
show such incidents. Temperature recorders normally record air temperatures and
this is often considered sufficient, although it must not be overlooked that correct return or delivery air temperatures do
not prove that product temperatures
throughout the load are as required.
Some shipping companies place one, two
or three independent temperature recorders in the load in order to record product
temperatures.
The effectiveness of temperature control

is judged by:
The temperature at the thermostat sensor. Constant (and correct) temperature
at the thermostat sensor, which in chilled
cargoes should be in the delivery air. The
average temperature over an hour should
be within +/-0.1C, with short term variations of max. +/-0.5C.
The temperature spread across the width
of the vehicle. The spread should be within a range of +/-0.3C.
The temperature range through the cargo.
The laws of physics dictate that completely
uniform temperatures can never be
achieved. Greater awareness of what is a
normal and reasonable temperature distribution is needed, especially as there is
now an increased awareness of the importance of maintaining the correct temperatures of chilled and deep frozen foods during storage and transport. The temperature difference between delivery and return
air can be below 1C. This difference can
be calculated from the flow rate (air
changes per hour), the heat input (the vehicle heat leak, in W/K),specific heat capacity and density.
60
Recording systems
Temperature recorders must be sufficiently robust to withstand the vibration and
adverse conditions encountered during
transport, loading and unloading. At the
same time the recorders should be sufficiently accurate and as tamper-proof as is
practically possible.
Most containers are fitted with a mechanical circular chart recorder, 150 or 200 mm
in diameter, that records the temperature
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of the return air or the delivery air. The

recorder is frequently combined with the
controller; the principal manufacturer is
Partlow and this companys name has
become a general term to describe this
type of recorder/controller. These
mechanical recorders can be in error up
to 1C. Small errors occur through wear
in the mechanical linkages. Larger errors
are usually the result of poor adjustment.
As mentioned above, see section 3.3,
modern electronic controllers record and
store delivery air and return air temperatures.
Recording of temperatures in the
cargo
Mechanical temperature recorders located in the cargo, for example in one of the
transport cartons, have been used for
decades. The system is still used, particularly a recorder using a battery to drive a
pressure sensitive chart, and a pen to
make the recording. Such recorders can
be bought or leased.
Modern independent temperature recorders are electrical devices, often with a
memory where the recorded temperatures are stored. Such devices are often
called temperature loggers. After the journey, the logger is connected to a computer and the time-temperature history can
be shown or printed out.
There are several such devices and many
of them are very robust and able to operate at low temperatures. They can also
be bought or leased.
A logger can give a very good picture of
the product temperature at the point
where it is placed in the cargo. One logger is not enough to give an exact picture
of the temperature in the whole cargo,
unless it has several sensors. However, it
is normally considered sufficiently when a

single logger shows temperatures that
are at the required level.
There is disagreement about where independent recorders should be placed. If
there is concern for freezing injury, then
the recorder should be placed near
where the delivery air enters the cargo
space. If there is a desire to record the
mean product temperature, then the
recorder should be placed in the centre of
the stow. If there is concern that packages near the door are getting too little air
and may be too warm, then the recorder
should be placed in a carton near the
door - at the bottom for a top air delivery
container or at the top for a bottom air delivery container. To avoid confusion, it
would be best to place the recorders at
half height in the container.
However, for simplicity, the recommended
position is 1-1.6 m from the rear doors, at
half height and in the centre line of the
container. The carton must be clearly
marked to ensure that the recorder is recovered, and somebody must be given
the responsibility for forwarding the rather
expensive recorder to the appropriate
place.
Temperatures recorded by independent
recorders should be regarded more as
devices to record catastrophes than to
give representative temperature records.
They are accessible only at the end of the
journey and no corrective action can be
taken if the vehicle or container is malfunctioning.
In some countries and for some foods, it
is mandatory to place a recorder in the
load.
3.5 Loading of containers
The foodstuffs must always have the required temperature at loading and the
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PRIMARY DISTRIBUTION VEHICLES (TRAILERS)
Fig. 2.10 Trailer with top-air delivety, showing the air flow around the cartons stowed
in a block
outer cartons should be stowed in a

block, so the air can pass above and beneath the block. The cartons should be
arranged in order to ensure a stable
cargo, but at the same time must be secured so that the air circulation between
the cartons and the wall is not restricted.
Most earlier containers have some form
of wall battens to keep the cargo from
being in direct contact with the walls and
to allow air to flow over the walls to remove the heat being transmitted into the
container through the walls. To cut maintenance costs many containers are being
built now with smooth or slightly corrugated sidewalls. There is some evidence to
suggest that less air flows over the walls
of smooth-walled containers than over
those in containers with wall battens, re-
62
sulting in higher temperatures in transport

cartons against the walls.
Marine containers are marked with a
height limit, the red load line mentioned
before, which should never be exceeded.
Further information on loading can be
found in sections 1.5 and 1.6 above, and
in section 7.2 below.
4. PRIMARY DISTRIBUTION VEHICLES

(TRAILERS)
Food products are usually transported
from the factory or a primary cold store to
cold stores and/or distribution depots by a
large refrigerated vehicle, the refrigerated
vehicle usually being at least 11-12 m in
length. Such a vehicle is usually referred
to as a primary distribution vehicle, trailer
or a trunker.
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The official formula for calculating effective refrigeration capacity is:

Eff. ref. capacity =
Sm x K-coefficient x T x SF
where Sm = mean surface area (m2),
K-coefficient is defined in section 1.2
above, T= difference between ambient
air and internal air temperatures,
SF=Safety Factor.
In the ATP the minimal Safety Factor is
1.35 to 1.75, but it seems advisable to
apply higher factors, e.g. 2 to 2.5 for ATP
class C (-20C), and 4 to 5 for ATP class
A (down to about 0C).
Provided there is good internal air circulation, the effective refrigeration capacity for
the transport of quick frozen foods should
be at least 4100 W for a body volume of
60 m3, and at least 4800 W for a body
volume of 70 m3. In the calculation of
these figures, a safety factor of 1.75 has
been used. By using the recommended
factor 2.2, a volume of 60 m3 demands
about 5100 W and a volume of 70 m3 demands about 6000 W.
Trailers, Trunkers. Trailers usually have a
mechanical refrigeration system, see section 2 above. In principle, trailers and integral containers are very similar, the main
difference being that containers built for
intermodal service have all the machinery
recessed into the front section of the container, see fig. 2.6. By remaining within
the envelope of the ISO prescribed dimensions the refrigerated containers can
be interchanged with all other containers
and in particular stacked above and
below deck on cellular containerships.
The trailers refrigeration unit is usually
driven by a diesel engine. Some units
may be plugged into electric power, for
example while in depots overnight.
Some units operate via the trucks engine, directly or via a generator, but
these systems are mainly used for shorter distances.
Two types of thermostatically controlled
mechanical units are most commonly
used on road vehicles for long distance
transport. One type has the compressor,
power unit, condenser, and other accessories mounted on the nose of the vehicle, with the evaporator coils and air
fans directly inside the front of the vehicle, see fig 2.10. The other type (a split
unit) has the compressor, condenser, etc.
under the frame of the vehicle, again with
the evaporator coil and fans inside the
front of the vehicle.
4.1 Ventilation in trailers

Ventilation during transport of the chilled
and frozen foods dealt with in this book,
is normally forced air circulation with cold
air to maintain the required product temperature. The air temperature is pre-set
on the controller (the thermostat), see
section 4.2.
Internal ventilation is an essential part of
the process for maintaining prescribed
temperatures. Cold air is constantly circulated through the cargo space to remove
transmitted heat. For unwrapped products water vapour will be removed as
well.
Top air delivery
In most transport vehicles with mechanical refrigeration, top air delivery is the
conventional method, see fig. 2.10 and
fig. 2.11. The cold air from the refrigeration unit exits at the front ceiling and the
air must be at a relatively high velocity to
carry it all the way to the rear of the vehicle.
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To obtain improved air circulation and

product temperatures the following factors
are important:
Air ducts should be used to assure air delivery to the rear of the vehicle and to assure even air distribution.
Open space, it is suggested that 5 cm
should be left between the rear doors
and the load to allow adequate air circulation.
The existence of such a rear air path is
dependent on good loading. In order to
guarantee this air path, it is recommended that a minimum of 25 mm
wide channels be incorporated into
the rear doors.
The top layer should be loaded so as to
prevent short-circuiting of the air back to
the evaporator.
The cold air should be allowed to circulate
down the sides of the load to absorb the
heat conducted through the walls. For vehicles without ribbed walls, some form of
strip or batten on the sidewalls is recommended to allow air circulation between
the wall and the load.
Bracing at the rear doors should prevent
the load from shifting. The installation of
angle irons over the full length of the
cargo space is recommended, see section 7.2 below.
The floor design must provide an adequate air flow under the load. This could
be a T-bar floor as shown in fig. 2.9, or
other types of ducted floors, such as the
so-called alhut profiles.
There should be some arrangement at
the front, e.g. a solid bulkhead, to allow
the air to return to the evaporator. Some
vehicles have a false bulkhead with metal
64
screen or holes at the bottom for return

air passage. In some vehicles, wood pallets are set on their end, with the stringers
vertical, between the
bulkhead wall and the first stack of
the load.
4.2. Temperature control in trailers

The operation of the refrigeration system
depends on its construction and control
system. It is therefore important that the
handling agent is familiar with the directions supplied by the manufacturer.
Temperature control systems
Set-point. The set-point is the temperature
at which the controller is set. However, the
temperature in the cargo space depends
on where the temperature sensor for the
controller is placed. Refrigeration units in
trailers are controlled by a temperature
sensor located in the return air, i.e. the air
coming back to the refrigeration unit after
absorbing heat from the cargo space. This
is called return air control.
Delivery air control, see section 3.3
above, is seldom used in trailers.
It must be emphasized that the set-point
temperature should not be confused with
the product temperature. In warm climates heat will be coming through the insulation, the door if it is not sealed and in
the case of respiring cargoes such as fruit
and vegetables from the product, consequently the air warms up as it moves
through the cargo space, and the temperature of the return air will be higher than
the temperature of the delivery air. Thus,
to maintain the required average temperature of the food in the vehicle, the
temperature on a return air controller
must be set higher than on a delivery air
controller. If the required temperature of
the load should be around 4C, a delivery
air controller should be set at about 3C,
while a return air controller should be set
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Control modes
in 4-stage system
Temperature
HS, Cooling
Control modes
in 6-stage system
HS, Cooling
a
LS, Cooling
LS, Cooling
b
c
d
LS, Heating
Setpoint
LS, Cooling, Unloading

LS, Heating, Unloading
LS, Heating
e
HS, Heating
Decreasing
Temperature
Increasing
Temperature
at about 5C. However in arctic climes

heat may be escaping through the insulation and arctic cold air entering through
any gaps in the door. In this case the set
point must be adjusted the other way.
Control systems. Some units operate in
an on/off mode. When the temperature of
the return air falls to the set-point, the
controller switches the refrigeration unit
off. To avoid short-cycling, i.e. switching
on and off too frequently, the refrigeration
unit is not switched on again until the air
temperature is 1-2C warmer than the set
point temperature. The delivery air temperature will cycle more than that, sometimes 3-6C. In most cases the evapora-
HS, Heating
Decreasing
Temperature
Increasing
Temperature
tor fans run continuously to provide a

constant air change in the cargo space.
Most newer refrigeration units are driven
by a diesel engine running continuously.
The compressor, usually a four cylinder
compressor, runs at two speeds, high
speed (HS) which is about 2200 rpm, and
low speed (LS) which is about 1450 rpm.
Naturally, low speed operation saves energy and hence fuel.
In many refrigeration units, a 4-stage or
6-stage thermostat control system automatically regulates the unit. A typical
4-stage control system operates in the
following way: When the thermostat sen-
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Side 66
sor in the return air measures a temperature some degrees (often about 3.5C)
warmer than the set-point, the unit cools
at high speed. When the return air temperature gets below point a in the figure
above, the unit runs at low speed, still
cooling. This continues until the return air
gets colder than the set-point (point c), or,
more correctly, colder than point d, which
is about 0.8C colder than the set-point.
The unit then is switched into low speed
heating. When the return air gets warmer
than point b (about 0.8C warmer than
the set-point) the unit is switched to low
speed, cooling.
High speed heating is used when chilled
foods are transported through very cold
regions, e.g. ambient temperatures below
-10C, as this could cause freezing of
some foods.
However, heating of the air when the return air becomes some degrees colder
than the set-point may have some disadvantages, for example when deep frozen
foods are loaded with a temperature of
-25C and the thermostat is set at -18C.
As frozen foods should be stored and
transported as cold as possible, it is a
waste of energy and has a negative (although very small) influence on product
quality to heat the air and the food products. The thermostat should be set a
little colder, or there should be a system
where high speed heating cannot be introduced when the thermostat is set
below -13C. This system is used by
some manufacturers of refrigeration units.
Other control systems include a heat
lock-out option.
In some modern units, a 6-stage control
system is used, see the figure above.
Here, the refrigeration capacity is reduced
by means of cylinder unloading, further
reducing the fuel consumption. The unit
66
will usually start at HS, cooling and

change to LS,cooling. When the return air
temperature gets below point b in the figure above) two of the four cylinders are
unloaded, and in many cases the unit can
operate with low speed, cylinder unloading, cooling or heating, most of the time.
This saves energy and also results in a
more even temperature in the cargo
space.
Such control systems normally allow a
time lapse of some minutes (e.g. 6-10
minutes) from the return air temperature
increasing to a level where more
refrigeration capacity is indicated, until
cylinder unloading is finished and low
speed, cooling is started.
The evaporator fans normally run with a
speed proportional to the compressor. In
some units, a constant air flow option is
incorporated in the control system as
there is a special or separate electrical
evaporator fan motor. Thus, high speed
air circulation can be maintained all the
time, even though the compressor may
run at low speed 70% of the time. Higher
air circulation should result in an improved air distribution, minimizing temperature
variations.
It is recommended that the air circulation
should be at least 60-80 times the body
volume per hour for all frozen food cargoes as well as for sensitive loads at
about 0C, e.g. fresh meat.
At low speed, 40-50 times the body volume per hour may be sufficient.
As mentioned in section 3.3 above, the
effectiveness of temperature control is
judged by:
Constant (and correct) temperature at the
thermostat sensor.
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The temperature spread across the

width.
The temperature range through the
cargo. Greater awareness of what is a
normal and reasonable temperature distribution is needed, especially as there
are now increased demands on and
specifications for the temperature of
chilled and (deep) frozen foods. The difference between delivery and return air
can be below 2C, but is sometimes
higher. The temperature difference between the coldest and the warmest foods
can be about 2-3C.
4.3 Temperature recording in trailers

Any temperature measurement only indicates the temperature at that moment in
time, and cannot disclose events that may
have occurred during the journey. There
are a number of possible causes of failure
in long distance transport such as a refrigeration unit breakdown which has been
repaired but not reported, or that the unit
has been deliberately switched off (because of noise problems).
A temperature recorder indicates the timetemperature history from loading to
unloading, and would show such incidents. Temperature recorders generally
record air temperatures, and this is normally sufficient, although it must not be
overlooked that correct return or delivery
air temperatures do not prove that product
temperatures throughout the load are as
required.
In many newer units, temperature recorders are included in the control systems. Partlow recorder/controllers, see
section 3.4 above, are often used. Electronic controllers including recording systems are found in many new refrigeration
units, see section 3.3 above. Such controllers also record defrosting periods and
provide several other facilities.
An alternative system is to fit temperature

sensors permanently into the walls and
ceiling, with wires connecting the sensors
to a central unit. The driver of a trailer is
able to read the temperature easily, and a
signal (red light) could be started if a fixed
temperature limit is exceeded. Print-out of
the time-temperature history from loading
to unloading can be given to the receiver.
As mentioned in chapter 1 section 6.2, it
is likely that suitable temperature recorders will be mandatory in transport vehicles in the EEC-countries within a few
years, at least for long distance transport
of deep (quick) frozen foodstuffs.
Recording systems
Temperature recorders must be sufficiently robust to withstand the vibration
and adverse conditions encountered during transport, loading and unloading. At
the same time the recorders should be
sufficiently accurate and as tamper-proof
as is practically possible. For further information, see section 3.4 above.
Positioning of temperature sensors
In transport equipment with mechanical
refrigeration, the temperature sensor is
usually placed in the return air.
The return air temperatures will often reflect the average temperature of the
cargo, but there could be considerable
temperature differences between the
warmest and the coldest food products.
This could be the case if the air flow is
not being correctly distributed throughout
the cargo space, or if the foods were not
as cold as required at loading. An incorrect stowage system can cause faulty air
distribution, see section 1.5 above.
It is clearly an advantage to record two
(or more) temperatures in transport vehicles. One sensor should be close to the
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Side 68
refrigeration unit, preferably in the return

air. Another one should be placed at the
wall or roof of the vehicle, so that the air
temperature of at least one point well removed from the evaporator can be monitored. This gives some problems as loading and unloading could damage the sensor. Permanent fixing of the sensors will
minimize damage and malfunctions, and
cause minimum disturbance during loading and unloading. The only disadvantage
is that no direct measurement of food
temperature is taking place. However, the
recordings should indicate that the cargo
space temperatures have been maintained satisfactorily during the journey. It
is also advisable to record the door openings
The alternative system mentioned above
should give a very good picture of temperatures during the journey.
Recording of product temperatures
The temperature recording devices described in section 3.4 above would be as
valuable in road vehicles as they are in
containers.
The recommended position of such recording devices is in the top carton in the
last tier and in the centre line of the trailer.
The carton must be clearly marked to ensure that the recorder is recovered, and
somebody must be given the responsibility of forwarding the sometimes rather expensive instrument to the appropriate
place.
Temperatures recorded by independent
recorders should be regarded more as
devices to record catastrophes than to
give representative temperature records.
They are accessible only at the end of the
journey and no corrective action can be
taken if the vehicle or container is malfunctioning.
68
It has been proposed to make the use of

time-temperature integrators mandatory.
Such devices are fixed to the packaging,
for instance to each transport carton, and
they react to temperature, for example a
temperature dependent colour reaction.
Thus, it can be seen directly what timetemperature history the integrator (and
the carton) has been exposed to. Some of
these integrators are cheap, e.g. about $
0.3 each, but until now such integrators
have had limited usage.
4.4 Loading of trailers
The most important factors to take into
consideration during the loading process
are time and contact with ambient air. Ideally, the loading bay should be kept at the
same temperature as the required carriage temperature, and the trailer
should be connected to the cold room via
a port door with seals.
Chilled and frozen foods should not be
allowed to remain outside the cold room
unnecessarily while waiting to be loaded
into the trailer.
The foods must be at the correct temperature when loaded and transport cartons
should be stowed in a solid block. It is self
evident that whatever packaging is used,
it must be secure. What is important is
that while remaining secure, the packaging must allow air to circulate freely
around the periphery of the vehicle and in
the area of the door. The important criterion here is to have uniform distribution of
air throughout the load. This requires the
cargo to be uniformly stowed.
As mentioned in section 1.2 above, the
maximum external width of trailers in the
ATP class FRC is now 2600 mm in
Europe. This gives an effective internal
width of more than 2400 mm, thus making it possible to place two pallets,1200
mm wide, side by side.
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Side 69
OTHER TYPES OF REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS
For further information on loading, see

sections 1.5, 1.6 and 1.7 above and section 7.2 below.
5. OTHER TYPES OF REFRIGERATION

SYSTEMS
Refrigeration systems other than mechanical refrigeration are sometimes
used to transport chilled and frozen
foods, especially by road and in local distribution.
5.1 Cryogenic refrigeration

