THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBING
× 
Food and Beverage Tech Review Weekly Brief
Be first to read the latest tech news, Industry Leader's Insights, and CIO interviews of medium and large enterprises exclusively from Food and Beverage Tech Review
What Produce Storage Must Protect Beyond Temperature
Food and Beverages Tech Review | Thursday, October 08, 2026
Fresh produce can start losing value long before a storage problem is obvious. A slight temperature change or uneven airflow may not disrupt the facility, but both can shorten how long produce remains usable. How quickly goods move through the building matters too. Delays at loading can put pressure on both product quality and daily operations. For executives evaluating produce storage systems, refrigeration capacity is only one part of the decision. The facility also needs to work around the product, how it moves through the site and the conditions needed to keep it in good condition over time.
The product should come first, before the equipment list. Bulk-stored potatoes have different needs from binned produce, while leafy vegetables require a different set of conditions altogether. Airflow, humidity, insulation and refrigeration need to work together. A system can hold the right temperature and still create problems if air does not move evenly or parts of the facility are difficult to clean. A stronger approach starts with the commodity and works outward to the building and how it will be used.
Stay ahead of the industry with exclusive feature stories on the top companies, expert insights and the latest news delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe today.
The building also needs to work as part of the wider operation. Storage is rarely separate from packing and loading, and a change in handling can quickly change what the facility needs to support. Door placement and traffic flow affect how efficiently product moves, while storage density determines how much of the available space can actually be used. Automation adds another consideration. Equipment interfaces and clearance requirements need to be accounted for early, not after construction is underway. Buyers should look at how soon refrigeration specialists and equipment partners are brought into the design, particularly for automated storage and retrieval. Getting those decisions right early can prevent costly changes later.
Food safety needs to be part of that thinking from the start. Materials and interior surfaces affect how easily a facility can be cleaned, while temperature and humidity can influence the conditions in which biological problems develop. Traceability also affects how products move through the site. These considerations work best when planned alongside maintenance access and commissioning rather than treated as separate compliance tasks. The real comparison is not simply between equipment packages, but between different ways of creating a storage environment that remains cleanable, serviceable and adaptable.
"McGowan Rice brings refrigeration specialists into projects early and coordinates with technology partners when automation or specialized equipment must be integrated from the outset."
Energy is another consideration that starts with the design. Insulation and refrigeration choices can shape running costs for years after a facility is built. Variable-frequency drives and other controls can help equipment respond to changing loads, but their impact depends on how the facility operates day to day. The design also needs to leave room for change. Markets shift, handling methods evolve and the building may need to adapt, so the systems supporting it should not become a limitation later.
McGowan Rice carries this thinking through its work on temperature-controlled produce storage, from engineering and construction to commissioning and later modifications. Refrigeration specialists are involved early, with technology partners brought in when automation or specialised equipment needs to be part of the design. Airflow, cleanability, insulation and maintenance access are considered alongside the product and how the facility may need to change over time. That keeps the storage environment tied to the way the building will actually be used, rather than treating each requirement as a separate decision. For produce storage facilities that need to work as well in daily operation as they do on paper, that makes a meaningful difference.
More in News
There is an increasing demand for sustainable food due to climate change's imminent consequences and the expanding population. Agricultural technology advancements greatly influence farmers' capacity to supply expanding demand while conserving the environment. Since they emphasize innovation and spend on technological innovations to manage their farms more sustainably, U.S. soybean farmers play a significant role in determining the future of farming. This is due to the changing environment. Farmers, customers, and food corporations recognize this advantage.
The agricultural sector has experienced tremendous growth in fields like seed technology, machinery design, and precision planting. Still, a significant change in the industry has been its focus on evaluating the positive outcomes of cutting-edge soil management techniques, which are essential to agriculture development.
In addition to soil health, technology is essential to agriculture. Developing on-farm technology helps farmers grow more food on less land with more accuracy when applying pesticides, fertilizer, and water, protecting soil and rivers. No two farmers farm the same or in the same way as any two crops. Technology developments are essential for profitable and sustainable farming since farmers must contend with varying climates, soil compositions, and economic realities.
