Food Quality, Storage, and Transport

David Tanner, Start Afresh Limited, Mount Maunganui, New Zealand

2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Introduction
Food Quality
Food Storage and Transport
Composition of the Food Quality, Storage, and Transport Within the Reference Module
Impacts of Storage on Food Quality
Measurement of Food Quality
Storage and Transport Requirements
Traceability
Refrigeration Systems
Cool- and Cold-Store Design and Construction
Cool- and Cold-Store Operation
Refrigerated Transport
Nonrefrigerated Transport
Summary
References

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Introduction
This article focuses on Food Quality, Storage, and Transport. It examines the inuence of the logistics chain on food quality attributes,
covering diverse areas such as changes in quality during storage and during shelf life components of the chain, through to cool- and
cold-store design and operation. For this article, it may be helpful to outline the denitions of the subcomponents of the Reference
Module.

Food Quality
The term food quality has a variety of meanings to professionals in the food industry, but the ultimate arbiters of food quality must
be consumers. This notion is embraced in the frequently cited denition of food quality as a combination of attributes or characteristics of a product that have signicance in determining the degree of acceptability of the product to a user (USDA Marketing
Workshop Report, 1951). These attributes include external factors such as appearance (size, shape, color, gloss, and consistency),
texture, avor, and internal composition (chemical, physical, microbial).
Food quality also deals with product traceability (e.g., of ingredients), should a recall of the product be required. It also deals
with labeling issues to ensure there is correct ingredient and nutritional information.

Food Storage and Transport

Transport and storage of food, as well as timely delivery to consumers, is important in order to prolong the availability of perishable
products and secure the procurement of food. The length of time that food remains edible and nutritious depends on temperature,
moisture, and other factors that affect the growth rates of organisms that cause spoilage (or the natural physiological senescence of
the product in the case of living products such as fruits and vegetables).
Some storage techniques, such as drying, salting, and smoking, date back to ancient huntergatherer and early agricultural times
and use relatively low energy inputs. Newer technologies developed since the industrial revolution, such as canning and
compressed-gas refrigeration, require much greater energy inputs. Coincident with the development of storage technologies, the
transportation of food helped to overcome spatial and temporal uctuations in productivity, culminating in todays global transport system, which delivers fresh and preserved foods worldwide (Hammond et al., 2015).

Composition of the Food Quality, Storage, and Transport Within the Reference Module
Food Quality, Storage, and Transport covers areas associated with impacts of storage environments and duration on aspects of food
quality, as well as technical considerations associated with logistics chain components such as cool and cold stores and transport
systems. Each of the areas covered is briey outlined below.

Reference Module in Food Sciences

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100596-5.03336-9

Food Quality, Storage, and Transport

Impacts of Storage on Food Quality

It is very rare for food to improve in quality with storage (maybe with the exception of wine and cheeses). Texture, avor, color, and
nutritional composition can all change, and their rates of change are often regulated by the conditions they are stored in. If products
are removed from cool or cold storage, they often deteriorate more rapidly and so their best-before dates, or use-by dates, are shorter
and are designed to allow consumption prior to spoilage.
There can be many aspects to food spoilage. Spoilage is the process in which food deteriorates to the point in which it is not
edible to humans (Boundless, 2015). Such changes can be detected by smell, taste, touch, or sight. These changes are can be
due to a number of reasons: air and oxygen, moisture, light, microbial growth, and temperature.
Fruits and vegetables are a little more unique in that they are physiologically active, still respiring, transpiring, and undergoing
ripening and/or senescent changes while still being suitable for consumption.
This section covers changes in texture, avor, color, and nutritional composition. It also deals with shelf life after storage and has
a particular section on the intrinsic storage properties of fruits and vegetables, as they are living products that continue to respire,
transpire, and ripen after harvest.

Measurement of Food Quality

Measurement of food quality is essential; quality indicators are not constant and the quality of a food changes over time. The most
important quality-related changes are (Van Boekel, 2008):
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Chemical reactions, mainly due to either oxidation or Maillard reactions.

Microbial reactions: microorganisms can grow in foods; in the case of fermentation this is desired, otherwise microbial growth
will lead to spoilage and, in the case of pathogens, to unsafe food.
l Biochemical reactions: many foods contain endogenous enzymes that can potentially catalyze reactions leading to quality loss
(enzymatic browning, lipolysis, proteolysis, and more).
l Physical reactions: many foods are heterogeneous and contain particles. These particles are unstable, in principle at least, and
phenomena such as coalescence, aggregation, and sedimentation lead usually to quality loss. Also, changes in texture can be
considered as physical reactions, though the underlying mechanism may be of a chemical nature.
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New methods of testing for food quality continue to be developed alongside improving traditional methods of analysis. The
tools used, particularly those for analytical measurement, continue to get more sensitive, more specic, and faster, and the industries
using these tools must keep up with these changes. All of these advancements set new standards and protocols on how the quality of
foods and their ingredients are dened and monitored (Szpylka, 2013).
As food quality changes are often a function of physics-based phenomena, these changes can be well characterized through the
use of mathematical modeling. Modeling approaches such as kinetic modeling, response surface modeling, and multivariate statistical modeling can all be used (see Hu, 1999 and Van Boekel, 2008 for reviews of these).
This section covers the measurement of quality attributes for dairy products, meat and meat-based products, fruits and vegetables, seafood, and cereals and grains. Also covered in this section is the modeling of quality for these product groups.