Cryogenic systems or total loss systems
involve cooling, storing and transporting
the refrigerant to another location before
making use of it. After the refrigerant has
been used, the refrigerant is lost to the
atmosphere, hence the descriptive term:
total loss.
frigeration medium in some vehicels. The

most frequent use is in frozen food and
ice cream delivery vans, and in smaller
containers, see section 6 below. Solid
carbon dioxide may be placed within individual outer packaging.
For local distribution and where there is a
requirement for separate temperatures in
the same vehicle, direct expansion of cryogenic gases can be used as the means of
refrigeration. These systems usually use
liquid nitrogen or carbon dioxide.
The controls are particularly simple and
reliable, but it is not always cost effective.
A thermostat injects the liquid gas behind
a shield in the cargo space in order to
prevent produce coming into direct contact with the exceptionally low temperature of the gas.
Cryogenic refrigeration systems use liquid

nitrogen or liquid or solid carbon dioxide.
Liquid cryogenic systems usually operate
by having liquid refrigerant in pressurized
tanks. A temperature sensing element in
the vehicle activates a controller which
releases the liquid refrigerant through a
spray nozzle at the ceiling of the vehicle.
When the temperature has been reduced
to the pre-set temperature, the temperature sensing element sends a signal to
the controller to shut off the flow of
refrigerant.
Several precautions must be taken where

carbon dioxide or nitrogen may have replaced oxygen in a transport vehicle. Several minutes should be allowed before
anybody enters a trailer (or container)
after the doors are opened to allow replenishment of oxygen to a normal concentration.
Carbon dioxide gas is heavier than

atmospheric air and settles quickly to the
floor. Fans should be operated continuously in carbon dioxide refrigerated
loads of chilled products to prevent too
low temperatures (freezing injury) in the
bottom layers and too high temperatures
in the top layers of the load.
Cryogenic systems have fewer moving

parts to maintain and replace than mechanical systems.
In cryogenic systems, it is difficult to prescribe the most suitable position for the
sensors to be used in temperature monitoring or recording.
Solid carbon dioxide or dry ice in the form

of blocks, snow, or pellets is used as a re-
Because of the limited number and distribution of suppliers of refrigerant this type
of refrigeration is used primarily in journeys of less than one days transit time.
5.2 Eutectic plates

Eutectic plates contain a solution of water
and various chemicals such as salts or
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OTHER TYPES OF TRANSPORT EQUIPMENT
glycols. Such solutions should have a

suitable melting point and be non toxic.
The eutectic solution solidifies at a temperature lower than the required carriage
temperature; often the solidifying temperature is commonly around -30C. This
is achieved by circulating a refrigerant
through the coils enclosed in the plates
before the vehicle is loaded. This is done
either at a depot or dockside central plant
condensing unit, or a closed circuit truckmounted condensing unit.
The plates are mounted on the vehicle
walls and ceiling and during the run the
eutectic solution melts, providing the refrigerating effect necessary to maintain
the required temperature.
The plate system is sometimes augmented with a blower device to provide forced
air circulation in combination with the
hold-over facility of the plates. This combination can help bring about faster temperature reduction than can be achieved with
plates alone.
However, fans are seldom used in these
smaller vehicals equipped with eutectic
plates as they rely on natural convection
to provide air circulation.
As mentioned above, the mandatory use
of suitable temperature recorders will not
cover local distribution. The main reason
is that it is difficult to prescribe where the
temperature should be measured to give
the most accurate picture of the temperature conditions in a local distribution van
where the doors may be opened 25-50
times a day.
5.3 No refrigeration system
Insulated containers (or vehicles) with no
refrigeration system must only be used for
short journeys (less than 2-3 hours) or
when ambient temperatures are close to
70
the recommended transport temperature

throughout the journey.
However, insulated trailers are often used
for long distance transport of fresh fish,
which must then be transported in melting
ice. Here, the air temperature in the cargo
space should be 1 to 3C, see chapter 3
section 5.5.
6. OTHER TYPES OF TRANSPORT

EQUIPMENT
The equipment described above is
intended for long distance transport.
Perishable foodstuffs are distributed in
other types of equipment. The following
are types of equipment used in local distribution.
6.1 Secondary distribution vehicles or

delivery vans
These are loaded at the distribution depots and deliver to shops and stores.
Delivery vans may have mechanical,
eutectic plates or cryogenic refrigeration
systems. The use of eutectic plates are
common in this type of vehicles.
In local distribution, it is common to have
mixed loads with retail packed chilled
meats, fresh fruits and vegetables, frequently unwrapped, and bread also often
unwrapped being distributed in the same
vehicle with the temperature set at about
5C. In some countries the authorities
may prescribe special precautions such
as a physical separation between meat
products and the two other groups. When
products demanding lower temperatures
are distributed together with other foodstuffs in a vehicle at say 5C, it is necessary to use an insulated box within the vehicle to store the lower temperature
goods. Thus, deep frozen foods (-18C or
colder) or MAP meat are carried in an insulated boxes within the 5C controlled
vehicle.
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OTHER TYPES OF TRANSPORT EQUIPMENT
Special precautions must be taken for

fresh fruits and vegetables, among the
considerations are ethylene production
and type compatibility, see the book
GUIDE TO FOOD TRANSPORT, FRUIT
AND VEGETABLE.
6.2 Equipment with several transport

temperatures
Transport equipment (mostly trailers) with
two or three separate compartments can
be used to carry loads of food products
with different temperature requirements.
The conditions provided by three compartment vehicles may include -18C,
0C, 10C, or ambient for foods not
requiring refrigeration.
The frozen compartment is usually located at the front of the vehicle adjacent to
the refrigeration unit. Movable bulkheads
are placed between the compartments.
Ventilation between compartments provides temperature control for the nonfrozen products. However, this means
that warm air is returned to the refrigeration unit in the frozen food compartment,
giving condensation problems and warming of the frozen food products. Side
doors are needed for access to the forward compartments when the vehicles
are inspected at ports of entry or used to
make multiple deliveries on a single run.
Some modern trailers have a mechanical
refrigeration unit and three separate
evaporators, one in each compartment.
This enables a free choice of temperature
in each compartment.
For local distribution, different temperatures can be provided in the same vehicle
by insulated containers. Such containers
may be small, e.g. 180 cm x 60 cm x
40 cm, and their use for chilled as well
as for deep frozen foods is well known.
However, they should not be used for

long distance transport.
6.3 Thin wall equipment
Thin wall vehicles are characterized by a
sidewall thickness of less than 45 mm.
In conventionally insulated equipment,
the wall thickness is about 70-80 mm. In
thin wall vehicles roof and walls have a
thickness up to 200 mm, to achieve a
total K-value equal to or less than 0.4
W/m2xC.
The advantage of thin wall vehicles is that
they can accommodate two pallets, 1200
mm wide, side by side in the cargo
space. The internal width must be at least
2430 mm wide to allow for rapid loading
and unloading. The maximum external
width in Europe has recently become
2500 mm.
A thin wall vehicle with a usable length of
12.2 m can accommodate 24 pallets
1200 mm x 1000 mm, whereas a conventional vehicle can accommodate only 22
pallets. This implies an increase of about
10% in load capacity, provided the weight
limit is not exceeded. Similarly, 30 Europallets (800x1200 mm) can be transported in the thin wall trailer, but only 25 in
the conventional trailer, i.e. an increase of
20%.
As mentioned before, insulation ageing
for all types of insulated equipment is a
persistent recurring problem, and with
thin wall vehicles it could be of considerable significance. Thin wall vehicle insulation deteriorates at a rate of about 6% per
year compared to about 5% for conventional vehicles. The initial K value is 0.350.38 W/m2 xC for thin wall vehicles, and
it could be difficult to get ATP re-certification after 6 years.
However, the above-mentioned improvements in polyurethane insulation technol-
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CODE OF GOOD TRANSPORT PRACTICE
ogy may solve this problem, see section

1.2 above.
Another factor which can be influenced by
equipment design is the air circulation
rate inside the cargo space. A figure
often quoted for a 40 ft container is 60 air
changes of the empty container per h or
about 3600 cu.m per h. At 30C ambient
and -20C internal temperature, the return
air temperature will be about 1.8C warmer than the delivery air.
The air flow at the side walls of thin wall
vehicles should be higher than in conventional vehicles and an increase to 80-90
air changes per h should secure a minimum air change per h even with an air restriction from a part frosted evaporator.
This would result in increased fan power
and a reduction in the net capacity of the
refrigeration unit.
In thin wall vehicles, the cargo should not
lean against the side walls, and a gap of
at least 6 mm between product and side
walls is essential. However, permanent
battens have been eliminated in most 40
ft equipment due to problems of loading
pallets.
A possible solution to the enhanced
requirement for increased air flow in thin
wall vehicles would be to use bottom air
delivery.
7. CODE OF GOOD TRANSPORT PRACTICE
7.1 Transport equipment before

loading
Many carriers check their transport equipment before presenting it to the shipper
for loading. This procedure is commonly
used by responsible owners of ISO containers. Known as the Pre Trip Inspection,
72
PTI or just the Pre Trip the condition of

the machinery is normally subjected to a
functional test. The modern electronic
control unit can perform some of these
routine tests automatically. The shipper
should also check the equipment for:
cleanliness - the cargo space should be
clean. There should be no odour from
previous shipments as this could result in
off-odour or off-taste, see section 1.7
above. It must be checked for debris
blocking drain openings or air circulation
along the floor, etc. It is usual and good
practice to wash the interior with hot
water or wet steam between each journey
or on a weekly schedule if in constant use
on multiple short deliveries.
The interior of the transport vehicle must
be made of and repaired with materials
approved for contact with foodstuffs; this
is especially necessary when transporting
carcass meat and other unwrapped
foods. Some countries demand that
transport vehicles and hooks used for
hauling meat should be cleaned and inspected before loading. In order to reduce
the number of microorganisms present
and to dissolve fat particles, some countries recommend or demand that the
wash water is 82C or warmer. This procedure should not be used in transport
equipment with some types of plastic
inner linings.
Sanitizers may be used if approved by the
relevant authorities in the exporting country and in the importing country.
The outside of the vehicle should be kept
clean in order to reflect radiant heat, see
section 1.2 above.
damage - walls, floors, doors, ceilings
should be in good condition, as damage
can let in the outside heat, moisture, dirt,
etc. Broken places in the wall and floor
may house dirt and microorganisms, and
are difficult to clean.
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Damage to the inner walls may allow the

ingress of moisture into the insulation
which will lead to a higher K-value, i.e. a
deteriorated insulation. Operation and the
conditions of the doors, ventilation openings, and provisions for load locking and
bracing should be checked.
temperature control - the refrigeration units
should have been recently calibrated.
air tightness should be checked by having someone in the cargo space with the
doors closed, to check for light.
Door seals and floor drain caps should be
checked regularly and repaired or replaced as needed.
A solid return air bulkhead should be installed at the front of a trailer.
A heating device should be available for
transportation of chilled foods, sensitive
to freezing injury, in areas with extreme
cold weather.
Equipment with top air delivery must have
a fabric air chute or metal ceiling duct in
good condition.
the thermostat, temperature recorder etc.
should be checked. A temperature sensor
from a calibrated instrument should be
placed in mechanical contact with the
sensor that is being checked. The two
readings are compared and
necessary adjustments made. There may
be some problems here because:
before loading to ensure the load has

been properly pre-cooled. In some cases,
the product temperature can be measured
between the packs, in other cases it is
necessary to use the destructive method,
see chapter 1 section 7.2.
7.2 Proper loading practices

The food products must have the desired
temperature prior to loading into the vehicle. Product temperatures should be
checked with an electronic temperature
probe and the result recorded for future
reference.
The loading area should be enclosed and
refrigerated, and there should be port
doors so the food to be loaded into the
transport vehicle/container does not
come in contact with the ambient air.
Loading may be bulk loading, by machine
or manual, of un-packaged foods. It may
be manual loading if individual cartons or
it may be loading if unitized loads on pallets or slipsheets, using forklifts or pallet
jacks.
Air circulation. Adequate space for air
circulation over and around the cargo is
necessary to protect the food products
from heat from the outside. For all types
of cargo, it is absolutely essential to leave
a few centimetres between the floor and
the goods. One way of ensuring this is to
use a ducted floor.
a. there is not sufficient time for the sensors to measure the correct temperature.
Pre-cooling of the transport equipment is

sometimes recommended, see section
1.4 above.
b. the two sensors are not placed sufficiently close

c. the calibrated instrument has not been
checked recently
Temperature control. The temperature

setting should follow recommendations
from the carrier, who should be familiar
with the equipment, the location of the
probe and the systems logic.
The despatch documents should bear a

record of product temperature measured
Bracing. The cargo should be secured

to prevent vibrations, shifting etc. Shifting
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may block air channels under and

through the load. Especially at the end of
the last stack in trailers, cross-bracing
should be used to prevent the cargo from
shifting backwards and blocking air circulation at the rear door.
Similarly if a load is consigned to several
receivers, cross-bracing should be used
at the stack left after each drop off to
keep the cargo in place.
In road vehicles, the installation of angle
irons in the lower corners and the full
length between wall and floor is often recommended.
This ensures permanent ventilation channels between the side walls and the cargo
and also gives greater load stability.
Most foodstuffs are loaded on pallets for
road transport and the products are often
secured to the pallet by protective plastic
film wrapping. This technique guarantees
that the packaging+pallet assembly keeps
a predictable shape. However, the bottom
8 cm of each pallet should be kept free of
plastic film to ensure that the correct air
circulation at floor level is not prevented.
Further information on loading is given in
sections 1.5 and 1.6 above.
7.3 Receiving procedures
The unloading area should preferably be
enclosed and refrigerated, with dock
seals at the trailer or container doors (port
doors).
Receivers should check the load to determine if it meets specifications for quality
and packaging. The receiver should also
note whether the load was adequately
braced and should check the temperature. The air temperature recorder should
be read and any other recording devices if
74
placed in the load should be studied. If air

temperature data is suspect or insignificant product temperatures may be measured, as described in chapter 1 section.
Unloaded food products must be protected from direct sun, condensation, contamination, etc. and should be transferred
to the relevant storage rooms as soon as
possible. Otherwise, the efforts of the
manufacturer, shippers and carriers to
maintain quality will all have been in vain.
7.4 pre-cooling the foodstuffs
Loading cargo without pre-cooling may
cause considerable problems, because
the product temperatures can not be lowered quickly enough. These problems
may be quality degradation or, especially
for chilled foods, excessive microbiological growth. Condensation problems may
also occur. It can be seen from fig.1.1, the
psychrometric chart, that as the temperature drops within the vehicle, water
vapour will condense out of the air. A lot
of this water will condense on the cold
fins of the evaporator coil, forming ice
which could restrict the air flow. Condensation may also collect on the cardboard
cartons thus weakening the strength of
the packaging, but the most damaging
problem caused by condensate is that the
free water provides good conditions for
bacterial growth. The trend for packing
foods in plastic overwraps or plastic bags
means that, if the food is not pre-cooled
to the transport temperature, the subsequent cooling of the packaged food product may result in free water inside the
bag, providing a suitable environment for
bacterial growth.
Cooling time
When foods must be cooled prior to transport, the arrangement of the food products (the transport cartons) is very important. If uniform size cartons (600 x 400 x
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250 mm) are cooled in circulating air with

a temperature of 0C and a velocity of 2
m/s, the time to reduce the product temperature from 12C to 2C will be about 6
h if the cartons are spread out on, for example a pallet, in a way that circulating
cold air will come into contact with all
sides of all cartons.
If the cartons are placed in a single tier,
the cooling time will be 8-10 h. It will take
20 h or more if the cartons are stacked in
a block without spacings.
Cooling during transport.

Where pre-cooling facilities are not available and the product has to be loaded
hot, then every precaution should be
taken to reduce the product temperatures
as quickly as possible.
The cooling times mentioned above illustrate clearly that when cooling of foods
during transport is unavoidable, it is essential to stow the cartons in such a way
that all parts of the cargo are supplied
with a sufficient amount of cold air. Dun-
Fig.2.11 Refrigerated vehicle with top-air delivery and a loading pattern providing
good air circulation through the cargo. A solid return air bulkhead is installed at the
front to prevent air from bypassing the load. The cartons must have sufficient
strength to permit this stacking system. In vehicles without T-bar floor or similar construction, pallets should be used.
A. Side view showing the continuous air channels constructed in alternate layers.
B. End view showing the rear stack.
C. Header stack at the front for connecting the horizontal air channels and allowing
the air to return to the evaporator.
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nage battens between each layer, and a

stowage system as shown in fig. 2.11
should be used, but as stressed several
times, refrigeration units in transport
equipment are not designed and do not
have the capacity to cool down foods at a
reasonable or safe rate. Especially at
high ambient temperatures, the cooling

will be very slow and there is a considerable risk of quality deterioration and
reduction in the remaining storage life. In
chilled foods, the risk of bacterial growth possibly of pathogenic organisms - is
high.
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3
CHAPTER
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INTRODUCTION
PRACTICAL STORAGE LIFE

INTRODUCTION
Section 1 describes the processes involved in quality degradation, i.e. the processes limiting the practical storage life
(PSL) of foods.
Section 2 includes the TTT-PPP concept,
i.e. the factors determining quality and
storage life of chilled and frozen foods.
Calculation of quality loss, or more
correctly of remaining PSL is included in
section 2.5.
Section 2.6 outlines the type of information given in sections 3,4 and 5.
Sections 3,4 and 5. More detailed information is given for a number of food products. The most relevant regulations and
standards, minimum requirements for the
raw materials, processing and packaging,
the practical storage life (PSL) at different
storage temperatures (in most cases a
PSL-diagram), ideal and prescribed
transport temperatures, and sensitivity to
temperature and odour. The following
food product groups are discussed:
Section 3. Deep frozen foods (quick

frozen foods)
3.0 Introduction
3.1 Meat
3.2 Poultry
3.3 Fish
3.4 Fruit and fruit juices
3.5 Vegetables
3.6 Miscellaneous
Section 4. Frozen foods
Meat,poultry,butter
Section 5. Chilled foods

5.0 Introduction
5.1 Retailpacked fresh meat
5.2 Retailpacked meat
products
5.3 Meat for further processing
(manufacturing meat)
5.4 Poultry
5.5 Fresh (retailpacked ) fish
5.6 Fish products
5.7 Live fish
5.8 Dairy products
5.9 Miscellaneous
Definitions and explanations of some
terms and expressions may be found in
chapter 5.
1. Factors influencing quality processes.

