Fast Cooling for Soft Fruit: Bringing Ripening Room Expertise to Pre-Cooling

BG Door International is mainly known for manufacturing banana ripening room doors and interior equipment.

Over the years, the company has developed extensive expertise in controlling how air moves through a room and around pallets. Directing air exactly where it is needed is essential for achieving optimal fruit ripening. These same airflow principles can also be applied when soft fruit needs to be cooled rapidly after harvesting.

For high-value crops such as strawberries, raspberries and blueberries, removing field heat as quickly as possible is essential. When fruit remains warm, quality declines rapidly, shelf life is reduced and moisture loss can lead to a decrease in product weight.

Standard cold storage rooms are designed to maintain low temperatures once the room and its contents are already cold. However, they are generally unable to remove heat quickly from the centre of a densely packed pallet.

Why Air Movement Matters: Blowing vs. Suction

A common mistake in postharvest facilities is to blow cold air directly towards the pallets.

When air is blown against a pallet, it naturally follows the path of least resistance. As a result, much of the airflow moves around the sides of the stack instead of passing through the boxes. The exterior of the pallet may appear cool while its core remains warm.

Drawing on its experience with fruit-ripening systems, BG Door International approaches this challenge differently by using targeted suction. By creating a negative pressure difference, cold air is forced to move directly through the pallet and around the fruit.

This removes heat from the centre of the load much faster, reducing pulp temperatures to the required level without wasting energy.

Designed Around Daily Harvest Routines

Fruit is not harvested all at once. Pallets arrive continuously throughout the day.

Traditional cooling tunnels often require operators to wait until a complete row or batch has been loaded before starting the system. Consequently, the first pallets may remain warm in the room while the rest of the batch is being assembled.

BG Door International has developed modular pre-cooling suction walls with independent cooling slots. These systems can be integrated directly into daily packhouse operations.

Individual pallet detection: Sensors detect when a pallet is positioned in front of a cooling slot and automatically activate the airflow for that specific position.

No over-cooling: The airflow stops when the target temperature has been reached, helping to prevent the fruit from drying out.

Simple operation: Visual indicators show operators when each pallet is ready to be removed, making the process clear and straightforward.

Proven Technology for Global Growers

BG Door International has transferred the airflow principles developed for banana-ripening rooms to modular pre-cooling suction walls.

The company offers practical, customised and energy-efficient solutions for soft-fruit producers. These systems provide greater control over the cooling process, helping to preserve product quality and ensuring that the fruit reaches its destination in optimal condition.

Supporting the Sustainable Development Goals

By combining rapid cooling, individual pallet control and energy-efficient airflow management, BG Door International’s pre-cooling solutions are primarily aligned with SDG 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production and SDG 9 – Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure. Their efficient use of refrigeration and their contribution to reducing avoidable postharvest quality losses also support SDG 7 – Affordable and Clean Energy and SDG 13 – Climate Action.

More information at BG Door International.