Storage and Transport Requirements

Optimum food storage helps to preserve the quality and nutritional value of produced foods and helps to maximize the time that is
available to sell said foods by preventing spoilage.
Each class of food has different optimal storage conditions and can differ for both chilled and frozen states of that food. This
section covers the storage and transport requirements for dairy products, meat and meat-based products, fruits and vegetables, seafood, and cereals and grains.

Traceability
Traceability is the ability to track any food through all stages of production, processing, and distribution (including importation and
at retail). The general denition for traceability is that movements can be traced one step backward and one step forward at any
point in the supply chain (NZFSA, 2015). For food processing businesses, traceability should extend to being able to identify
the source of all food inputs such as:
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raw materials
additives
l other ingredients
l packaging
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Having an effective traceability system enables corrective actions (such as a product recall) to be implemented quickly and effectively when something goes wrong. When a potential food safety problem is identied, whether by a food business or a government
agency, an effective traceability system can help isolate and prevent contaminated products from reaching consumers (Figure 1).

Food Quality, Storage, and Transport

Legislaon
Producon
opmizaon

Food Safety

Quality
Bioterrorist
threats

Sustainability
Chain
communicaon
Welfare
Compeve
advantages
Cercaon

Figure 1

Traceability drivers in the food sector. After Petter Olsen (2009).

This section covers global traceability standards, monitoring and measurement equipment, food security systems, and product
recall.

Refrigeration Systems
Food preservation in developed countries has changed in the past two centuries because of many factors, not the least of which has
been refrigeration. During the early 1800s, consumers preserved their food by storing food and ice purchased from ice harvesters in
iceboxes. In 1803, Thomas Moore patented a metal-lined butter-storage tub which became the prototype for most iceboxes. These
iceboxes were used until nearly 1910 and the technology did not progress. In fact, consumers that used the icebox in 1910 faced the
same challenge of a moldy and stinky icebox that consumers had in the early 1800s (Freidburg, 2010).
General Electric (GE) was one of the rst companies to overcome these challenges. In 1911, GE released a household refrigeration unit that was powered by gas. The use of gas eliminated the need for a motor and decreased the size of the refrigerator.
However, electric companies that were customers of GE did not benet from a gas-powered unit. Thus, GE invested in developing
an electric model. In 1927, GE released the Monitor Top, the rst refrigerator to run off electricity (Freidburg, 2010).
In 1930, Frigidaire, one of GEs main competitors, synthesized Freon (Freidburg, 2010). With the invention of synthetic refrigerants based mostly on a chlorouorocarbon (CFC) chemical, safer refrigerators were possible for home and consumer use. Freon
led to the development of smaller, lighter, and cheaper refrigerators. The average price of a refrigerator dropped with the synthesis of
Freon. The intent was to provide refrigeration equipment for home use without danger. These CFC refrigerants fullled that need.
Commercial refrigeration systems typically involve a mechanical vapor-compression system (though adsorption, thermoelectric,
magnetic, cryogenic, and immersion systems are used in some specic instances). These systems will utilize either synthetic or
natural refrigerants, as the working uid, but the system design will depend on a number of factors including:
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product to be cooled or frozen,

temperature required for that product,
shape and volume of the refrigerated space,
heat load,
water vapor load, and
energy costs

This section covers the specics of a refrigeration cycle and the key components of a refrigeration system as they would be used in
a food preservation context (Figure 2).

Cool- and Cold-Store Design and Construction

The purpose of a cool or cold store is to store perishable products at low temperatures. All cool and cold stores are insulated. This
insulation slows the heat gain into the store, but does not prevent it completely. Refrigeration is required to remove the heat that
enters through the insulation envelope, as well as the heat either in the product or, in the case of products that are alive, the heat that
they produce. Additional heat loads include heat that enters through doors, through the use of forklifts, fans, lights, and personnel;
and these loads must also be managed. Building design and construction must be integrated with refrigeration plant design and
construction to create cost- and energy-efcient cool and cold stores (IPENZ, 2009).

Food Quality, Storage, and Transport

Figure 2 Vapor-compression refrigeration cycle. After http://www.mechanicalengineeringblog.com/4818-vapour-compression-refrigeration-systemrefrigeration-system/ downloaded 31 July 2015.

This section covers the many facets of cool- and cold-store design, from site selection, material selection, layout, particular equipment needs for frozen cold storage, and chilled storage.