During storage (including transport and
display), the quality of foods changes
gradually, in most cases the quality decreases.A number of factors may be involved. For chilled foods growth of microorganisms is the main factor. Generally the storage life of chilled foods is limited by microorganisms.
1.1 Microbiology.
Microorganisms can be divided into three
categories, namely thermopfilic,
mesophilic and psychrophilic (or more
correctly psychrotrophic) organisms. The
relative rate of growth depending on storage temperature is shown in figure 3.1.
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INTRODUCTION
Activity
Thermophilic
bacteria
Mesophilic
bacteria
Psychrotrophic
bacteria
Mold
Enzymes
-40
-20
20
40
60
Temperature, C
Fig.3.1 Growth rate of microorganisms and enzymatic activity, depending on temperature. The figure gives relative activity.
The figure shows that thermophilic and

mesophilic bacteria generally grow much
faster than do psychrotrophic bacteria and
mold. Mesophilic bacteria grow fastest at
30-40C, and they are killed -except for
bacterial spores- at temperatures around
70C. At temperatures below 10C, very
few mesophilic bacteria are able to grow.
At chill temperatures psychrotrophic bacteria, but also mold and yeast are the important microorganisms.
The growth of microorganisms depends
on temperature, but also on factors such
as available nutrients ( the composition of
the foodstuff ), aw (water activity, see
chapter 5) ,availability of oxygen, and the
possible presence of growth inhibitory
compounds ( preservatives, a high per-
80
centage of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere surrounding the foodstuff). The

so-called Hurdle-concept is often used to
illustrate the influence of different factors
(different hurdles) on the safety and storage life of foods.
The importance of availability of oxygen
must be stressed, especially for chilled
food. Most food spoilage microorganisms
are aerobic, i.e. they prefer or demand
that the atmosphere surrounding the
foodstuff contains a rather high amount of
oxygen, e.g. around 20% oxygen.
Some microorganisms are useful, for example the types of yeast used in the production of bread, beer and wine. In many
vacuumpacked meat products, lactic acid
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INTRODUCTION
bacteria usually becomes the dominant

flora. The changes in eating quality
resulting from the growth of lactic acid
bacteria are rather small. Furthermore,
they produce lactic acid which lowers the
pH, thus reducing the possibilities of
growth of spoilage and pathogenic bacteria. Therefore, lactic acid bacteria are
mostly regarded as useful bacteria.
The majority of microorganisms are regarded as harmful. The microorganisms
may multiply on the food surface, and
their main deteriorative effect is to produce unpleasant smelling and tasting
compounds, which ultimately make the
food inedible. The microorganisms normally involved in food spoilage generally
present no health hazard as the changes
occuring in the food product are such that
nobody will consume it.
Food poisoning.
Some microorganisms can cause food
poisoning without causing noticeable
changes in the foodstuff, i.e. the taste and
smell will not tell the consumer that the
foodstuff may cause illness.
Name of bacteria
Clostridium botulinum,type A and B
Some organisms can cause illness if the

foodstuff consumed contains a sufficient
large number of viable bacteria, often
100000 to 1 million per gram foodstuff.
Examples on this type of food poisoning
bacteria are Salmonella, Campylobacter,
Yersinia enterocolitica and Listeria monocytogenes.
The second type of food poisoning organisms produce a toxin in the foodstuff prior
to being eaten by the consumer. Examples are Staphylococcus aureus and ,especially, Clostridium botulinum which
generally is considered the most dangerous microorganism. Clostridium botulinum is a spore forming bacteria, and
spores from Cl.botulinum type A or B may
survive heating to above 110C.
Most food poisoning microorganisms are
mesopfilic and grow very slowly, or not at
all, at temperatures below 10C. During
the last years, an increasing number of
incidences of food poisoning have been
caused by food poisoning bacteria capable of growing at temperatures down to
around 0C, see table 3.1 below.
Minimum temperature
10.0C
Clostridium botulinum,type E
3.3C
Listeria monocytogenes
1.0C
Salmonella typhimurium
5.0C
Staphylococcus aureus
6.0C
Yersinia enterocolitica
-0.5C
Table 3.1 Minimum temperature for growth of some important food poisoning bacteria.
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INTRODUCTION
For chilled foods at temperatures below

0C, fig. 3.1 shows that mold may grow
faster than bacteria.
For frozen foods, there is no microbiological growth at temperatures below about
-8C. As shown in fig. 3.1 enzymatic activity continues, even at temperatures as cold
as -40C. A high number of bacteria in
foods before freezing may lead to spoilage
before completion of the freezing process
when the freezing process is not started
soon enough, or when the freezing process is too slow. Freezing kills only a few
microorganisms, and thawed food products will contain approximately the same
number of microorganisms as before
freezing. Normally, the storage life (PSL) of
a thawed product is approximately the
same as that of an unfrozen product.
1.2 Chemical and biochemical processes.
Flavour changes.
A number of chemical and/or biochemical
(enzymatic) processes may proceed in
foods during storage, most of them resulting in changes in taste and odour, i.e. a
deterioration in the organoleptic (sensoric)
quality. The general rule is that decreasing
temperature slows down chemical and biochemical processes. Most processes are
only known to a limited extent; however,
the processes leading to rancidity have
been studied in great detail.
Rancidity is a phenomenon occuring in
fats. To start the process oxygen must be
present. Rancidity results in rancid taste
and odour, which is unacceptable to many
consumers. The fat in foods such as fatty
fish is very susceptible to oxidative rancidity, while the fat in for example beef is much
less susceptible. Rancidity is the main quality limiting process in many foods, especially in many deep frozen foodstuffs.
82
Texture changes.
Optimal texture varies from food to food.
In meat, poultry and fish, it is the proper
degree of tenderness. Cold shortening
may cause toughening of meat, see section 3.0 below.
For meat, the ageing (also called ripening
or maturing) is accompanied by a gradual
increase in tenderness. This process
takes a few hours in chicken and several
days in beef. The ageing time depends on
the temperature, and is longer at lower
temperatures. Full ageing, at 4C, may require up to 2 weeks for beef, 1 week for
veal, and 4 days for lamb.
Texture changes in frozen meat,poultry
and fish is caused by protein breakdown,
and oxidation seems to have some influence on these protein changes. The
increased concentration of salt in deep
frozen foods seems to be the main
explanation to protein breakdown in these
frozen foods.
In other foodstuffs different processes
may cause texture changes, for example
the enzyme pectinesterase may cause
cloud loss after reconstitution of frozen
concentrated orange juice.
Colour changes.
Any change in appearance from the natural (fresh) character is regarded as a
quality defect.
In many frozen vegetables, the bright
green colour (chlorophyll) becomes more
dull and yellow (pheophytin). Proper
blanching and proper storage temperature (below -18C) minimize this quality
defect. In frozen fruits, several enzymes
may cause degradation of pigments.
In meat and especially in beef, the colour
is very important. In meat, the main pigment is myoglobin. In traditionally packed
chilled meat, myoglobin is found in the
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TTT-PPP CONCEPT
oxygenated form, oxymyoglobin, which is

bright red. Removal of oxygen, for example in vacuumpackages, will result in formation of the purple myoglobin. During
storage, myoglobin or oxymyoglobin may
be oxidized to the less attractive form of
the pigment, brown metmyoglobin.
Product, i.e. nature and quality of the

product at time of chilling/freezing
In cured meats, myoglobin is found as nitrosomyoglobin, and after heating as nitrosohemochrom, see section 5.2 below.
The first two are referred to as TTT

(Time-Temperature-Tolerance), while the
last three are referred to as the PPP-factors (Product, Process, Packaging).
Processing during preparation, including

the cooling process
Packaging
2. TTT-PPP CONCEPT
The factors affecting the quality of chilled

and frozen foods are:
Temperature (Storage temperature)
Time (Storage time)
2.1 TTT.
This means that for each product there
exists a relationship between storage
temperature and storage life. Storage life
may be defined in several ways, but here
PSL is used (Practical Storage Life), defined as the period where the food pro-
PSL, months
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
C
-30
-20
-10
Fig. 3.2 TTT-diagram giving PSL for frozen minced beef at different temperatures. '
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INTRODUCTION
duct retains its characteristic properties

and remains fully acceptable.
The relationship between storage temperature and storage life is normally given
in a TTT-diagram, also referred to as a
PSL-diagram, as shown in fig. 3.2.
A PSL-diagram shows how the practical
storage life (PSL) of the food product depends on storage temperature. As can be
seen later, see sections 3,4 and 5, some
foods deteriorate rapidly (chilled minced
meat), others are less susceptible, and
some foods are rather stable (deep frozen
beef).
PSL-diagrams are used for chilled as well
as for frozen foods. In most cases PSL for
frozen foods is given in months, while for
chilled products it is given in days or
weeks.
The PPP-factors can be as decisive for
product quality as the storage temperature and time. Below the PPP-factors for
some chilled and frozen foods are
discussed.
Generally, the PSL-diagrams give an indication of the PSL at different temperatures, for foods of high initial quality which
have been processed and packaged according to good manufacturing practice
(GMP) and have been maintained at a
reasonably steady storage temperature.
2.2 Product
Product means the nature and quality of
the raw material before processing. It is
well-known that some foods keep longer
than others, for example frozen beef
keeps longer than frozen fatty fish. It is
well-known that a low initial microbial level
in the food product and of the raw materials, results in a longer storage life.
Meat.
At slaughter, glycogen is converted to lactic acid causing a fall in muscle pH from 7
84
in the live animal to an ultimate pH of 5.56 in meat, and 5.9-6.4 in poultry. At the
same time, the concentration of ATP in
the muscles decreases, leading to rigor
mortis. Rigor mortis is developed in about
10-30 h for beef, 4-8 h for pigs, and 2-4 h
for chicken.
DFD.
If an animal is exhausted at the time of
slaughter, the glycogen reserves are
small, and the ultimate pH will be higher
than normal. DFD meat has a pH above
6.4, and the meat is dark, firm and dry.
The storage life of chilled DFD meat is reduced, especially when vacuumpacked.
PSE, (pale, soft and exudative (exuding water)).
A very quick fall in pH immediately after
slaughter may cause PSE meat, i.e. pale,
soft and exudative meat. The problem is
confined almost entirely to pigs. PSE
meat is of lower quality, with a reduced
water binding capacity.
Ageing is mentioned in section 1.2 above,
and cold shortening in section 3.0 below.
Fish and shell fish
The term fish (or fishery products) includes fish and shellfish. Shellfish can be further divided in molluscs such as oysters
and squids, and crustaceans such as
shrimps, crabs and lobsters. For technical
reasons, fish is often divided into lean and
fatty fish.
Fish may come from seawater or freshwater and they can be caught in their natural surroundings or be farmed under
controlled circumstances.
It is a very diverse group with thousands of
species and therefore the products differ
greatly. In this book, the term fish (or fishery products) is used for all of the above
mentioned groups. The chemical composi-
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INTRODUCTION
zones will mostly be psychrotrophic bacteria such as Pseudomonas, Shewanella

and Moraxella. Since they grow well at
temperatures below 10C, lowering the
temperature by using ice is of great importance.
The deterioration of fish starts after death
with degradation of the nucleotides. Later
on, bacterial deterioration will take over.
Fatty fish will be rancid due to oxidation of
the polyunsaturated lipids. All three deterioration processes are temperature dependent. As bacteria on fish from temperate zones are psychrotrophic, their activity is reduced very much by lowering the
temperature to 0C. During chilled storage, Pseudomonas and Shewanella become the dominant bacteria having a
high spoilage potential. The guts usually
contain many enzymes and bacteria and
the storage life is usually lengthened by
gutting/evisceration.
In fig. 3.3 is shown a typical S-shaped
curve for the decrease of the eating quali-
tion of fish varies depending on the

species, and in individuals depending on
age, sex, season and environment. The
composition of a fish fillet is 16-21% protein, 0.2-25% lipid, less than 0.5% carbohydrate and 66-81% water. Marine fish
contain trimethylamine oxide (TMAO). Fish
lipids contain many long-chain unsaturated
fatty acids. The polyunsaturated lipids are
considered a good nutrient for humans,
but they are very susceptible to oxidation.
Fish contains only a small amount of
glycogen, and the ultimate pH is 6.2-6.5
compared to 5.5-6.0 in mammalian meat.
The high pH in fish flesh is less inhibiting
to the bacteria, causing a shorter storage
life of chilled fish than of chilled meat.
The newly caught fish has many microorganisms on skin, gills and in the guts.
They will be transferred to the flesh when
the fish is filetted. The type of microorganisms on the fish will depend on the
geographical area in which the fish is
caught. Bacteria on fish from temperate
Quality score
10
8
6
Days at 0C
2
10
12
14
Fig. 3.3 The change of quality with time for cod stored at 0C
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INTRODUCTION
ty of cod stored at 0C. A change in one

of the PPP-factors can increase the storage life; for example the use of vacuum
packaging could increase the time until
the acceptability limit is exceeded from
about 12 days to about 15 days. However,
for vacuum packed lean fish the quality
decrease during the first 5-7 days will be
the same as for non vacuum packed fish
as shown in fig. 3.3. After 5-7 days the
quality degradation in vacuum packed
lean fish will be slowed down, thus increasing the time where the fish is of secondary quality.
2.3 Processing
Processing, i.e. the pre-treatment prior to
chilled/freezer storage, often influences
storage life.
Heat processing. Blanching is used in the
production of most frozen vegetables in
order to inactivate enzymes that otherwise would cause off-taste during storage, even at temperatures below -18C.
Blanching is carried out by heating the
vegetables in water at 90-98C, or in
steam at about 100C, for a relatively
short time,usually 1-10 min.
Heat processing kills some micro-organisms, depending on time and temperature. When foodstuffs are heat processed,
the bacterial number is reduced, and this
should increase the storage life.
Comminuting, mincing, slicing, etc. increase the surface of the foodstuff, and
increase the possibility of unwanted processes, i.e. normally result in a reduced
storage life.
The freezing process is described in section 3.0,below.
The chilling process is described in section 5.0, below.
2.4 Packaging
The most common packagings and pack-
86
aging materials are described in section

4.1 in chapter 1.
The packaging can have a pronounced
influence on storage life. For most chilled
and frozen foods, the storage life can be
increased considerably by using a package with a low WVTR and by preventing
oxygen from coming in contact with the
food. This is done by vacuum packaging
or using MAP, in both cases the packaging materials must have a low or very low
permeability to gases, especially oxygen
and carbon dioxide.
Some of the PSL-diagrams in sections
3,4 and 5 show the influence of different
packagings on Practical Storage Life
(PSL).
2.5 Calculation of quality loss.
Calculation of quality losses, or more correctly of loss of the PSL, is based on the
rule of additivity. This rule was developed
for frozen foods, in 1950-1960 in USA.
The principle is that when the time-temperature history of a product is known,
then the quality loss can be calculated,
provided sufficient information on the PSL
at the relevant storage temperatures. It is
assumed that the loss of quality, the loss
of remaining PSL, is irreversible and cumulative.
For minced beef with a PSL diagram as
shown in fig. 3.2, PSL at -24C is 15
months (450 days) and PSL at -18C is
10 months (300 days). If this product is
stored at -24C for 90 days and at -18C
for 45 days, the loss of PSL is 90/450
+ 45/300= 0.35 (or 35%). Still, 65% remain, i.e. the product could be stored at
-18C for a further 195 days and still be
fully acceptable. It can be seen that the
sequence ot these two time-temperature
episodes do not influence the result.
For frozen foods, the rule of additivity is
valid except
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INTRODUCTION
when temperatures become above -8C,

where microbiological growth may occur
at highly fluctuating temperatures that
could cause dehydration (frost formation
inside the package) or breakdown of
emulsions.
for products such as fruits in syrup
where temperatures warmer than about
-12 to -15C will cause melting and an
unacceptable appearance of a consumer pack.
PSL than if the incorrect temperature occurs later. Thus, it is very important for
the quality and storage life (and safety) of
chilled foods that the product temperature
is kept as low as practicable for as long a
time as possible.
Although the rule of additivity does not
give as accurate results for chilled foods
as for frozen foods, calculations on chilled
foods will in most cases give reasonably
reliable results.
Transport.
Similar calculations can be carried out in
order to determine the influence of too
warm conditions, for example during
transport.
2.6 Information given on product

groups
For each of the product groups included
in sections 3, 4 and 5, the following information is given:
Example: If the minced meat product with

the PSL diagram shown in fig. 3.2 was
transported 10 days at -12C instead of
at the required -18C, what would be the
loss in remaining PSL?
At -12C, PSL of minced beef is 6 months
(180 days). 10 days at -12C is
10/180=0.06 (a loss in PSL of 6%) while
10 days at -18C is 10/300=0.03 (a loss
in PSL of 3%). The incorrect transport
would increase the loss in remaining PSL
from about 3% to about 6%, a difference
so small that it would be impossible to determine by means of analysis.
Description. This is general information

on the foodstuffs included in the product
group.
These calculations have been concentrated on frozen foods, mainly because the
rule of additivity was developed from experiments with frozen foods. It is generally accepted that such calculations give
reasonably accurate results for frozen
foods.
Chilled foods.
The additive rule calculations are not
valid for all chilled foods. For some chilled
foods storage at too high a temperature
in the beginning of the cool chain has a
more detrimental effect on the remaining
Regulations, standards. This mentions

the regulations, standards, etc. which
are relevant for the foodstuffs in the
product group. More detailed information may be found in chapter 1 in section 6.
Minimum requirements. This summarizes the relevant PPP-factors, see sections 2.2 to 2.4.
Product, the minimum quality standards
of the raw material.
Processing, the standards of the manufacturing of the foods.
Packaging, the packaging normally
used for the product group.
Practical storage life (PSL). This is in
most cases depicted in a PSL-diagram,
see fig 3.2 in section 2.1 above. Sometimes PSL is given at one or two temperatures, due to lack of relevant data.
For the foodstuffs included, a PSL-diagram only provides a very rough guide
to their storage potential. To enable a
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prediction to be made of the storage life

of a particular product, knowledge of the
PPP factors relevant to it is vitally important.
Temperature limits. This comprises:
The ideal temperature, i.e. the temperature which should be maintained in the
cold chain to give the best quality and
the longest PSL of the foods.
The limits for transport, set up by ATP
and EEC. It should be noted that the
ATP-Agreement includes a tolerance (a
brief rise of the temperature of the surface of the foodstuff of not more than
3C above the maximum temperature)
for frozen and deep-frozen foods, see
chapter 1 section 6.1. The EEC Quick
frozen food directive allows a brief rise
in the temperature of the foodstuff to
-15C during transport of deep-frozen
foodstuffs, see chapter 1 section 6.2.
For a few product groups in section 5,
the legislative demands in Denmark are
included.
Sensitivity. The temperature sensitivity is
shown by means of stars ().
means that the foodstuff is

relatively robust to temperatures above the required storage and transport temperature.
means that the product must
be maintained at the required
temperature. Temperature
abuses may result in much reduced PSL, or involve considerable risk of (bacterial) food
poisoning.
For some foodstuffs, the sensitivity towards foreign (off-) odours is given.
means little or no sensitivity, while
shows that the foodstuff easily
picks up odour from the surroundings.
See also chapter 2 section 1.7.
88
A summary is given indicating the effect

of incorrect temperature and the products
sensitivity to temperature variations.
3. DEEP FROZEN FOODS
3.0 Introduction
Deep frozen (quick frozen) foods must be
maintained at a temperature of -18C or
lower.
The quality degradation processes limiting the storage life of frozen foods are
summarized above, see section 1.
The PPP-factors are summarized in section 2.2-2.4 above, and here only the
freezing process and the thawing process
will be discussed.
Freezing process.
During the freezing process, the product
temperature is lowered to below the initial
freezing point. At this temperature, ice
crystals begin to form. As the temperature
is further reduced, more and more water
is turned into ice so that the residual solution will become more and more concentrated. A high percentage of water (many
foods contain 70-90% of water) is converted into ice as the temperature is
brought down to -18C, but even at -40C
some unfrozen water remains.
The freezing process must be started as
quickly as practicable, and the speed of
the freezing process itself should be adequate. Most experimental data show little
or no influence of freezing rate on food
quality, when very slow freezing is avoided. However, the widespread view of
quick freezing leading to small ice crystals and superior quality is still popular,
and is even incorporated in legislation in
some countries. The EEC Quick-frozen
directive (see chapter 1 section 6.2)
states that .. the zone of maximum crys-
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tallization is crossed as rapidly as possible...

When freezing food products, there will
normally be a pronounced difference between the surface temperature and the
centre temperature. After 16 h of blast
freezing of hindquarters of beef, the surface temperature could be -32C and the
centre temperature -5C. After for instance
4 hours of equalization (thermal stabilization) the temperature could be -20C
throughout the product, i.e. the average
temperature after 16 h of freezing was
-20C. The freezing process must not be
considered as completed until the average
temperature has reached the intended
storage temperature. However, it is normally recommended to continue the freezing
process until the centre temperature is
-10C or colder, and in this case the freezing process should be continued until the
centre temperature has dropped from -5C
to -10C or colder.
There is no need to continue the freezing
until the centre has reached the intended
storage temperature. On the contrary,
continued cooling of the product may result in unnecessary low temperatures in
the surface layers. This will result in energy waste and inefficient use of freezer capacity, and could in some cases even be
harmful to product quality.
Freezing time.
Freezing time is often defined as the time
elapsed from when the product is placed
Freezing process
Rapid freezing
Normal freezing
Slow freezing
Very slow freezing
in the freezing apparatus until the final

product temperature is reached. The
freezing time depends on the initial and
final temperature of the product, the quantity of heat to be removed, the dimensions
(especially the thickness) of the product,
the heat transfer coefficient and the temperature of the freezing medium.
In packaged foods, the packaging material acts as an insulator and reduces heat
transfer. However, packaging in plastic
materials will have very little influence on
freezing time, unless air is trapped between product and packaging material. If
the food products are placed in cartons,
especially in corrugated board cartons
(see chapter 1 section 4.2.2) the freezing
time is increased considerably.
Freezing rate or freezing speed.
It is not very meaningful to compare
freezing times for products of vastly different size, e.g. beef quarters and peas, and
hence the concept of freezing rate has
been introduced. Freezing rate is normally expressed as the average velocity at
which the ice front advances from the
food surface to the centre. For practical
purposes, an average freezing rate can
be defined as the ratio between the minimum distance from the surface to the
centre and the freezing time. Freezing
time could be the time from the surface
reaching 0C to the centre reaching
-10C.
Freezing methods may be characterised
by the freezing rate:
Freezing rate
over 1 cm/h
0.3-1 cm/h
0.1-0.3cm/h
less than 0.1 cm/h
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Freezing methods.
Freezing equipment must be designed to
accommodate the freezing process.
Freezers may be divided into four main
groups according to the heat transfer
medium (freezing medium):
Direct contact. Plate, band freezers.
Air. Air blast freezers.
Liquid. Immersion freezers.
Evaporating liquids/solids. Liquid nitrogen, liquid or solid carbon dioxide freezers.
Air blast freezing.
Equipment designs vary widely, and
among the systems employed are tunnel
freezers, belt freezers, and fluidised bed
freezers.
Tunnel freezers are insulated rooms
equipped with evaporator coils and fans.
Products of every size and shape, wrapped or unwrapped, can be frozen in the
very flexible tunnel freezers. Cold air,
often -35C or colder, is circulated over
the food products placed on racks or trolleys. The cold air must have access to all
food products, and the air velocity over
the foods must be sufficient, i.e. above 23 m/s for packaged foods. An air space
should be left between the product layers
in order to prevent too slow freezing of the
products in the middle of a block.
The rate of freezing depends on the dimensions (thickness) and shape of the
product, and the overall heat transfer. The
heat transfer increases with increasing air
velocity, but too high air velocity results in
an increased amount of heat produced by
the fans. As mentioned above, packaging
materials (especially outer cartons made
of corrugated board) may considerably increase the freezing time and reduce the
freezing rate.
The remaining groups of freezers are
90
used to a much lesser extent than the air

blast freezers.
Mobile freezers.
A mobile freezer is a trailer or container
with a refrigeration unit designed to
freeze foodstuffs, i.e. a much higher refrigeration capacity than normally used in
transport equipment. The freezing is air
blast freezing, and when the mobile freezer is correctly packed, the freezing time
for a load can often be reduced considerably as compared to the freezing time
necessary for most regular freezing tunnels. This concept ensures the customer
of considerable versatility, since the freezer can be positioned where the need is
greatest. Thus it is suitable for seasonal
goods as well as for foodstuffs from areas
where there is a considerable distance
between a food processing plant, e.g. a
slaughterhouse, and a cold store. Here,
the freezing process can be completed
during the transport.
Thawing.
Many food processors use frozen raw materials. Usually, the frozen products must
be tempered or thawed before they can
be utilised. If thawing is not carried out
carefully, quality and yield can suffer. Appearance, microbiology and weight loss
are important if the foodstuff is to be sold
in the thawed condition, but are less so if
it is destined for further processing.
Thawing methods may be the conventional surface heating methods or electrical
methods (especially microwave thawing).
Thawing simply reverses the freezing process and each point in the foodstuff follows the typical highly simplified curve
shown in fig. 3.4. The thawing process
clearly is divided into three parts:
heating the frozen foodstuff to its thawing plateau.
thawing.
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heating the foodstuff above its thawing

point.
The thawing time is the time elapsed from
the start of the process to the point where
no ice remains in the foodstuff.
Surface heating methods are often based
on programmed temperature differences
between the food surface and the surroundings (the thawing medium), the surroundings starting warmer and becoming
colder as the food surface warms up to a
predetermined level, often 5-8C, where
there is little risk of bacterial growth and
discoloration.
Thawing is much more difficult to control
than freezing. In some types of air thawing equipment, the air temperature is
controlled by means of a temperature
sensor, measuring the food surface
temperature, but this demands a very ac-
curate positioning of the sensor. The

maximum surface temperature is programmed, and when this temperature is
reached, the air temperature is reduced
to this level. In this manner it is possible
to achieve a well controlled thawing process at the highest speed that is practicable.
Irrespective of the method used, heat energy must be supplied, most of it being
required to melt the ice in the food. About
300 kJ are required to thaw 1 kg of fish
with a temperature of -30C, see Enthalpy below.
Since the thermal conductivity of the
thawed product is much less than that of
the frozen product, conventional thawing
methods suffer from the inherent disadvantage that resistance to heat transfer
increases progressively once thawing has
started.
Temperature, C
a: Tempering
b: Thawing
c: Heating
-20
Time
Fig. 3.4 Typical, simplified, thawning curve for a foodstuff
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Tempering.
Especially in the meat industry, frozen
foodstuffs may be processed, for example
in choppers, when their temperature has
been raised to about -4C. The process is
called tempering, i.e. the initial phase of a
complete thawing process. Tempering is
process a. in fig. 3.4 above.
Tempering can be done by means of
microwaves, thus obtaining a very rapid
process. The use of microwaves for complete thawing is constrained by thermal
instability. At its worst, parts of the food
may be cooked whilst the rest remains
frozen. This arises because the absorption of microwave energy increases as
the temperature increases. If a region of
the foodstuff becomes slightly hotter than
its surroundings, proportionately more
energy will be absorbed within that region, increasing the temperature difference between that region and its surroundings. This is often called runaway
heating.
Runaway heating can be reduced by increasing the thawing time, e.g. by
allowing some time during the process for
temperature equalization. However, this
will demand so much time that the main
advantage by microwave thawing disappears.
Specific heat and enthalpy.
The specific heat for water is 4.19 kJ/kgxC
(1kCal/kgxC), i.e. to change the tempera-
92
ture of 1 kg water 1C, it is necessary to

remove or add 4.19 kJ. For ice, it is about
1.81 kJ/kgxC (0.45 kCal/kgxC). As most
foods contain large amounts of water, the
specific heat for food products will be
rather close to that of water or ice, i.e. 6580% of that of water or ice.
The specific heat of foods is comparatively constant at temperatures warmer than
the freezing point of the foodstuff or colder than -18C, but during the freezing process, the specific heat is not constant.
The reason is the amount of energy
necessary to freeze water (or to melt ice),
the so-called latent heat, the energy required to change from a solid to a liquid.
Enthalpy.
This has led to the use of the total heat
content (enthalpy). Several tables exist in
which the enthalpy (kJ or kCal) can be
seen at different temperatures. For
example, the enthalpy of lean fish, e.g.
cod with 80% water, is
20.5 kJ/kg at -30C,
41.8 kJ/kg at -20C,
74.1 kJ/kg at -10C,
322.8 kJ/kg at 0C, and
361.1 kJ/kg at 10C.
Thus, the enthalpy change for lean fish
from -30C to 0C is about 300 kJ/kg.
Enthalpy change is a determining factor in
the dimensioning and design of both
freezing and thawing equipment.
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3.1 DEEP FROZEN MEAT

Description
Deep frozen meat (often called quick
frozen meat) may be beef, veal, pork,
lamb, game, etc. Meat is produced and
consumed in all parts of the world, and
transport of meat is a very large part of
temperature controlled transport of foodstuffs.
directive and the Labelling directive also

applies.
The EEC directives are summarized in
section 6.2 in chapter 1.
Meat is produced and marketed in a number of ways:

Frozen minced (comminuted) meat, including hamburgers etc.
Frozen retail cuts.
Frozen manufacturing meat (primal cuts,
pieces, carcasses).
Minimum requirements
Raw materials
For meat the main quality parameters are
appearance (colour), texture, taste, and
juiciness. It is absolutely necessary that
meat has an acceptable tenderness.
Therefore, cold shortening during chilling
must not occur, and appropriate ageing
must be secured. However, aged meat
should not be used for the manufacture of
minced meat.
Regulations,Standards.
In the EEC States the meat must be produced according to the Fresh meat directive, the Minced meat directive or the Meat
products directive. The Quick-Frozen food
Raw materials used in the manufacture of

deep frozen foods must be of good and
sound quality and be of the required degree of freshness.
As mentioned above, the freezing pro-
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cess should be started without undue

delay, and be as rapid as is practical.
After thermal stabilization (equalization)
the temperature of the product should be
maintained at -18C at all points.
Packaging.
For frozen meat, an appropriate packaging should be used in order to reduce
quality losses, especially to reduce weight
losses. The packaging should be a tight
fitting plastic material with a low WVTR.
For meats susceptible to oxidation, leading to for example rancidity in pork with its
high percentage of unsaturated fat, the
oxygen permeability should be low or
very low. Vacuumpackaging is often used
for retail cuts and steaks, and for primal
cuts; it is sometimes used for minced
meat.
Carcasses are often stored and transported unwrapped. However, an increasing

number of carcasses are enclosed in
stockinettes or plastic packed, for example shrink-wrapping in a suitable
plastic material.
Meat patties, e.g. hamburgers, are sometimes packed in paperboard cartons with
or without an inner plastic coating. This
type of packaging should not be used
when the intended PSL is more than a few
months, as meat patties packed this way
easily suffer dehydration and freezer burn.
Practical Storage Life ( PSL ).
The PSL curves shown in the diagram
below are typical, and as mentioned before the PPP-factors influence PSL very
much. Fig. 3.2 above shows a PSL-diagram for frozen minced beef.
PSL, months
Lamb Steaks
20
Beef Steaks
15
Pork Cuts
10
C
-30
-20
-10
PSL-diagram for some types of retail packed frozen meat
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Temperature limits
Ideal temperature: -25C or colder
Legal requirements for transport:
ATP: -18C or colder
Tolerance: -15C for short periods
EEC: -18C or colder
Sensitivity
temperature.
odour.
Retail packed minced beef
Retail packed pork
Retail packed beef,lamb
Manufacturing meat
Odour.
As mentioned in section 1.7 in chapter 2,
fresh meat readily absorbs odour from
food products with a strong odour such
as fish, apples, etc. This also applies to
frozen meat, although the transfer of
odour is much slower at -18C than at
about 3-5C.
Temperature.
During transport, a temperature of -12C
for 10 days will give a minor reduction of
the remaining PSL, for minced beef only
about 6%, see the example in section 2.5

above.
Product temperatures up to -8C can not
cause microbiological problems, and as
transport times generally are restricted to
days or weeks, the quality degradation of
frozen meat will normally be negligible.
In practice, as long as the meat is still
frozen, i.e. the meat temperature is below
-2C, the quality will normally be only
marginally affected by temperature abuses, on condition that the transport time is
less than a few days.
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3.2 DEEP FROZEN POULTRY

Description
Domestic poultry, e.g. chickens, hens,
cocks, turkeys, ducks, guinea fowl and
geese are very frequently preserved by
freezing.
Poultry is eaten in all parts of the world,
and is generally regarded as a highly acceptable and nutritious foodstuff, with a
high protein and a low fat content.
Regulations,Standards
In the EEC directive 71/118 with several
further amendments, the requirements for
water chilling of poultry are laid down. It is
prescribed that counter-current chillers
must be used, that the temperature of the
inlet water must be below 4C and of the
exit water below 16C, that spray cleaning
before chilling must be used, with prescribed amounts of water per carcass ,
that the water pick-up during processing
must be below certain limits, etc.
96
The EEC Quick frozen food directive and

Labelling directive must be followed in the
EEC countries.
The EEC directives are summarized in
section 6.2 in chapter 1.
Raw materials
The feeding of, for example, chickens with
even small amounts of feeds containing
unsaturated fatty acids ( from fatty fish)
may result in an early onset of rancidity.
Slaughtering, including scalding, plucking,
evisceration and chilling must be carried
out hygienically and according to good
manufacturing practice(GMP) and the relevant regulations.
For whole turkeys an ageing period between chilling and freezing (12-24 h at
about 0C) or after freezer storage gives
more tender meat. For smaller birds such
as chickens, an ageing period (2-4 h) be-
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tween chilling and freezing may give

some improvement in tenderness.
Broilers, turkeys and ducks are often cut
into portions, resulting in additional surface area being exposed to air. PSL of
cut-up poultry is somewhat shorter than
that of the whole bird due to additional
handling and contamination.
Pre-cooked poultry or poultry parts are
mentioned in section 3.6 below.
Packaging.
Whole chickens are generally packed
after the chilling process, but before

freezing, in rather thin plastic (PE) bags,
closed with a clamp. Such packaging materials may result in damage to the plastic
in the freezer chain and may cause white
spots due to local dehydration, see section 3.2 in chapter 1. Turkeys and ducks
are generally vacuumpacked or shrinkpacked in more expensive plastic materials with low WVTR and low oxygen permeability. Turkeys especially demand
good packaging because of the tendency
for turkey meat to become rancid more
quickly than other poultry.
PSL, months
25
Chicken, Whole
20
15
10
Ducks, Geese
Chicken parts/cuts, vac. pack.

Chicken parts,
normal packaging
C
-30
-20
-10
PSL-diagram for some types of retail packed frozen poultry
97
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DEEP FROZEN POULTRY
Temperature limits
ATP: -18C or colder
EEC: -18C or colder
Sensitivity
Whole chickens
Chicken parts
Turkey
Temperature.
Deep frozen poultry, and especially chicken, is a rather robust product with long
PSL. When the temperature is -8C or
98
temperature
odour
colder, the influence on quality and remaining PSL is small for normal transport,
lasting less than 1-3 weeks, see section
2.5 above.
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FISH
3.3 FISH
Description
Almost all the groups of fish and fish
products mentioned in section 2.2 above
and in sections 5.5 and 5.6 below, are
marketed and transported in the deepfrozen as well as in the chilled state.
Fish that has to be transported at sea
over a long distance, is often quick-frozen
aboard the ships which means that
frozen fish and fish products can be of
better quality and be more fresh than
similar chilled fish after some days on
ice.
In Japan, fish is often consumed raw, and
in order to secure an optimal quality, storage temperatures as cold as -50C are
used onboard the fishing boats.
In the EEC, the Quick-frozen food directive and the Labelling directive are the
most relevant. These directives are sum-
marized in section 6.2 in chapter 1.

Codex Alimentarius has issued an international code of practice for frozen fish,
where storage and transport at -29C or
colder is recommended. It also states
that the freezing process should not be
regarded as complete unless and until
the centre temperature has reached
-18C or colder after thermal stabilization.
In the Codex standards for quick frozen
shrimps or prawns, the determination of
net content of the products covered by
glaze is described.
Codex Alimentarius has issued Recommended International Standards for the
following quick (deep) frozen fishery
products:
Gutted Pacific Salmon, Cod and Haddock
fillets, Ocean Perch fillets, Flat Fish fillets,
Shrimps and Prawns, Hake fillets, and
Lobsters.
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FISH
Raw material.
The fish should be of good quality and of
the desired degree of freshness, i.e.
newly caught and/or chilled quickly to and
maintained at 0C, i.e. the temperature of
melting ice.
Frozen fish has a shorter PSL than frozen
meat. As mentioned in section 2.2 above,
fish contain a higher proportion of polyunsaturated lipids which are susceptible to
oxidation, and marine fish contain TMAO
which can be degraded to dimethylamine
(DMA) and formaldehyde (FA). The
degradation compounds from oxidized
lipids and TMAO can give off-flavours and
off-odours, but they can also cause breakdown of the proteins. This breakdown
brings about loss of water and a change

in texture. In fatty fish, a considerable
amount of free fatty acids can be formed.
Processes such as filetting, breading etc.
must be carried out according to the
above mentioned Codex documents
and/or the Codex documents referred to
in section 5.5 below.
Packaging.
Low storage temperatures slow down the
degradation, and so does good packaging. The packaging must be tight fitting
and must have a low WVTR, as the surface of fish easily suffers freezer burn. For
fatty fish it is especially necessary to use
a packaging material with a low oxygen
permeability, and vacuumpackaging is
preferred.
PSL, months
20
15
10
Lean fish
5
Fatty fish, glazed
Herring
-30
-20
C
-10
PSL-diagram for some types of retail packed frozen fish
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FISH
The fish can also be protected by glazing,

i.e. a cover of ice on the surface, which
reduces oxidation and dehydration. Glazing is commonly used for whole gutted
fish (e.g. Salmon), shrimps (especially
IQF, i.e. Individually Quick Frozen), and

blocks of fish or fillets. After some
months, much of the glaze has evaporated and the product must be reglazed.
Temperature limits
Ideal temperature: -29C or colder, especially for fatty fish
Legal requirement for transport:
ATP: -18C or colder
EEC: -18C or colder
Sensitivity
Temperature
Fatty fish
Lean fish
Shrimps
Temperature.
When the wrong temperature or a fluctuating temperature occurs, the quality
loss is increased and the remaining storage life reduced. However, as long as the
temperature is below about -8C, no bacterial growth can take place.
Thus,it is possible to calculate the loss of
quality and of remaining storage life caus-
ed by, for example, transport at temperatures warmer than prescribed by using

the method described in section 2.5
above.
It must be stressed that most frozen
fishery products have a rather short PSL
which makes it essential to maintain the
required temperatures throughout the
freezer chain.
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FRUITS AND CONCENTRATED JUICE
3.4 FRUITS AND CONCENTRATED JUICE

Description
Fruits are frozen whole, as halves or
slices, with sugar and/or syrup, and as
juices or concentrated juices.
Most frozen fruit is used for further processing, into jams, marmalades, fruit
pulps, fruit juices, fruit yoghurts, etc.
Many fruits, e.g. apples, oranges, etc. are
normally consumed raw, and freezing is
not suitable for such fruits, as they will
lose their characteristic texture when
thawed.
Except from the general food laws, little
legislation deals with deep frozen fruits.
Of course, the EEC Quick-frozen food directive and the Labelling directive must
be followed in the EEC countries. These
directives are summarized in section 6.2
in chapter 1.
102
Codex Alimentarius have issued recommended international standards for the

following quick frozen fruits: Strawberries,
raspberries, peaches, bilberries and blueberries.
Raw materials
The raw materials, the fruits, should be
clean and sound, and with no fungal
growth. The desired properties of fruits differ considerably between the various industries that use these products. For production of jams it is preferable to use fruit with
a firm consistency, which is retained after
freezing and cooking. For fruit juices, fruit
flavours, etc. it is preferable to use fruits
with a full aroma and an intense colour.
Especially for strawberries, the same variety seldom possess both firm consistency
and good aroma. For direct consumption,
only varieties of strawberries with a firm
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flesh which retain as much of the original

texture as possible should be frozen.
Fruits for freezing must be clean and
sound. The degree of ripeness at harvest
has a marked influence on the quality of
the frozen product. Prematurely harvested fruits lack flavour and colour. Fruits
picked too late are soft and prone to
crushing and fungal attack. Fruits should
be cooled between harvest and freezing,
unless the time can be kept very short.
Processing. Peeling, stoning, slicing etc.
are nearly always performed mechanically. Blanching is rarely applied to fruits.
The freezing process should be as rapid
as practicable. However, fruits when
thawed are softer in consistency than the
fresh equivalent, even using the fastest
freezing method. The benefits of fast
freezing are small when compared with

the selection of the best varieties.
Packaging.
Fruits may be packed before freezing, e.g.
fruits in sugar, fruits in syrups, concentrates etc. Whole fruits or individual frozen
pieces are packaged after freezing.
Frozen concentrated fruit juice is sometimes bulk packed and transported in plywood containers with inner plastic liners,
containing up to two tons. The load
ing of such heavy containers into the
transport equipment demands special attention. Concentrated juice is also transported in US steel drums (55 A.G.). and
even 20,000 litre refrigerated ISO tank
containers. Retail packaging is done later
on, for example in composite cans (cans
made of paper with plastic linings).
PSL, months
30
25
20
15
Fruit juice concentrate
10
Raspberries
(bulk packed, no sugar)
Peaches, retail, syrup
Raspberries, retail, syrup

C
-30
-20
-10
PSL-diagram for some frozen fruit products
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Temperature limits
ATP: -18C or colder
EEC: -18C or colder
In the ATP, Annex 2, it is stated that deep
frozen concentrated fruit juice, when intended for immediate further processing
at destination, may be permitted to gradually rise in temperature during carriage so
as to arrive at destination at temperatures
no higher than those specified by the
sender and indicated in the transport con-
tract. The transport document must state

that further processing of the concentrated fruit juice is to be carried out immediately on arrival at its destination. This carriage should be undertaken with ATP-approved equipment without use of the thermal appliance to increase the temperature of the foodstuff.
Sensitivity
Temperature
Deep frozen fruits without sugar
Deep frozen fruits in syrup
Deep frozen conc. fruit juice
Temperature.
For retail packed deep frozen fruits in
syrup it is absolutely essential to maintain
the product temperature below about
-15C, in order to prevent melting which
results in an unacceptable appearance of
consumer packs.
For most other deep frozen fruits and fruit
104
products, temperature abuses during

transport normally have a limited influence on product quality as can be calculated using the method described in section 2.5 above. Due to the rather low pH of
most fruits, microbiological growth is seldom a problem, even at temperatures rising to the freezing point of fruit products.
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VEGETABLES
3.5 VEGETABLES
Description
Vegetables cover a large number of varieties.
Vegetables such as peas, spinach,
French beans, Brussels sprouts,
cauliflower, etc, can be successfully
frozen. Salad vegetables, for example
tomatoes, lettuce and cucumber, which
are normally consumed raw, lose their
characteristic crisp texture when thawed.
In the EEC countries, the Quick frozen
food directive and the Labelling directive
must be followed. These directives are
summarized in section 6.2 in chapter 1.
Recommended international Codex standards have been issued for the following
quick frozen vegetables: Peas, spinach,
leek, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels
sprouts, green beans, French fried potatoes and whole kernel corn.
Raw materials
Only material which is clean, sound and
of high quality should be frozen. Some
varieties (cultivars) are better suited for
freezing than others. The intensely
coloured and highly flavoured varieties
should be selected for freezing. The vegetables must be able to withstand mechanical harvesting.
It is essential to harvest vegetables at the
ideal moment of maturity. This optimum
period may last a few hours for peas, but
2-3 days for French beans. The period between harvesting and freezing must be
short, and the most susceptible varieties
must be frozen 2-4 hours after harvesting.
Packaging.
After freezing (often fluid bed freezing)
many vegetables are bulk packed, e.g. in
PE-lined pallet boxes which can contain
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VEGETABLES
several hundred kilos of product or in PEcoated paper sacs containing 30 kg.