Cool- and Cold-Store Operation

Getting the maximum potential life out of stored food products means managing the product well in a cool or cold store. The logistics of managing goods in a store can have a bearing on the ultimate salability of the goods. Poor inventory management and
tracking processes will likely impact on the quality of the food products being stored and therefore the returns that can be generated
from their sale.
The control systems used, and integrated alarm systems for when the store requires attention, will minimize the likelihood of
loss of food through spoilage. Many storage facilities are moving to a lights out operating paradigm, whereby automation ensures
that humans no longer need to work in the cold area of the facility.
Fire safety is an important facet of cool- and cold-store operation. In a cold store operated at 5  C or lower, the air is very dry,
and packed and palletized food products can be a signicant re risk. Some of the refrigerants used to provide the cooling capacity
of storage facilities are highly ammable; yet they can be used safely if important principles are followed. These, combined with the
high ammability of many insulation products, mean that re safety must be paramount in the minds of the cold-store designer and
operator.
This section covers operational aspects for cool and cold stores. These include the logistics of managing goods in a store, control
systems, automation of the cool or cold store, maintenance, and re safety.

Refrigerated Transport
Transportation of food globally has drastically changed largely due to refrigeration. This all began as a result of the market created
for the frozen meat trade by the rst successful shipment of frozen sheep carcasses coming from New Zealand in the 1880s. On 15
February 1882, the Dunedin sailed for London with what was to be the rst commercially successful refrigerated shipping
voyage and the foundation of the refrigerated meat industry (Williscroft, 2007). Within 5 years, 172 shipments of frozen meat
were sent from New Zealand to the United Kingdom, of which only 9 had signicant amounts of meat condemned. Refrigerated
shipping also led to a broader meat and dairy boom in Australasia and South America.
By the middle of the twentieth century, refrigeration units were designed for installation on trucks. Today, refrigerated
vehicles are used to transport perishable goods, such as frozen foods, fruit and vegetables, and temperature-sensitive chemicals (Figure 3).

Food Quality, Storage, and Transport

Figure 3

Modes of refrigerated transport. Image downloaded from http://www.haughttransport.com/ downloaded 31 July 2015.

This section covers the multiple modes of refrigerated transport including marine, air, road, and rail.

Nonrefrigerated Transport
Not all foods require refrigerated (or temperature-controlled) transport. Preservation technologies employed in the production of
some foods (such as canning, dehydration, and bottling) enable nonrefrigerated transport of many food products. This section
covers the use of nonrefrigerated transport systems in marine, air, road, and rail for food products.

Summary
This article is an important element of the Reference Module in Food Science. The article covers diverse topics from quality attributes
of the products covered, through to their storage requirements and changes that can occur during storage. It also covers the engineering requirements of storage facilities for food products and the requirements of the transport systems used to get them to
consumers.
The article is ever developing and will be added to over time so as to continue to provide the food scientist with a comprehensive
and current resource.

References
Boundless, 2015. Food Spoilage by Microbes. Boundless Microbiology. Boundless, 21 July 2015. Retrieved 22 July 2015 from. https://www.boundless.com/microbiology/textbooks/
boundless-microbiology-textbook/industrial-microbiology-17/food-preservation-202/food-spoilage-by-microbes-1015-5468/.
Freidberg, S., 2010. Fresh: A Perishable History (1st Harvard University Press). Belknap, Cambridge, Mass, pp. 4345. ISBN 0674057228.
Hammond, S.T., Brown, J.H., Burger, J.R., Flanagan, T.P., Fristoe, T.S., Mercado-Silva, N., Nekola, J.C., Okie, J.G., 2015. Food Spoilage, Storage, and Transport: Implications for
a Sustainable Future. BioScience rst published online July 1, 2015. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biv081.
Hu, R., 1999. Food Product Design: A Computer-Aided Statistical Approach. Technomic Publishing Co, Lancaster, Pa.
IPENZ., 2009. Coldstore Engineering in New Zealand. Institute of Professional Engineers of New Zealand. Practice Note 15. ISSN 11760907.
Olsen, P., 2009. Food Traceability Process Mapping. Standard methods for analyzing material ow, information ow and information loss in food supply chains. Harmonizing
methods for food traceability process mapping and cost/benet calculations related to implementation for electronic traceability systems Noma report 15/2009, Troms.
NZFSA, 2015. Food Traceability. http://www.foodstandards.govt.nz/industry/safetystandards/traceability/pages/default.aspx.
Szpylka, J., 2013. Analytical trends in measuring food quality. Food Qual. Saf. 20 (3), 4244.
United States Department of Agriculture Marketing Workshop Report, 1951. In: Gould, W.A. (Ed.), Food Quality Assurance. AVI Publishing, Wesport, CT, 1977.
Van Boekel, M.A.J.S., 2008. Kinetic modeling of food quality: a critical review. Compr. Rev. Food Sci. Food Saf. 7, 144158.
Williscroft, C., 2007. A Lasting Legacy A 125 Year History of New Zealand Farming since the First Frozen Meat Shipment. NZ Rural Press Limited.