Repackaging into consumer packs can
then be carried out according to market
demands.
Deep frozen vegetables are usually
packed in heat sealed plastic materials,
e.g. PE pouches. Some companies use
more sophisticated packagings such as

alufoil laminates with a very low permeability, thereby reducing the rate of quality
degrading processes and increasing PSL.
Vegetables such as spinach are usually
packed in consumer packs (cartons) before the freezing process.
PSL, months
25
20
Cauliflower
Peas
15
10
Brussels sprouts
Aspargus
C
-30
-20
-10
PSL-diagram for some retail packed frozen vegetables
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VEGETABLES
Temperature limits
ATP: -18C or colder
EEC: -18C or colder
Tolerance: -15C for short period
Sensitivity
Temperature
Deep frozen vegetables in general
Deep frozen asparagus, cauliflower, etc.
Temperature.
Most deep frozen vegetables have a very
long storage life, and in most cases temperature abuses during transport will only
result in a minor decrease in quality and
remaining PSL. The loss in quality and
remaining storage life can be calculated

as shown in section 2.5 above.
Microbiological problems are seldom
seen in deep frozen vegetables when the
temperature is kept below -2C, (for a
limited period of time of course).
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MISCELLANEOUS DEEP FROZEN FOODS
3.6 MISCELLENANEOUS DEEP FROZEN FOODS

Description
Several other groups of foodstuff are
frozen commercially, e.g. bakery and
confectionary products, ice cream,
desserts, eggs and egg products, prepared meals, etc.
The relevant regulations depends
very much on the product. If a prepared
meal contains meat, the controlling
authorities in several countries regard
the meal as a meat product, and similar
rules are valid for several other food
products.
In the EEC, the Quick frozen food directive and the Labelling directive are valid
for all consumer packed deep frozen
foods. These directives are summarized
in section 6.2 in chapter 1.
108
Minimum requirement
Raw materials
The requirements depend on the product,
but in any case the raw materials should
be of normal and satisfactory quality, and
the processing should be carried out according to good manufacturing practice,
GMP.
Packaging.
The packaging must protect the food
product against dehydration and oxidation. For products which are not sensitive
to oxidation, packaging materials with a
rather high gas permeability may give sufficient protection. For food products sensitive to oxidation, packaging materials with
low or very low oxygen permeability must
be used, and vacuum packaging or similar packaging techniques should be applied.
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MISCELNANEOUS DEEP FROZEN FOODS
Practical Storage Life (PSL).

The PSL-diagram below indicates the
storage life at different temperatures for
a few deep frozen products not included
in sections 3.1 to 3.5. As is the case for
most frozen foods, the storage life

depends very much on the PPP-factors
and cannot be predicted without knowledge to these factors.
PSL, months
25
20
15
Cakes
French fries (potato chips)
10
Ice cream
C
-30
-20
-10
PSL-diagram for some retail packed frozen foodstuffs
Temperature limits
ATP: ice cream
-20 C or colder Tolerance: -17 C for short periods
ATP: all other deep frozen
foodstuffs
-18C or colder Tolerance: -15C for short periods
EEC: deep frozen foodstuffs -18C or colder Tolerance: -15C for short periods
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MISCELLANEOUS DEEP FROZEN FOODS
Sensitivity
For this group of deep frozen products it
is not possible to indicate the sensitivity to
temperatures warmer than -18C. simply
because of the great variation between
the different foodstuffs.
Problems with microbiological growth do

not exist as long as the product temperature is below -8C, or as long as higher
product temperatures (for example -2C)
are only experienced for a day or perhaps
two.
Temperature.
As is the case for most deep frozen
foods, the loss of quality and remaining
storage life can be calculated when the
time-temperature history is known. The
principle is outlined in section 2.5 above,
where it also indicates which type of
frozen foods the rule of additivity may not
be valid.
As is indicated in the PSL-diagram, some

foods are very sensitive to temperature
abuses. For ice cream, PSL becomes
very short at temperatures warmer than
-18C, and it is often recommended to
store and transport ice cream and similar
products at -20C or below, and to display
these foodstuffs in special display cabinets in the supermarkets.
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FROZEN FOODS
4. FROZEN FOODS
Description
Frozen foods comprise foodstuffs which
are stored and marketed at temperatures
between -12C and -18C. The name for
this group is congele in France and
gefroren in Germany. The three traditional frozen products are meat, (especially beef and chicken) and butter. These
three foodstuffs are robust, i.e. characterized by having a long PSL.
Most countries allow the marketing of retail packed frozen foods at -12C but several countries do not, these demand
-18C for all deep frozen foodstuffs.
The EEC Quick frozen food directive
does not apply to frozen foods. Several
EEC directives include the storage and
transport requirements (-12C or colder)
for frozen products (frozen meat, frozen
poultry), see section 6.2 in chapter 1.
In the EEC countries, the Labelling directive also applies if the frozen products are
destined for the retail market.
Raw materials
The requirements for the raw materials
are as for deep frozen foodstuffs, see for
example sections 3.1 and 3.2 above.
In the Fresh meat directive (see section
6.2 in chapter 1), it is stated that the
freezing process for frozen foods does
not have to be as rapid as for deep frozen
foodstuffs.
The cream for butter making must be
pasteurized, preferably at temperatures
above 90C, to inactivate enzymes and to
reduce the number of microorganisms
which would otherwise cause quality loss.
Only fresh butter, no older than 14 days,
of high quality, is suitable for freezing.
The storage life depends upon the butter
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FROZEN FOODS
type (sweet cream or cultured, salted or

unsalted), the pH, the content of copper,
the water distribution through the butter,
the salt content and the storage temperature.
Packaging.
The packaging must protect the foodstuff
against contamination, dehydration etc.
and must be sufficiently strong to cope
with the conditions in the cold chain.
Thus, the requirements are the same as
for packaging of deep frozen foodstuffs,
see for instance section 3.2 above.
During freezer storage butter deteriorates
mainly by oxidation, but it is also essential
to avoid dehydration. Aluminium foil lami-
nates are often used for the packaging of

butter in retail packs.
Practical Storage Life ( PSL ).
The practical storage life of frozen beef
can be seen in section 3.1, and for frozen
chickens in section 3.2, above.
The PSL-diagram for butter shows the
great importance of pH and salt content.
Sweet cream butter (pH 6.6) has a long
PSL whether salted or unsalted. For cultured (also called ripened or fermented)
the difference between salted and unsalted is significant: Salted cultured butter
has a rather short PSL, but unsalted cultured butter has a reasonable PSL.
PSL, mothns
25
20
Sweet cream, salted
pH = 6.6
15
Cultured, unsalted
pH = 4.7
10
Cultured, salted
pH = 4.7
C
-30
-20
PSL-diagram for different types of frozen butter
112
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FROZEN FOODS
Temperature limits
ATP, frozen poultry,meat etc. -12C or colder
ATP, frozen butter
-10C or colder
EEC, frozen foods
-12C or colder
In the ATP, Annex 2, it is stated that butter,
when intended for immediate further processing at destination, may be permitted to
gradually rise in temperature during carriage so as to arrive at destination at temperatures no higher than those specified
by the sender and indicated in the transport contract. This temperature must not
be higher than 10C. The transport docu-

Tolerance: -7C for short periods.
mentation shall state the name of the foodstuff, whether it is deep frozen or frozen
and that it is to be further processed immediately at destination. This carriage
should be undertaken with ATP-approved
equipment without use of the thermal appliance to increase the temperature of the
foodstuff.
Sensitivity
Temperature
Odour
Beef
Chicken
Butter
Temperature.
As mentioned earlier, see for example
section 3.1 above, these frozen foods are
very robust, and could withstand rather
severe temperature abuses as long as the
temperature violations are restricted to a
few days. The loss of quality and remaining storage life can be calculated as described in section 2.5 above.
In practice there are no microbiological
problems caused by transport temperatures when the temperature is maintained

below -8C.
Odour.
Beef, and especially butter, easily pick up
odour from the surroundings, for example
from other foodstuffs, see section 1.7 in
chapter 2.
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CHILLED FOODS
5. CHILLED FOODS.
5.0 INTRODUCTION.
Chilled foods must be maintained at temperatures between about -1.5C and
about +5C. For some chilled foods or in
some countries, higher temperatures, for
example 8C, may be allowed.
For some chilled foods, an upper maximum temperatures of 2C or 3C may be
prescribed.
The chilling process.

For most chilled foods the temperature
should be reduced to the intended storage temperature as quickly as practicable. As the chilling medium usually is
considerably colder than the foodstuffs,
there will normally be a pronounced temperature difference between the surface
and the centre during the chilling process.
After 4 hours of air blast chilling at -10C,
the surface of pork sides could be -1.5C,
the centre +18C, and the average temperature +5C. If the intended storage
temperature is 5C, there is no need to
continue the chilling until the centre is
5C. The air temperature could be changed to about 5C, or the pork sides could
be transferred to an equilibrium room,
again with an air temperature of 4-5C.
The specific heat or the enthalpy change is
used for dimensioning and designing the
chilling equipment, see section 3.0 above.
The chilling process used is very often air
chilling, i.e. chilling by cold circulating air.
The lower the air temperature, the more
rapid the temperature of the foodstuff is
reduced to the desired level. However, the
air temperature used depends on the food
type. For some foods, circulating cold air
as low as -25C is used, but for other
foods it is important that no part of the
114
foodstuff should suffer freezing, i.e. the circulating cold air should not be colder than
-2C.
For fruits, poultry, etc. hydro-cooling, i.e.
chilling by cold circulating water, is often
used.
The most common , and best, means of
chilling fresh fish and shell fish is to use ice
made from fresh clean water, refrigerated
sea water (RSW) or chilled sea water,
(CSW). Chilling by means of refrigerated
sea water or chilled sea water involves the
total immersion of the fish in a tank. These
two methods offer considerable advantages particularly on board fishing vessels.
The sea water, which must be fresh and
clean, can be kept at 0C to -1C by
means of a mechanical refrigeration system or by adding ice. The water should be
circulated in the tank. A substantial extension of storage life can be obtained for
many types of fish (especially fat fish), by
bubbling gaseous carbon dioxide through
the tank.
Vacuum-chilling is used for some foodstuffs, e.g. leafy vegetables, as it is a very
rapid chilling method.
Cold shortening. Lowering the temperature
of a hot carcase too rapidly, especially
beef, veal and lamb, may result in severe
contraction of the muscle fibres, a phenomenon known as cold shortening. This
is an irreversible process which may cause
considerable toughness in the meat. The
temperature in any part of beef, veal or
lamb should not be permitted to fall below
10C within 10 hours of slaughter.
For pork, chickens etc. a very rapid chilling process may result in a certain toughening, but for these foods ageing seems
to improve texture.
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CHILLED FRESH MEAT, RETAIL PACKED
5.1 CHILLED FRESH MEAT, RETAIL PACKED.

Description.
The meat may be beef, veal, pork, lamb,
etc. It may be comminuted (minced), or in
small pieces (less than 100 grammes), or
in the form of retail cuts.
The main quality parameters are taste,
texture and juiciness, but above all the
appearance and colour (especially for
beef). In most cases, the consumers
choose meat and meat products from the
appearance and the colour of the packaged meat in the supermarket display cabinet.
Regulations,standards.
In the EEC, the following directives are
the most important: The Fresh meat directive, the Minced meat directive, and
the Labelling directive.
These directives are summarized in section 6.2 in chapter 1.
Minimum requirements.
Raw Materials
The meat must be of good and sound
quality prior to the chilling process. The
chilling process must be started as quickly as practicable , and the chilling must be
sufficiently rapid to ensure minimum
weight loss and no growth of microorganisms, but not be so rapid as to result in
toughening of the meat due to cold shortening, see above.
Packaging.
In conventional retail packs, meat is placed on a tray made of plastic or woodpulp, and then overwrapped with a highly
gas permeable plastic material which allows an almost unrestricted supply of
oxygen to the pigment (myoglobin), responsible for the meat colour. These conditions favour formation of the bright red
colour (oxymyoglobin) which most con-
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sumers associate with freshness and

good eating quality. The oxymyoglobin is
stable for only 1-3 days in normal display.
For fresh beef, vacuum packaging will result in a reduced oxygen level inside the
bag and the colour changes to purple, a
colour which most consumers are not familiar with. Vacuumpackaging results in a
considerably increased PSL, see the PSL
diagram. For vacuum-packed beef, pH is
a very important factor, and meat with a
pH of less than 5.9 is preferred to avoid
storage life problems.
The-PSL diagram shows that the storage
life of minced beef in conventional
packaging is so short that it cannot be
transported over long distances.
MAP (Modified Atmosphere Packaging) is

used to some extent. The meat is placed
in a tray with a volume about 2-3 times
the volume of the meat. The air is drawn
out and replaced with a gas mixture
which often contains about 80% oxygen
(maintains the bright red colour) and 20%
carbon dioxide (reduces the growth of
bacteria). The improvement in storage life
can be seen in the PSL diagram.
Masterpacks are used to some extent,
see section 4.1.3 in chapter 1. The resulting PSL is about the same as for MAP
meat.
CAPTECH is a special form of masterpack, where 100% CO2 is used, and
where it is absolutely necessary that no
oxygen comes into the package, i.e. it is
necessary to use alufoil-laminates.
PSL, days
35
30
25
Meat cuts, vacuum packed
20
15
10
Pork cuts, conv.
Minced beef, MAP
Minced beef, conv.

0
C
5
PSL-diagram for some types of retail packed chilled meat
116
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Temperature limits.
Ideal temperature: -1.5C
ATP, minced meat max 3C
EEC, minced meat max 2C
ATP, cuts/steaks
max 7C
EEC, cuts/steaks
max 7C
Sensitivity
Product
Temperature
Odour
Minced meat, conventionally packed
Cuts/steaks, conventionally packed
Minced meat, MAP
Cuts/steaks, MAP
Temperature
Temperatures above those recommended
or prescribed will increase the growth rate
of microorganism and lead to spoilage.
Food poisoning is usually no problem in
conventionally packed fresh meat as
spoilage will turn the meat unacceptable
long before food poisoning is possible.
For vacuumpacked meat there seems to
be a limited risk, but for MAP meat there
is a greater risk and here it is absolutely
necessary to maintain low temperatures
throughout the chill chain. For MAP meat,
it is often recommended or laid down in
legislation that the temperature of the
meat should be maintained below 2C or
3C.
Calculation of loss of quality or remaining

storage life can be carried out according
to section 2.5 above. However, for several
chilled meats such calculations do not
give very precise results, as warm storage in the beginning of the chill chain reduces quality and remaining storage life
significantly more than would be found in
such calculations.
Odour
As mentioned before, see section 1.7 in
chapter 2, fresh meat easily picks up
odour from the surroundings. This is especially important for meat in conventional retail packs where the plastic overwrap
has a high permeability.
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CHILLED MEAT PRODUCTS, RETAIL PACKED
5.2 CHILLED MEAT PRODUCTS, RETAIL PACKED

Description
This group consists of a variety of meat
products, defined in the EEC as products
prepared from or with meat which has undergone a treatment such that the cut
surface no longer shows the characteristics of fresh meat. The treatment can be
heating, curing or drying, or a combination of these processes.
1Meat products usually have a longer
storage life than fresh meat.
In the EEC, the Meat products directive,
and the Labelling directive are the most
relevant. These directives are summarized in section 6.2 in chapter 1.
Raw materials.
The meat must have a good and sound
118
quality, and be of the desired degree of

freshness.
The processing must be carried out according to good manufacturing practice,
and the temperature during processing
should be below 20C or above 50C.
The resulting PSL depends on the composition of the product (for instance the
salt/water ratio), the initial bacteriological
quality (total count and composition of the
bacterial flora), the time and temperature
of a possible heat processing, etc. The
meat products should be chilled as quickly as practicable, preferably to 0C or
even colder. The initial freezing point for
many cured meat products is about -3C
to -4C, and such products would benefit
from storage and transport at temperature
around -2C (deep chilling).
Meat products are often sliced, and to
achieve a good initial bacteriological quality the slicing process must be carried out
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hygienically , which involves frequent and

adequate cleaning and disinfection of machinery, conveyors, tables etc.
the oxygen content must be less than

about 0.3%, and a commonly used mixture
is 60% nitrogen and 40% carbon dioxide.
Packaging.
The pigment in cured meat is nitrosomyoglobin, which after heat processing is
transformed into nitrosohemochrom. Both
pigments fade rather quickly if the meat
product is in contact with oxygen. Therefore, vacuumpackaging or MAP is generally used to obtain the required PSL. In MAP,
Practical storage life (PSL)

The PSL-diagram below indicates the
storage life of vacuum packed sliced
cured meat products. PSL of meat products depend very much of the initial bacterial state, the processing and the packaging (the so-called PPP-factors, see
section 2 above).
PSL, weeks
20
15
Cooked pork loin,
sliced, vac.packed
10
5
Bologna-type sausage,
sliced, vac. packed
C
-5
10
PSL-diagram for two types of retail packed cured meat products
119
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Temperature limits
Ideal temperature: -2C (depending on initial freezing point)
Legislative demands for transport
ATP:
max 6C
EEC:
for the moment, no limit
Denmark:
max 5C
Sensitivity
Cured meats
Heat processed uncured meats
Temperature.
The sensitivity to temperature depends on
the product composition and on the packaging. Cured meats requiring chilling are
usually vacuumpacked or packed in MAP,
but the content of salt, and possibly nitrite,
gives a certain degree of protection against
pathogenic bacteria. Of course a higher
storage temperature results in shorter storage life.
Heat processed, uncured meat products
are sometimes retailpacked in MAP or in
vacuum-packs. However, it involves a significant risk of food poisoning if product
temperatures are not maintained at the rec-
120
Temperature
Odour
ommended or prescribed level, normally a

maximum temperature of 5C.
For retail packed meat products, some
countries prescribe lower maximum temperatures than 5C, e.g. 3C, while other
countries allow 8C.
storage life can be carried out according to
section 2.5 above. However, for several
chilled meat products such calculations do
not give very precise results, as warm storage in the beginning of the chill chain reduces quality and remaining storage life
such calculations.
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MANUFACTURING MEAT
5.3 MANUFACTURING MEAT

Description
This is meat intended for further manufacturing processes. It may be carcases,
sides, quarters, primal cuts, and even
meat in smaller pieces. However, when
the latter group is transported over long
distances it is usually in the deep frozen
form, see section 3.1 above.
Chilled carcases, sides and quarters are
often transported without wrapping, usually hung by metal hooks on overhead
rails.
Cured meat products such as Wiltshire
bacon, hams in large packs (6 lbs. or
more) are often transported over long distances to be cut or sliced and retail
packed at the receiver.
In the EEC, the Fresh meat directive, the
Minced meat directive are the most relevant.
These directives are summarized in section 6.2 in chapter 1.

Raw materials
The meat must be of good and sound
quality, and at the required degree of
freshness. The chilling process must be
started as quickly as practicable. In the
EEC, the meat should at all points be 7C
or below, before being taken out of the
slaughterhouse.
Packaging.
As mentioned above, transport of unwrapped chilled meat still takes place.
This demands special requirements for
the loading procedure, but also closer attention to RH (relative humidity) than for
wrapped foodstuffs in order to keep the
weight loss at the desired level and at the
same time to be sure that bacterial
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MANUFACTURING MEAT
growth is limited. The recommended RH

is 85 to 92%.
Beef, principal cuts and similar large
pieces are often vacuumpacked in large
plastic bags and then placed in corrugated fibreboard cartons. Hence it is called
boxed beef. Pork is often packed the
same way, but MAP is also used. The
large plastic bags must have low gas permeability. The gas mixture could be 50%
nitrogen and 50% carbon dioxide, or
100% carbon dioxide. As mentioned before, the colour of beef changes to purple
in packagings without oxygen (e.g. vacu-
um-packs), but the bright red colour will

re-appear about 15 minutes after opening
the package and exposing the beef to the
atmosphere.
Practical storage life
The diagram below indicates the storage
life of some types of manufacturing meat.
PSL for cured meat products is not included in the diagram, as PSL can be several
months at 5C, especially if the cured
meat is heat processed (pasteurized)
after being packed in an appropriate
packaging.
PSL, weeks
15
10
Beef carcases,
unwrapped
Beef, primal cut,

vac. packed
Pork carcases,
unwrapped
Pork primal cut

vac. packed
C
-5
PSL-diagram for some types of manufacturing meat
122
10
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MANUFACTURING MEAT
Temperature limits
ATP:
max 7C
EEC:
max 7C
Sensitivity
Temperature
Odour
Manufact. meat,unwrapped
Manufact. meat,vac.pack
Temperature.
For unwrapped meat, temperatures exceeding the prescribed level will reduce
the quality and the PSL, but the spoilage
bacteria will result in changes so pronounced that there is little risk of the meat
being eaten and causing food poisoning.
For meat packed in vacuum-packs or
MAP, the growth of pathogenic bacteria
are of much more concern, because most
spoilage bacteria do not grow very well
without oxygen in the package. The normal signs of spoilage (off-odour, discoloration) could be lacking, although the
product could have experienced such a
time-temperature history that there is a
real hazard of food poisoning.
For cured meat products the sensitivity to
temperature depends on the PPP-factors.
However, the content of salt. and possibly
nitrite, gives a certain protection against
pathogenic bacteria. The temperature

should be kept at 5C or below.
chilled foodstuffs such calculations do not
such calculations.
Odour
Fresh meat, and especially unwrapped
fresh meat, is highly susceptible to the
uptake of foreign odours from the surroundings, see section 1.7 in chapter 2.
The plastic materials used for vacuumpacks and MAP have low permeability,
and this reduces (but does not prevent)
the uptake of foreign odours.
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CHILLED POULTRY
5.4 CHILLED POULTRY

Description
As mentioned in section 3.2 above, poultry is eaten in all parts of the world, and is
generally regarded as a highly acceptable foodstuff.
Although poultry has a limited PSL at normal chill temperatures (2-5C) several
countries have recently demonstrated a
trend towards chilled (fresh) instead of
deep frozen poultry.
The EEC directive 71/118 with further
amendments specifies how slaughtering,
chilling, cutting, packaging etc. of fresh
poultry meat must be carried out.
In the EEC countries, the Labelling directive also applies. These directives are
summarized in section 6.2 in chapter 1.
Raw materials
The raw materials must be of a good and
124
sound quality, and the content of food

poisoning bacteria must be as low as is
possible. The initial microbial state, i.e. the
number and type of microorganisms present on the poultry immediately after chilling and packaging has a pronounced influence on quality and storage life.
The processes involved in slaughtering
and chilling should be carried out according to good manufacturing practice, and in
the EEC countries or for export to the
EEC countries according to current EEC
directives, e.g. directive 71/118 mentioned above. Other processes are not relevant for fresh poultry.
Packaging.
Fresh poultry meat, e.g. chickens, are
normally packed in foodtainers, i.e. a tray
overwrapped with a plastic material which
has traditionally has been PVC. As can
be seen in the PSL-diagram, chicken
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CHILLED POULTRY
packed this way has a rather short storage life.

Vacuum packaging of whole poultry results
in only a minor increase in storage life.
The use of MAP can increase the storage life considerably, particularly if product temperatures are kept at 2-3C or
below, as is required in some countries. A
gas mixture of about 40% carbon dioxide
and 60% nitrogen would be used; oxygen
is absent as myoglobin is not important
for the colour of chickens as it is in the
case of beef, see section 5.1 above.
Cut-up poultry (chicken portions) are usually packed the same way as whole poul-
try. The storage life of these foods is similar to, or a little less than that for whole
birds.
An effective method of increasing PSL is
to use super chilling (also called deep
chilling or partial freezing) where the
chickens are chilled to and transported at
-2C (28F). When the poultry arrives at
the wholesaler or at the retailer, the poultry is placed at usual chill temperatures in
storage rooms or display cabinets. The
PSL-diagram shows that PSL is about 4
weeks at -2C, and the use of super chilling enables long distance transport of
chilled poultry.
PSL, days
30
25
20
15
Chicken, MAP
10
5
Chicken conv.
C
-5
10
PSL-diagram for chilled whole chicken,either conventional packed or in MAP
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CHILLED POULTRY
Temperature limits
ATP: max 4C
EEC: max 4C
Sensitivity
Temperature
Odour
Whole poultry
Cut-up poultry
Temperature.
The PSL-diagram above clearly indicates
the enormous influence of storage temperature on PSL, and the advantage in
using superchilling as is often done in the
USA. In order to reduce the growth of
spoilage and food poisoning bacteria it is
absolutely essential to maintain low temperatures in the chill chain.
Temperature abuses during transport will
result in a significant reduction in quality
and the remaining storage life. The influ-
126
ence will be much more pronounced than

could be calculated according to section
2.5 above. Warm temperatures in the initial stages of the chill chain promote
growth of spoilage organisms, eventually
leading to fast spoilage.
Odour
Fresh poultry easily picks up odour from
foodstuffs that give off strong odours,
such as oranges, apples, onions, and
fish.
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CHILLED FISH
5.5 CHILLED FISH

Description.
As mentioned in section 2.2 above, chilled (fresh) fish comprise a large number
of species with different characteristics.
Chilled fish can be whole and gutted fish,
fillets or mince. However, chilled fish
mince has a very short PSL, and should
always be transported in the frozen state.
Regulations,standards
In the EEC Council Regulation 103/76
with later amendments, common marketing standards for certain fresh or chilled
fish are laid down with rules for freshness
and size categories.
In the EEC, the Labelling directive applies, see section 6.2 in chapter 1.
Codex Alimentarius recommended code
of practice for fresh fish (CAC/RCP 91976) states that fresh fish should always
be carried in melting ice. In order to allow
the ice to melt, the temperature in the
storage room must be a few degrees

above 0C.
Codex Alimentarius has also issued Recommended Codes of Practice for:
Shrimps or Prawns (CAC/RCP 17-1978),
Lobsters (CAC/RCP 24-1979), Minced
fish prepared by mechanical separation
(CAC/RCP 27-1983), and Crabs
(CAC/RCP 28-1985), as well as a Recommended Code of Hygienic Practice for
Molluscan shellfish (CAC/RCP 19-1978).
Raw materials
The fish must be of good and sound
quality prior to the chilling process.
The chilling process should be started as
quickly as possible in order to minimize
growth of microorganisms. Further information on fish is given in section 2.2
above.
The best way of maintaining fresh fish at a
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CHILLED FISH
temperature close to 0C is to keep it in

melting ice in a room with a temperature of
1-3C. If the thermostat in the room is set
at 0C, the air temperature may occasionally fall below 0C which will prevent the
ice from melting. This will inhibit cooling of
the fish and cause some parts to freeze.
Superchilling (also called deep chilling or
partial freezing) to around -2C may give
a longer storage life, but this method is
seldom used.
Processing
Processing, e.g. filletting, should be hy-
gienic and follow the Codex documents

mentioned above, see also the Codex documents referred to in section 3.3 above.
Packaging.
Fresh fish is often marketed unpacked,
with ice in the retail tray.
Vacuum-packaging or VSP of fish in
plastic pouches is a good form of retail
packaging. For fatty fish the oxygen permeability should be low as this will increase PSL due to lower oxidation of the
lipids. Trout stored at 0C (in ice) packaged in PE (high oxygen permeability) could
PSL, days
12
10
Cod fillets
C
-5
PSL-diagram for chilled cod fillets at different storage temperatures
128
10
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CHILLED FISH
develop a markedly rancid taste after 8

days. For trout vacuum-packed in a plastic material with low oxygen permeability
the PSL at 0C is about 20 days.
Vacuum-packaging of lean fish gives a
slightly longer PSL, but as mentioned in
section 2.2 above, the advantage comes
when the fish is only of secondary quality.

MAP is used in some countries, with 30%
oxygen, 40% carbon dioxide and 30% nitrogen for lean fish, and 60% carbon dioxide and 40% nitrogen for fatty fish.
However, MAP makes cooling of the fish
more difficult than with vacuum-packaging.
Temperature limits
Ideal temperature: in melting ice (0C to -0.5C)
ATP: In melting ice, i.e. 0C
EEC: the temperature of melting ice, i.e. 0C.
Sensitivity
Temperature
Whole gutted plaice
Cod fillets
Mince
Temperature.
Storage without melting ice (or storage at
temperatures above 0C) will increase
the activity of bacteria and lead to rapid
spoilage. Bacteria able to cause food poisoning may develop in fish which are not
well iced. Clostridium botulinum type E
which is often found in fresh fish, can produce toxins at temperatures down to
3.3C, see table 3.1. Clostridium botulinum can only grow under anaerobic
conditions, i.e. where the oxygen concentration is very low. Therefore, vacuumpackaging of fish products in plastic materials with low oxygen permeability and
the use of MAP with no oxygen, necessitates product temperatures below 3.3C.
The toxin from Clostridium botulinum type
E and harmful bacteria such as Vibrio will
be destroyed under normal cooking.
However, with fish products intended to
be eaten raw such as sushi or oysters, or
to be used as raw materials for the manufacture of lightly preserved fish products,
such as gravad fish and cold smoked fish
(see section 5.6 below), it is very important that the fish is constantly well iced.
Heat stable histamine may be formed, in
fish of the tuna and mackerel type if they
are not stored at low temperatures.
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LIGHTLY AND SEMI-PRESERVED FISH PRODUCTS
5.6 LIGHTLY AND SEMI-PRESERVED FISH PRODUCTS

Description
This group contains a wide variety of fish
products with regional variations. The fish
has been treated by one or more of the
following treatments: salting, smoking,
marinating, heating or addition of preservatives. Such fish products have a longer
PSL than fresh fish. Lightly preserved fish
products are cold smoked lightly salted
salmon, gravad halibut and shrimps in
brine. Semi-preserved products are herring fillets in a marinade with a pH lower
than 5, and salted cod.
The only international standard for the
transport of preserved fish products is the
Codex Recommended international code
of practice for smoked fish (CAC/RCP 251979). This recommends that smoked fish
which is not treated in such a way as to
prevent the outgrowth of Clostridium botulinum type E, should be kept at a tem-
130
perature below 3.3C. Codex Alimentarius

has also issued a Recommended Practice
for Salted fish (CAC/RCP 26-1979).
In some countries, vacuum-packed fish
products must be kept below 3C, and
some countries do not allow chilled vacuum-packed smoked fish, simply because
of the risk of Clostridium botulinum type E
(in these countries such products must be
marketed in the frozen state).
In the EEC countries, the Labelling directive applies, see section 6.2 in chapter 1.
Raw materials.
The raw materials must be of good and
sound quality and be of the required degree of freshness.
The processing must be in accordance with
good manufacturing practice, and should
result in the desired characteristics, e.g.
salt/water ratio, temperature, concentration
of preservatives, pH, etc.
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LIGHTLY AND SEMI-PRESERVED FISH PRODUCTS
Practical storage life

The spoilage pattern differs from that of
fresh fish, and depends on the method of
preservation, packaging, moisture content and temperature. The spoilage is
mainly of microbiological origin, but may
be oxidation in fatty fish. Smoked fish can
lose the desired distinctive flavour.

The examples given below should only be
regarded as very rough guidelines because the spoilage -and the storage lifedepends so much on the initial quality
and the preserving treatment.
Vacuum-packed sliced gravad halibut at 5C:
10 days
Vacuum-packed sliced cold smoked salmon at 5C:

(4-5% salt in the water phase)
3 weeks
Shrimps in marinade at 5C:

(pH 5.8 ,benzoic acid added)
5 weeks
Marinated herring fillets at 10C:
6-10 months
Temperature limits
Ideal temperature: lightly preserved products 1C
semi-preserved products 1-5C
Legal requirements for transport
ATP: for the moment, no limit
EEC: for the moment, no limit
Denmark: Lightly preserved fish products, max 5C
In the ATP-Agreement, Annex 3 will probably be revised to state that the maximum
temperature for chilled foodstuffs during
transport is the temperature indicated on
the label, but must not exceed 6C. The

maximum temperature during transport
will be 3C for chilled vacuum-packed
lightly preserved fish products.
Sensitivity
Temperature
Lightly preserved
Semi-preserved
Temperature.
Most of the products in this group are
consumed without further heat treatment.
In lightly preserved fish products, there is
the possibility of bacterial growth such as
Salmonella, Listeria, Vibrio and Clostridi-
um botulinum type E and it is absolutely

essential to keep these products at low
temperatures and always below 5C.
In semi-preserved fish products there is
no such risk, but high storage temperatures will reduce quality and storage life
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LIVE FISH
5.7 LIVE FISH

Description
This group includes live fish transported
in containers with water and live flatfish,
eel, crustaceans and molluscs transported in wooden boxes and the like.
Regulations, standards
Because of the risk of spreading diseases
there are veterinary rules prohibiting import
of fish from areas with certain diseases. For
example the import of live salmonids (i.e.
salmon and trout) to United Kingdom is
prohibited. This is to protect the salmonids
in United Kingdom from the diseases Viral
Haemorrhagic Septicaemia (VHS) and Infectious Haematopoietic Necrosis (IHN).
132
The live fish must be healthy and sound.
The recommended temperature is 310C. Live crustaceans and molluscs
should not be kept at temperatures below
4C, and during the winter live trout
should not be suddenly transferred to
water several degrees above the temperature of the water they came from. If
the temperature of the water in which the
fish live rises the fish may suffer as the
oxygen level falls below a critical.
Oxygen is usually added to the water for
transport of live trout and other fish.
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CHILLED DAIRY PRODUCTS
5.8 CHILLED DAIRY PRODUCTS

Description
Dairy products, especially pasteurized
fresh milk, are generally regarded as
highly nutritious foods, particularly
important for children.
Dairy products include a complex range
of food products, in many cases of an apparently diverse nature, all produced from
raw milk: Pasteurized milk, cream, fermented (cultured) milk products, butter,
cheese, milk based desserts, etc.
Milk in Europe is synonymous with cow
milk, but sheep, goat and water buffalo
are important to the health and economy
of other countries, especially for cheese
production.
The products dealt with in this section are
those dairy products that demand chilling
in order to achieve an appropriate storage life.
Most countries have very detailed legislation on milk and dairy products, for
example on temperatures of milk from the
farm, the bacteriological and chemical
quality of the raw milk, the treatment of
the milk, the composition of different
products (especially milk and butter), etc.
In the EEC the Labelling directive (see
section 6.2 in chapter 1) applies.
Raw materials
Milk is a very good medium for microbial
growth. Many dairy products are highly
perishable and demand chilled storage.
On receipt from the farm the milk is subject to a variety of checks to ensure that
the composition and bacteriological standards are met.
The majority of milk is pasteurized, commonly at 72-78C for 15 seconds. In
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many countries, there are legal requirements for pasteurization and for the subsequent chilling process. Heat treatment
brings about a considerable reduction in
bacterial flora and should ensure absence
of pathogenic bacteria. This alone, however, is of no use if packaging etc. allows
re-infection.
Pasteurized milk
Retail packed pasteurized milk has a
short storage life and is seldom transported over long distances.
Cream
Fresh cream is often pasteurized at 95100C for 15 seconds. UHT-milk and
UHT-cream is of increasing importance;
UHT products can be stored at ambient
temperatures for some months.
Fermented (cultured) milk products.
Fermentation (culturing) of milk is a very
old form of food preservation. There has
been a dramatic increase in the consumption of these products which include
several types, of which Yoghurt is the best
known: Milk is pasteurized at 90-95C for
15-30 minutes (in some countries 5-10
minutes) and then cooled to 42-45C. A
starter culture, a solution of lactic acid
bacteria, is added, and after 2-4 hours the
product is cooled to 5C. Fruit is often
added.
Butter
The cream for butter-making is pasteurized at above 90C to inactivate enzymes
and to reduce the number of microorganisms which would otherwise cause quality
loss. Butter is an emulsion of water and
oil (fat). The fat emulsion containing in solution sugar, albumen and salt, where as
fats and casein are present in celloidal
dispersion. There are several common
types of butter: Sweet cream unsalted
butter (pH = 6.5-6.6), Sweet cream salted
134
butter (pH = 6.5-6.6, 1.2% salt), Cultured

unsalted butter (pH = 4.6-5-1), Cultured
salted butter (pH = 4.6-5.1, 1% salt). Cultured butter is also called fermented or
ripened butter. The storage life depends
on the quality of the raw milk, salt content
and pH, the size of the water droplets,
etc. Butter is subject to becoming rancid
due to oxidation, producing tallow oily
flavours. Another common fault is undesirable flavours picked up from adjacent
goods during storage and/or transport.
The packaging for butter usually has a
low permeability in order to reduce oxidation and dehydration. Butter is not normally transported over long distances
together with other foodstuffs.
Cheese
Milk is transformed into cheese by a process of partial dehydration and a coagulation of the casein. Cheese contains less
water than milk. The amount of water in
cheese greatly influences the storage life,
and its sensory properties. Many types of
cheese are stored for a certain period,
known as the ripening period, which may
last for weeks or months. During ripening
the cheese acquires special organoleptic
qualities (appearance, texture, flavour).
Microorganisms play an essential role in
the development of these characteristics.
After ripening (at a temperature between
8C and 25C for many types of cheese),
the cheese should be kept at a temperature between 0C and the ripening temperature, depending on how long time it is
to be stored.
Fresh cheeses
Fresh cheeses has a high water content
and should be kept at chill temperatures.
Processed cheeses
Processed cheeses are produced from a
blend of hard cheeses together with emulsifying salts which is cooled in the molten
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state and re-solidified. Other ingredients

such as ham may be present, and the
final product may be smoked before packing.
Desserts.
Fresh cream desserts consist typically of
a flavoured base thickened by various
types starch, together with pieces of fruit,
topped with a fresh, often whipped cream.
The risk of contamination in the production together with the combination of ingredients make such products highly
perishable, and also present a food poisoning hazard.
Packaging.
A wide range of packaging is used for
dairy products: Paperboard cartons, glass
bottles, plastic pouches (sometimes with
low permeability), aluminium foil laminates,
grease proof paper, trays or cups made of
different materials (often laminates), etc.
regarded as very rough guidelines because the storage life depends so much
on the quality of the raw materials, the
processing and the packaging (the PPPfactors, see section 2 above).
Pasteurized milk
5-10 days at 5C
8-14 days at 1C
Butter
10-20 weeks at 5C
Cultured milk products
2 weeks at 5C
3-4 weeks at 0C
Fresh cheese
2-4 weeks at 5C
Cheese, Camembert
Cheese, Cheddar
Cheese, Emmenthal
6-8 weeks at 2C
Several months at 0C
Several months at 10-12C
Temperature limits
Ideal temperature: 0C to 2C
ATP:
Butter max 6C
Industrial milk
max 6C
Cream, Yoghurt, fresh cheese, etc.max 4C
EEC:
for the moment, no limit
In the ATP-Agreement, Annex 3 will probably be revised to state that the maximum
temperature for chilled foodstuffs during
transport is the temperature indicated on
the label, but must not exceed 6C. How-
ever for certain chilled foods the maximum temperature will still be higher. The
maximum temperature during transport
for butter will be 10C (and 4C for raw
milk).
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Sensitivity
Temperature
Odour
Pasteurized (liquid) milk
Fermented milk products
Butter
Cheese
Temperature
The temperature sensitivity varies widely,
depending on the composition (salt content, pH, etc.), but most milk products are,
as mentioned before, highly perishable. In
order to market high quality products and
to obtain the storage life indicated on the
label, it is essential to maintain the required temperatures throughout the chill
chain.
There are several hundreds different
types of cheese. The ripening process is
reduced, especially for soft cheeses, but
is not stopped at chill temperatures. The
carriage temperature may vary with the
type of cheese and whether or not it is required to ripen during the journey.
136
The storage life of most cheeses is not

particularly temperature dependent. However, PSL generally increases with decreasing temperature. Freezing, except in
rare cases, is undesirable since it
changes the texture and spoils the quality.
For most soft processed cheeses and
cheese spreads it is essential to maintain
chill temperatures.
Odour
As mentioned before, see section 1.7 in
chapter 2, most dairy products easily pick
up odour from their surroundings, for example from foodstuffs such as fish, citrus
fruits, onions.
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MISCELLANEOUS CHILLED PRODUCTS
5.9 MISCELLANEOUS CHILLED PRODUCTS

Description
Several chilled foods, not belonging to the
food groups described earlier in chapter
3, are found in the chill chain, and in long
distance transport equipment. This includes bakery and confectionery products, eggs and egg products, prepared
meals, ready-to-eat dishes, salads (for
example mayonnaise based salads),
ready-to-eat raw vegetables etc.
As is the case for deep frozen foods, see
section 3.6 above, the relevant legislation
depends on the product, and different
countries sometimes use different types
of regulations for the same product.
It is therefore impossible, even for the
EEC, to indicate the relevant regulations.
However, in the EEC the Labelling directive (see section 6.2 in chapter 1) always
applies for retail packed foods.
Raw materials.
The raw materials used must be of good
and sound quality. The initial microbial
state is important for most chilled foods
as PSL is usually limited by microbial
growth. Good hygienic practice (GHP)
should always be followed.
Processing.
This group comprises so many different
foodstuffs that it is not possible to outline
the procedures that should be used in
manufacture, but good manufacturing
practice should always be followed.
Packaging.
Many different types of packaging are
used and it can only be repeated that the
packaging used must give the foodstuffs
adequate protection, for example against
dehydration and oxidation.
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A description of some foodstuffs belonging to this group follows.

Margarine
Margarine is now seen as a product in its
own right rather than as a butter substitute. A significant factor is public awareness of the role of dietary fats in heart
disease. A wide variety of different types
of margarine are marketed today, differing
in raw materials, proportion of polyunsaturated fats, spreading properties, packaging etc. Margarine is rarely subject to microbial spoilage, but may become rancid
due to oxidation. Margarine can pick up
taints if improperly stored.
Eggs
Eggs should be collected frequently and
chilled as rapidly as practicable. In some
countries, eggs which are sound, clean
and without cracks may be washed; after
drying they may be treated with a suitable
mineral oil to reduce weight loss during
storage. The packaging must protect the
eggs against shocks, vibrations etc. in the
chill chain. During storage the temperature
of eggs should be around -2C. Eggs are
normally tempered before they are removed from chill storage. This means that the
temperature is raised sufficiently so as to
avoid condensation of water on the shell.
Prepared meals
Chilled prepared meals have a limited
storage life, often just a few days at 35C, making such products unsuitable for
long distance transport.
Chilled meals may be given heat treatment after sealing the packaging, thus improving storage life considerably. This is
used for example in the sous-vide technique, whereby it is possible to achieve a
storage life of 2-3 weeks at 3C; but for
sous-vide products it is essential to
maintain temperatures below 3C.
When very good hygienic practices (GHP)
138
are followed and MAP (e. g. 50% nitrogene and 50% carbon dioxide) is used,
the storage life of prepared meals can be
increased to 1-2 weeks at temperatures
below 3C.
Prepared salads
Prepared salads typically consist of chopped vegetables in either a mayonnaise or
oil and vinegar base. The best known is
coleslaw (basically cabbage in mayonnaise) which also forms the base for many
variants including those containing meat
or fish. The market for prepared salads
has increased vastly in recent years.
Care is needed when formulating salads
because interaction between ingredients
may create conditions suitable for growth
of potentially pathogenic bacteria. The
traditional coleslaw types are quite stable,
but some types have a very short storage
life and are fundamentally unsuitable to
large scale retailing. Manufacturers of
coleslaw and other salads should ensure
that raw materials are obtained from suppliers whose practice preclude the possibility of contamination with Listeria monocytogenes or other pathogenic microorganisms.
Prepared raw vegetables
Ready-to-eat raw vegetables consist of
washed and peeled vegetables which
have been diced, sliced, grated or otherwise size-reduced. They are becoming increasingly popular either for use as salad
component or as ready-to-cook material
for a main course.
By preparing vegetables in this way the
risks of bacterial infection and spoilage
are increased, bacteria generally being
unable to penetrate the intact surface of
plant tissue. Consequently, packaging or
storage conditions that would inhibit bacterial spoilage of prepared raw vegetables
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will increase the storage life and saleability of the product. Thus, packaging in plastic materials with low permeability, vacuum-packaging or MAP increases PSL; as
with the other products using these systems it is still necessary to maintain cold
product temperatures.

regarded as a very rough guideline because the storage life -and the spoilagedepends so much on the TTT and PPPfactors, see the examples mentioned
above. See also section 2 above
Margarine
3 months at 5C
Eggs
6 months at 0C
2 months at 5C
Prepared meals
sous vide
3-5 days at 5C
2-3 weeks at 3C
Ready-to-eat raw vegetable

packed in plastic with high WVTR
packed in plastic with low WVTR
3-10 days at 5C
8-28 days at 5C
Temperature limits
Ideal temperature: 0C to 3C
-2C for eggs
ATP: for the moment, no limit
EEC: for the moment, no limit
In the ATP Agreement, Annex 3 will probably be revised to state that the maximum
temperature during transport of chilled
foods is the temperature indicated on the
label, but must not exceed 6C.
However, for certain chilled foods the maxi-
mum temperature will still be different from

6C.
For prepared meals (vacuum-packed

ready-to-eat products) the maximum temperature during transport will be 3C.
Sensitivity
Eggs
Margarine
Prepared meals
Prepared raw vegetables
Temperature
Odour
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Temperature
Some products in this group are highly
perishable, e.g. prepared meals which
have not been treated so as to prevent
the growth of Clostridium botulinum (especially type E). Thus it is essential to
maintain vacuumpacked (also sous
vide) ready-to-eat products at 3.3C or
colder in order to eliminate the risk of
food poisining.
For all foodstuffs in this group low temperatures (i.e. around 0C) during storage
and transport will increase quality and
storage life, and reduce the risk of food
poisoning.
140

chilled foodstuffs such calculations do not
such calculations.
Odour
Eggs and egg product easily pick up
odour from surroundings, and this is also
the matter for margarine and some other
foodstuffs in this group.
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4
CHAPTER
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LIABILITY FOR CARRIAGE OF GOODS
INSURANCE
1. LIABILITY FOR CARRIAGE OF
GOODS
Goods are often lost, damaged or delayed during transport. This situation is
normally followed by the question of who
is liable for the losses and to what extent.
Anticipating this problem it is possible to
assess the needs for and the type of
cargo insurance.
The text below describes the Danish law

and practice but the liability and compensation described will apply in principle in
most other jurisdictions.
The liability of the carrier is based on international conventions with the rules and
laws common to most countries.
1.1 Sea Carriage

The rules about sea carriers liability are
contained in the Danish Merchant Shipping Act, and the provisions are based on
the Hague/Visby Rules of 1968.
As a starting point the carrier is liable for
loss, damage or delay to goods in the carriers custody unless the carrier is able to
prove that this is not due to negligence by
the carrier himself or anybody for whom
the carrier is responsible. This means that
the carrier has to prove the cause of the
damage and also that the damage is not
due to his negligence.
Furthermore the carrier is not liable if he
proves that the damage is due to a fire, or
caused by the navigation of the vessel.

Consequently, typical maritime damage,
such as grounding, collision and fire, will
not be covered by the carriers liability.
However the carrier is liable if the loss or
damage is due to the vessels unseaworthyness at the beginning of the voyage.
If the Hague/Visby Rules, as incorporated
in the Danish Merchant Shipping Act,
apply, the rules are mandatory and the
carrier is not able to refer to conflicting
provisions in the Bill of Lading. If the carrier is liable for the loss, damage or delay
to the goods, the carriers liability towards
the person or company having the right to
the goods is limited to 2 Special Drawing
Rights (SDR) per kilo lost, damaged or
delayed goods, or a fixed amount, 667
SDR per lost, damaged or delayed unit if
this amount is higher. However, the limitation provisions do not apply if it can be
proved that the management of the carrier has caused the damage intentionally,
or by showing gross negligence, and with
the understanding that it would possibly
result in damage.
The carriers liability is limited by the
Global Limitation Provisions by which
the carrier can limit his liability for all losses resulting from the same incident. This
limitation amount is calculated on the
basis of the tonnage of the vessel.
The carriers liability is limited to a 1-year
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LIABILITY FOR CARRIAGE OF GOODS
limitation period as from the date of discharge or the arrival of the vessel at the
port of discharge. If legal proceedings are
not instituted within the 1-year period the
claim will be time-barred, and can no
longer be maintained against the sea carrier. Certain detailed provisions apply to
giving notice of loss to the sea carrier.
1.2 Road Transport

International carriage of goods by road is
regulated by the CMR Act incorporating
the CMR Convention of 1965.
As a starting point the CMR Act provides
for almost strict liability of the road carrier
for loss, damage or delay of goods.
The road carrier is not liable if he proves
that the loss, damage or delay was
caused by a wrongful act, or negligence
of the claimant, by the instructions of the
claimant given otherwise than as a result
of a wrongful act or negligence on the
part of the carrier, by the inherent nature
of the goods, or through circumstances
which the carrier could not avoid, and the
consequences of which he was unable to
prevent. As will be seen the burden of
proof lies with the carrier, but if the carrier
succeeds in proving that the loss, damage or delay might be attributed to one
of several special causes, such as bad
stowage performed by the shipper, the
burden of proof shifts to the plaintiff who
must then prove that the loss, damage or
delay was not, in fact, wholly or partly,
due to one of these causes.
The damages recoverable for total or partial loss of the goods are to be calculated
by reference to the value of the goods at
the place and time they were accepted for
carriage. The liability is limited to a fixed
amount, 8,33 SDR per kilo gross weight
losts or damaged.
144
In the case of delay the damages are

limited to the amount of charges for carriage unless a surcharge is paid to cover
a higher value declared in the consignment note.
A limitation amount does not apply if the
carrier has been guilty of wilful misconduct, or if his servants or agents have
been guilty of wilful misconduct in the
course of their employment.
The act provides that the period of limitation for a claim against the carrier shall be
1 year. The period limitation runs in the
case of partial loss, damage or delay from
the date of delivery, in the case of total
loss from 30 to 60 days from the date the
carrier took charge of the goods, and in
all other cases 3 months from the date
the contract was entered into. In case of
wilful misconduct the period of limitation
is 3 years.
The Act contains certain rather unclear
provisions about suspension of time and
about notice of loss.
For national, rather than international,
carriage of goods by road either the liability provisions in the Road Traffic Act, or
the Danish Common Rules for Compensation will apply.
1.3 Air Carriage

The stipulations about the air carriers liability towards the cargo are contained in
the Act of Air Carriage which is based on
the Warsaw Convention of 1929 with later
changes and amendments. Since this
convention is widely accepted throughout
the world, the general rules are common
to all countries with only a few details particular to certain nations.
The air carrier is liable for loss, damage
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INSURANCE
or delay of goods in his custody unless

he proves that he took all reasonable
measures to avoid the damage, or that it
was impossible to take such measures. In
practice this is interpreted to mean that
the air carrier has to prove the cause of
the damage, and prove that the damage
was not due to negligence by himself or
anybody for whom he is responsible.
The air carriers liability is also limited.
The limit of liability is a fixed
amount,presently 17 SDR per kilo lost,
damaged or delayed. The air carrier cannot apply this provision if the damages
have been
caused by wilful misconduct.
The claim against the air carrier will be
time-barred if legal proceedings are not
instituted within 2 years of the date on
which the aircraft arrived, or should have
arrived. Some further provisions about
notice of claim can apply.
1.4 Rail Carriage

The railways liability towards the cargo
are contained in the Danish Railways Act
which, to a large extent, is based on the
International Convention of Carriage of
Goods by Rail, the CIM Convention.
Danish railways (DSBs) liability towards
the cargo interest is very much like the
road carriers liability. However, DSBs
liability is limited to 21 US$ per kilo.
2. INSURANCE
2.1
As will be seen, sending goods from one
country to another as a part of a commercial transaction can be a risky business.
Thus, it is important for the parties in an
international contract to decide whether a
cargo insurance is to be taken out and,

and if so, whose duty it is to arrange for
the insurance.
By using the EEC-Incoterms 1990
which provide a set of rules for the interpretation of the most commonly used
trade terms in international trade, the parties also agree who is going to take out
the insurance.
A number of the Incoterms 1990 deal
with the question of taking out insurance
such as CIP (Carriage and Insurance
Paid to (....named place of destination)),
and CIF (Cost, Insurance and Freight
(....named port of destination)).
2.2
The most common insurance conditions
are the Institute Cargo Clauses (A).
These cover all risks of loss or damage to
the subject-matter insured except as provided in the exclusion clauses. The insurance covers loss of, or damage to, the
subject-matter resulting from any variation in temperature, attributable to breakdown of refrigeration machinery resulting
in its stoppage for a period of not less
than 24 consecutive hours.
With regard to insurance of frozen food
the common conditions are the Institute
Frozen Food Clauses (A) (excluding
frozen meat), and damage due to variations in temperature are only covered if
the variation is due to a breakdown of
machinery for more than 24 consecutive
hours, fire, explosion, a vessels grounding, sinking, capsizing or collision, capsizing or derailment of land transport vehicle
or discharge in a port of refuge.
Also, the Institute Frozen Meat Clauses
(A) will cover risks of, or loss of, or damage to, the cargo insured under certain
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INSTRUCTIONS TO THE CARRIER
conditions with regard to preparation of

the cargo for transportation.
Finally the Institute Frozen Food Clauses
(Full Condition) give a very wide coverage
as the insurance covers loss of, detorioration of, or damage to the interest insured
from any cause which might arise during
the period of the insurance. This insurance is very seldom agreed upon with
cargo underwriters.
receiving the consignment, the carrier

must contact the party shipping the goods
before the shipment proceeds. In the
case of road transport the driver should
inform his employer of the situation so
that instructions can be given while the
trailer is still at the suppliers loading bay.
Since the cargo insurance covers the

losses suffered by the cargo interests immediately after the insurance conditions
are fulfilled, it is highly recommended that
a cargo insurance be taken out instead of
awaiting the clarification of the question of
the carriers liability and consequently
only receive a limited amount as compensation.
Furthermore, during the journey the carrier must regularly check the carriage
temperature. If the refrigeration unit is
provided with an automatic recorder of
the air temperature in the transport equipment, this apparatus must be in good
working order and the apparatus must be
fitted with a recording disc or tape so that
the measured temperature can be recorded. The latter is of course important evidence, if damage arises to the consignment as a consequence of temperature
variances during the journey.
3. INSTRUCTIONS TO THE CARRIER
Stowage
On loading a consignment into the transport vehicle, the following two considerations are of great importance:
Temperature
Before the start of transport, the carrier
must have received instructions on the
carriage temperature, i.e. the temperature
at which the consignment must be transported.
On loading, the carrier must always (by
means of random sampling) check the
temperature in the consignment, which
has been received for transport. A
reasonably correct thermometer, see
chapter 1 section 7.3, is a necessary tool.
The minimum and maximum temperatures measured must be stated in the
transport document.
If significant discrepancies are noted between the required transport temperature
and the temperatures measured on
146
1) Air circulation
The goods should always be loaded in
such a way that there is the possibility of
free air circulation around the goods.
2) Securing the goods
Goods must be stowed and secured in
such a way that the normal shocks and
vibration accociated with transport do
not cause the load to shift.
If the transport is to be carried out by

using a trailer, it is recommended that the
driver be present at the loading of his
trailer/lorry, and when necessary, show
the staff at the place of loading how he
wants the goods placed in the trailer, This
is partly to ensure the optimum circulation
of the cooling air, partly for the sake of
road safety, and of course to prevent
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other kinds of damage to the consignment or the equipment.
doubt as to the connection between the

written remarks and any later complaint
of damage to the consignment.
4. CONTROL ON DELIVERY
On arrival every consignment must be

checked by the consignee before signing
any form of receipt on the freight document.
If there are remarks to be made regarding the condition of the consignment they
should be made on the freight document.
The goods should be examined for visible
damage and the temperature of the
goods measured, preferably the product
temperature rather than the temperature
of the packaging. In addition, the recorded temperatures - if a suitable temperature recorder is installed - must be examined, as must the temperature setting on
the control panel.
If the consignment has arrived in a damaged condition, it is important to record
the first impression of the condition of the
consignment. This is important for subsequent treatment of the damaged cargo
and the insurance claim.
Taking photographs before and during the
unloading of the cargoe is a good way of
recording and documenting the visible
condition of the consignment.
The original temperature recording chart,
or a photocopy should be kept as evidence of the temperature conditions during the transport from the supplier to the
consignee.
It is also important that any reservation
regarding the condition of the goods be
recorded on the freight documentation.
This reservation must not be phrased
generally, as for instance received with
reservation. The reservation must be
phrased precisely so that there will be no
5. SECURING THE EVIDENCE IN CASES

OF DAMAGED GOODS
If damage arises to the transported consignment, the claimant - usually the importer or buyer - will apply for compensation for his loss from the insurers involved. The insurers will usually be
1) Cargo insurers if seller or buyer has
taken out a transport insurance, and if
the contract conditions cover the particular case.
2) The carriers third party liability insurers.
The two types of insurance are basically

the same, except for one essential difference;
As a rule the cargo insurers will compensate damage arising from a sudden unexpected event.
The third party liability insurers, however,
are only liable, if the damage concerned
has arisen as a consequence of circumstances for which the carrier is responsible. There is also the possibility of limitations of indemnity, due to the relevent
transport regulations governing and restricting the carriers risk.
All international insurance companies
have a network of average agents
throughout the world. On behalf of the insurers (the principals) they have committed themselves to the objective treatment
of each claim.
In an average situation the claimant (im-
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porter/buyer) applies to either the insurers or the local average agent of the
insurers. Alternatively, contact is made to
the carrier who, via information in his third
party liability policy, contacts the average
agent.
The most important part of the treatment
of the case in an average situation is the
survey of the damaged consignment.
The purpose of this survey is to ascertain
the facts, i.e. the nature, extent, and the
cause of the damage. If it is found necessary, special expertise is called in (e.g.
scientists or engineers) to assist the insurers average agent in the execution of
the survey.
The insurers average agent must collect
all necessary relevant documentation,
e.g. commercial invoice, freight bill, special transport instructions, temperature information, etc.
After this, a survey report is issued, which
should be an objective, detailed description of the damage concerned. As a rule
the survey report must contain information and documentation covering:
a) the nature of the damage

b) the cause of the damage
c) the extent of the damage
The survey report is important in the insurers subsequent treatment of the transport damage, including, of course, the
judgment of the responsibility/liability to
pay damages. It goes without saying that
a survey report is an important document,
particularly if later it should be necessary
to go to court or to arbitration in order to
settle the degree of liability.
Because of the perishable nature of the

cargo it is important that all the parties involved, importer, buyer and carrier, secure all possible evidence while the
damaged consignment is still available.
Therefore, it is strongly recommended
that the parties, together or separately,
ensure that survey reports are issued. If
an importer/buyer has not taken out a
special transport insurance and if there is
no insurance information from the seller,
the importer/buyer can always seak advice and instruction from his own insurers.
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5
CHAPTER
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DEFINITIONS AND EXPLANATIONS

Definitions and explanations of some
terms and expressions used in relation to
transport and storage life of the chilled
and frozen foodstuffs dealt with in this
book are given in this chapter.
ATP.
Agreement on Transport of Perishables
(ATP) is an international agreement on
the transport of perishable foodstuffs, see
chapter 1 section 6.1.
AW
see water activity
CHILL CHAIN
The chill chain comprises the different
stages from production to cooking or consumption, i.e. chill storage, transport,
local distribution and display (for example
in a supermarket display cabinet).The
consumer's handling of the product ,
transporting it home and storage in refrigerator is part of the chill chain.
In order to maintain product quality and,
especially, reduce growth of microorganisms it is vital to maintain the correct
temperatures throughout the chill chain.
CHILLED FOODS
Foods which have been subjected to a
chilling process and afterwards are kept
at chill temperatures are considered as
chilled foods.
CHILLING.
Chilling (chilling preservation) is defined
as bringing the product temperature
down to chill temperatures,i.e. temperatures ranging from about -1.5C to
+8C,and maintaining this temperature. In
some cases the temperature can be a little higher, e.g. +14C for bananas, or a
little lower, e.g. -2C, see Superchilling
below.
CHILLING INJURY
Chilling injury is physiological damage
caused to fruit and vegetables by exposure to temperatures below a critical
threshold for each species, but above
freezing temperature.
CHILLING PROCESS
The chilling process is the process used
to reduce product temperatures from the
initial temperature to chill temperatures.
The most commonly used chilling processes are summarized in section 5.0 in
chapter 3.
COLD CHAIN
This term is sometimes used as synonymous with freezer chain, or to chill
chain. Thus, cold chain could mean either
or both, see also cooling, below.
COLD SHORTENING
The term used to describe the irreversible
phenomenon that causes considerable
toughening to meat, especially beef, veal
and lamb. It is caused when a hot car-
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cass has been cooled too rapidly

resulting in severe contraction of the muscle.
COOLING
Cooling means a reduction in the product
temperature, or maintaining the food at
temperatures below ambient, either chill
temperatures or freezer temperatures.
CSW
Chilled Sea Water is a storage method for
fish, involving the total immersion of fish
in a liquid (sea water) held in a tank. The
sea water is kept at around 0C by adding
ice.
DEEP-FROZEN FOODS
The term deep-frozen foods (surgele, tiefgefroren) is correctly used when the product temperature is maintained during storage,transport and retail sale at -18C or
colder with a minimum of fluctuations.
The freezing process used must be reasonably rapid.
Deep-frozen foods are often denominated

quick-frozen foods.
ENTHALPY
Enthalpy is the total heat content of a
food product. It is measured in kJ/kg, and
is set at 0 kJ/kg at -40C.
EQUILIBRIUM TEMPERATURE
Equilibrium temperature or mean temperature is the temperature which is achieved
when the surface temperature and the
centre temperature become practically
identical after an equalization period.
After for example a quick chilling process

the surface temperature may be -1C,the
centre temperature +15C, but the equilibrium temperature could be +4C.
152
FREEZER CHAIN
Like the chill cain above the freezer chain
comprises all stages from production
(right after completion of the freezing process) to cooking or consumption.
FREEZING
Freezing (freezing preservation) comprises the freezing process, freezer storage
and - in most cases - a thawing process.
Foods which have been subjected to a
freezing process are considered frozen
foods.
In industrial and commercial practice
there are two temperature ranges for storage and retail display, namely frozen
foods and deep-frozen foods (or quickfrozen foods). In French: congel and
surgel, in German: gefroren and tief
gefroren (or tiefgekhlt).
FREEZING INJURY
The damage - mostly texture deterioration
- caused by exposure of the foodstuff to
temperatures below the (initial) freezing
point of the foodstuff.
FREEZING POINT
The freezing point - or more correctly the
initial freezing point - for foods depends
on the composition of the food, i.e. the
content of water, salt, etc.
The initial freezing point of many raw
foods is around -1.7C. When food is
cooled to this temperature,ice begins to
form. As the food is cooled below its initial
freezing point, more and more water is
turned into ice so that the residual solution will become more and more concentrated. Even at -40C some unfrozen
water remains.
FREEZING PROCESS
During the freezing process a high proportion of the water in the food product
(many foods contain 70-90% water) is
converted into ice.The process should be
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started as quickly as practicable after the

food product has undergone the the necessary preparation procedures such as
cutting, washing, possibly packaging, etc.
The freezing process shall be as rapid as
practicable.
FREEZING RATE
The freezing rate is defined as the speed
of movement of the ice front through the
foodstuff. See chapter 1 section 3.0
FREEZING TIME
Freezing time is defined as the time
elapsed from the start of the freezing process until the final temperature is
reached. For further information, see
FROZEN FOODS
Throughout the industry and among consumers, the term frozen food normally
means deep (quick) frozen foods. Frozen
foods simply is foods that are sold frozen,
i.e. at a temperature well below 0C.
From a legislative point of view it is necessary to distinguish between frozen and
deep frozen foods.
In legislation, the term frozen foods (congele,gefroren) is used for a limited group
of products (meat and poultry) which are
maintained at a steady temperature of
-10C (or -12C) or colder, see chapter 3
section 4. (Deep (quick) frozen foods are
kept at -18C or lower).
GMP
GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) may
be defined as current good practice in
manufacturing, processing and holding
food products.
K-COEFFICIENT
K-coefficient (or K-value) is a measure of
the effectiveness of the insulation in
transport equipment (and in cold storage

rooms etc.), see chapter 1 section 6.1.
MIGRATION
Migration of additives from a packaging
material into foodstuffs, see chapter 1
section 6.3.
POSITIVE LIST
Lists of approved additives/components
with maximum concentrations, all others
being banned. See chapter 1 section 6.
PPP
The PPP-factors (Product, Process,
Packaging) can be as decisive for product
quality as storage temperature and time,
see chapter 3 section 2.
PRACTICAL STORAGE LIFE (PSL)
The practical storage life of a food product is the period after chilling/freezing
during which the product retains its
characteristic properties and remains fully
acceptable to the consumer/
processor.
PSL
see Practical Storage Life
QUICK-FROZEN FOODS
This term is often regarded as synonymous with deep-frozen foods, see
above.
RELATIVE HUMIDITY ( RH )
The ratio of the quantity of water vapour
present in the air to the quantity that would
be present if the air was saturated at the
same temperature. It is also defined as the
ratio of the pressure of water vapour present to the pressure of saturated water
vapour at the same temperature.
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RSW
RSW (Refrigerated Sea Water) is a storage method for fish involving the total immersion of fish in sea water held in a
tank. The sea water is kept at 0C to -1C
by means of a mechanical refrigeration
system.
SHORT-CIRCUITING
When used in relation to refrigerated storage or transprot equipment it refers to the
circulating air that by-passes the majority
of the cargo by flowing through gaps inadvertently left in the stow, resulting in poor
air distribution.
-2C, in some cases as low as -3C or

-4C, is used.
TEMPERING
Tempering means heating a frozen foodstuff from its initial temperature to the
thawing plateau, i.e. tempering is the first
part of a normal thawing process, see
TTT
TTT (Time-Temperature Tolerance) is a
products storage life at different storage
temperatures, see chapter 3 section 2.
SHORT-CYCLING
The term given to a defective part of a
control system that switches a machine
on and off too frequently.
VSP
VSP (Vacuum Skin Packaging) is a special form of vacuum-packaging, see chapter 1 section 4.1.3.
SPECIFIC HEAT.
The amount of heat (expressed in kJ) required to raise the temperature of 1 kg of
a substance 1C.
The specific heat of chilled foods is about
3 kJ, depending on the composition,
mainly the water content. The specific
heat of deep frozen foods is about 1.5 kJ,
depending on the water/ice content. See
WATER ACTIVITY
The ratio of the water vapour pressure of
the solution (the foodstuff) to the water
vapour of pure water at the same temperature.
SUPERCHILLING
Superchilling, often called deep chilling,
means chilling the food to a temperature
a little below the initial freezing point, and
maintaining this temperature during storage and transport. A temperature about
UHT
UHT (Ultra High Temperature) is a process where milk (or similar foodstuffs) is
heated to at least 132C for at least 1
second. The heated product is then aseptically packed in plastic coated paperboard cartons. UHT products can usually
be kept at room temperature for several
months, and do not require refrigerated
transport.
GuideFish
04/08/99
14:43
Side 155
INDEX
INDEX
* after a word/term indicates that the
word/term ix explained or defined in
chapter 5 (page 151-154).
Air circulation .....................45, 63, 66, 72

Air temperature measurement.............37
Aluminium foil ......................................18
ATP*...............................................25, 88
Average agent ...................................147
Average temperature,
see equilibrium temperature ......89, 114
aw, see water activity* .................80, 154
Barrier layer .........................................18
Beef, see meat
BGA (Bundes Gesundheits Amt).........33
Board, see paperboard........................22
Bottom air delivery.........................52, 54
Bracing ..........................................64, 73
Butter, frozen .....................................111
Butter, chilled .....................................133
Calculation of quality loss ....................86
Calibration of thermometers ................40
Capacity control...................................51
Carbon dioxide cooling ........................69
Cartons....................................18, 21, 24
CA-storage ..........................................12
CAPTECH ...................................20, 116
Cheese ..............................................134
Chicken, see poultry
Chill chain*.........................................151
Chilled foods* ..............................87, 114
Chilled foods,
see under the specific product
Chilling* .............................................151
Chilling injury*......................................11
Chilling process*................................114
Code of good transporting practice .....72

Codex Alimentarius .....................35, 127
Codex standards ...........35, 99, 102, 105
Cold chain* ........................................151
Cold shortening*..........................93, 114
Coleslaw ............................................138
Colour changes ...................................82
Compressor ...................................50, 52
Condenser ...........................................50
Condensation ................................14, 50
Concentrated fruit juice......................102
Consumer packs..................................16
Containers ...........................................54
Containers,air circulation .....................57
Controlled atmosphere*.......................12
Controllers .....................................58, 64
Cooling* ...............................................15
Cooling during transport ......................75
Corrugated board ..........................22, 47
Cream................................................134
Cryogenic refrigeration ........................69
CSW*.................................................114
Cured meat................................118, 121
Dairy products ...................................133
Deep chilling, see superchilling*........125
Deep-frozen foods*,
see under the specific product
Defrosting ............................................53
Dehydration .........................................14
Delivery air control...............................58
Delivery vans .......................................70
Desiccation ..........................................14
Directives, EEC....................................27
EEC-directives ...............................27, 88
Eggs ..........................................108, 138
Enthalpy* .............................................92
Equilibrium temperature* .......24, 89, 114
155
GuideFish
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Side 156
INDEX
Eutectic plates .....................................69

Evaporation....................................14, 51
Evaporator .....................................50, 52
FDA (Food and Drug Administration) ..32
Fish, raw material ................................84
Fish, chilled........................................127
Fish, deep frozen.................................99
Fish, live ............................................132
Fish products, chilled.........................130
Flavour changes ..................................82
Flushing ...............................................20
Flutes...................................................23
Foodtainer ...........................................19
Food poisoning ....................................81
Freezer burn ........................................15
Freezing* .............................................88
Freezing injury*....................................11
Freezing methods ................................90
Freezing point*.........................11, 45, 88
Freezing process*................................88
Freezing rate* ......................................85
Freezing time*......................................89
Frost formation...............................14, 53
Frozen foods*.....................................111
Fruit, deep frozen...............................102
Fruit, concentrate...............................102
Gas flushing.........................................20
Genset .................................................56
Glazing ........................................99, 101
GMP* ...................................................84
Heat sources .......................................44
Heaters (electric) .................................53
Hot-gas bypass..............................51, 53
Inner packaging ...................................16
Inside frost formation ...........................14
Insulated containers ......................70, 71
Insulation .............................................44
Insurance...........................................143
Integral containers ...............................55
Irradiation.............................................34
ISO ......................................................27
ISO-containers...............................43, 54
K-coefficient* .................................26, 44
156
K-value, see K-coefficient ....................44

Labelling directive, EEC.......................28
Lamb, see meat
Laminates ............................................18
Legislation ...........................................25
Loading..........................................46, 73
Load line ........................................47, 55
Loss of quality......................................86
Machinability........................................17
MAP.............................20, 116, 119, 129
Margarine ..........................................138
Masterpack ..........................................20
Meat, raw material ...............................84
Meat, chilled ......................115, 118, 121
Meat, deep frozen................................93
Meat, frozen.......................................111
Meat products, chilled........................118
Mechanical refrigeration ......................50
Microbiological standards ..............30, 31
Metal cans ...........................................18
Microbiology ........................................79
Microorganisms ...................................79
Migration* ......................................32, 33
Milk ....................................................133
Mixed loads .........................................49
Mobile freezers ....................................90
Nitrogen cooling...................................69
Odour.............................................49, 88
Outer packaging ..................................21
PA, Polyamide, Nylon...........................17
Packaging ......................................16, 86
Packaging forms ..................................18
Packaging materials ............................16
Pallet....................................................48
Pallet patterns......................................48
Paperboard ..........................................22
Pathogenic microorganisms ................81
PE, Polyethylene..................................17
Permeability .........................................16
PET, Polyester .....................................17
Plastic bags, pouches..........................19
Polyamide (PA) ....................................17
GuideFish
04/08/99
14:43
Side 157
INDEX
Polyethylene (PE) ................................17

Polyester (PET) ...................................17
Pork, see meat
Porthole container .........................54, 55
Positive list* ...................................32, 33
Poultry, chilled....................................124
Poultry meat directive ..........................29
Poultry, frozen ....................................111
Poultry, deep frozen .............................96
PPP* ..............................................83, 87
Practical storage life(PSL)*............83, 87
Pre-cooling ..........................................46
Pre-cooling transport equipment .........46
Primary distribution vehicles................62
Primary packs......................................16
Product groups ..............................79, 87
PSL, see Practical Storage Life .....83, 87
PTI .................................................59, 72
PVC .....................................................18
Quality changes...................................79
Quality loss ..........................................86
Quick-frozen foods* .............................88
Quick-frozen food directive ..................27
Ready-to-cook dishes........................137
Ready-to-eat dishes ..........................137
Refrigeration capacity....................51, 63
Refrigeration, principle.........................50
Refrigeration cycle...............................50
Refrigeration process ..........................50
Refrigeration systems....................26, 69
Refrigeration unit ...........................51, 56
Regulations....................................25, 87
Relative humidity (RH)* .......................12
Remaining PSL....................................86
Retail packs .........................................16
Return air control ...........................58, 64
RH, see Relative humidity ...................12
RSW*.................................................114
Rule of additivity ..................................86
Salmon, see fish
Secondary distribution vehicles ...........70
Secondary packaging ....................16, 21
Sensitivity ............................................88
Set-point ........................................58, 64
Shipping containers .......................16, 21

Short-circuiting* .............................47, 64
Short-cycling* ................................58, 65
Slip sheet.......................................48, 49
Specific heat*.......................................92
Storage life, see PSL ...........................83
Stowage pattern ..................................46
Superchilling*.....................118, 125, 128
Survey report .....................................148
T-bar ..............................................52, 57
Temperature control system ..........58, 64
Temperature fluctuations .....................15
Temperature limits ...............................88
Temperature monitoring.......................36
Temperature measurements................36
Temperature recording ............39, 60, 67
Temperature recorders ..................60, 67
Tempering* ..........................................92
Texture changes ..................................82
Thermoforming ....................................21
Thermometers .....................................39
Thermostats ........................................53
Thin wall vehicles.................................71
Top-air delivery ....................................63
Trailers ...........................................43, 62
Transport cartons...........................16, 21
Transport equipment......................25, 43
Transport packaging ......................16, 21
Trunkers...............................................62
TTT*.....................................................83
Turkey, see poultry
Vacuumpackaging ...............................19
Vegetables, deep frozen ....................105
VSP* ............................................20, 128
Water activity (aw)*..............................80
Water loss............................................14
Wrappers .............................................19
WVTR ..................................................16
UHT*..................................................134
UIC ......................................................27
Unit loads.............................................47
Unloading ......................................46, 74
157

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OmslagFM

FISH, MEAT AND DAIRY PRODUCTS

1990 by Mercantila Publishers as

7. Temperature monitoring and temperature measurement

1. General information on transport

3. ISO intermodal containers

4. Primary distribution vehicles (trailers)

5. Other types of refrigeration systems

6. Other types of transport equipment

7. Code of good transporting practices

1. Quality influencing processes

3. Deep frozen foods

3. Instructions for the carrier

In July 1989 we published GUIDE TO

In preparing this new book it was decided

Previous literature on this subject was

Chapter 1 summarizes important aspects

aspects of insurance, including information on the necessary procedures in case

formation and advice on transport equipment was given by several persons,

GENERAL ABOUT FOODS

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT FOODS

7.2 Product temperature

CONTROLLED ATMOSPHERES (CA)

eating quality of the foodstuff. There

A method used to prevent or reduce the

GUIDE TO FOOD TRANSPORT, FRUIT

3. RELATIVE HUMIDITY (RH) - WATER

3.1 Relative humidity (RH)

RELATIVE HUMIDITY (RH) - WATER LOSS

Dew Point 14C

Humidity Ratio (kg/kg)

Dry Bulb (C)

Fig 1.1 Psychrometric chart showing humidity and temperature relationship

tain much more water than cold air with a

A dry bulb temperature of 25C and a wet

In cold storage rooms and transport

talk of humidity ratio, that is the ratio of

RELATIVE HUMIDITY (RH) - WATER LOSS

ration in chilled and frozen foods. Weight

RELATIVE HUMIDITY (RH) - WATER LOSS

ture and ice from the product will form and

Severe dehydration leads to freezer

lowered, the faster the growth of microorganisms is retarded. As discussed in

4.1 Inner packaging

When vacuum-packaging is used, it is

means that the food (usually liquid or

packs. It has very good mechanical properties, but is rather expensive.

well be one of the layers. Paper is also

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

The different layers may be held together

materials, so they can be distorted by the

material, but combinations are being

It is recommended that at least 95% of

VSP (Vacuum Skin Packaging)

It is comparatively easy to determine

with a minimum of fluctuations, the storage life of lamb could be 20 weeks or

drawing will contain PA, as this material

4.2 Outer packaging

Rough handling may occur in all parts of

Outer packagings used include:

treated paperboard is reduced very much

In most countries, solid fibreboard should

properties. It offers greater stiffness,