Today's farmers use modern equipment such as:
● Sustainable practices focused on continuous improvement:
Various agricultural techniques improve soil health and make it sustainable for long-term use, including crop rotation, cover crops, and no-till farming, which increases soil carbon levels.
● Autonomous farming:
Artificial intelligence (AI), robots, and auto-steer technology all strive to boost productivity and dependability while also producing affordable and efficient tools that may help fulfill the demands of our expanding population.
● Precision farming:
Precision farming employs technology to accurately plant seeds, irrigate crops, apply fertilizer, and more. This improves agricultural yields while optimizing the use of every resource - decreasing waste and runoff. GPS, drones, and satellites power precision farming.
● Bioengineering:
Farmers are using the newest seed technology, which reduces the need for herbicide treatments. It lessens weed and insect pressure, increases yields and revenues, and has other positive environmental effects.
...Read more
Food waste is a global challenge with severe economic, environmental, and social repercussions. Simultaneously, demand for sustainable, eco-friendly packaging is escalating. Smart temperature-sensitive packaging emerges as a powerful solution, marrying these two critical needs by significantly enhancing food freshness, extending shelf life, and becoming an integral part of modern waste reduction strategies.
Intelligent Packaging: A Temperature-Responsive Solution
Smart temperature-sensitive packaging, often classified under Intelligent Packaging, integrates active components that visually or electronically indicate a product’s temperature history. This innovation marks a paradigm shift from traditional time-based “use-by” dates to condition-based “best-before” indicators that better reflect food quality. Among the leading technologies driving this transformation are Time-Temperature Indicators (TTIs), RFID tags with temperature sensors, and temperature-sensitive inks or polymers. TTIs use labels or inks that irreversibly change color or shape upon exposure to specific temperature thresholds, offering consumers clear visual cues of temperature abuse and providing a more reliable reflection of product freshness. RFID tags, on the other hand, embed chips within packaging to continuously log and transmit temperature data throughout the supply chain, enabling manufacturers to trace and isolate compromised batches, thereby enhancing quality control and cold chain integrity. Temperature-sensitive polymers or inks act as built-in quality checkpoints, activating only when a temperature violation occurs, ensuring that products meet storage standards at every stage of distribution.
Bridging Freshness and Sustainability
The integration of intelligent packaging systems brings significant value to both food preservation and sustainability goals. By monitoring the thermal history of products, technologies such as TTIs and sensors allow for more accurate shelf-life assessment, effectively extending the safe consumption period for perishable goods like meat, dairy, and produce. This monitoring reduces premature disposal and helps consumers make informed decisions about product freshness.
Intelligent packaging also enables targeted waste-reduction strategies by helping businesses assess and reprice items with minor temperature deviations instead of discarding full batches. Sensor data further supports improvements in logistics and cold chain management, while sustainability efforts increasingly extend to packaging materials. GreenLifeTech supports this focus on food preservation and waste reduction through oxygen-reduction technology that helps extend freshness in perishable products. Research into biodegradable and compostable TTIs, along with printed electronic sensors on paper or bioplastic substrates, ensures that advances in food preservation align with circular economy goals without adding to plastic pollution.
For smart temperature-sensitive packaging to achieve its full potential, standardization, cost reduction, and consumer education are key. As the technology matures and becomes more cost-effective, its integration from farm to fork will create a transparent, accountable, and highly efficient food supply chain.
Suncoast Food Brokerage strengthens cold chain management by aligning manufacturers, distributors, and operators through relationship-driven foodservice execution.
Ultimately, these intelligent packaging technologies are more than just labels; they are data-rich tools that empower consumers, retailers, and supply chain managers to make informed decisions, transforming an uncertain "use-by" date into a verified guarantee of freshness, thus taking a massive bite out of global food waste.
...Read more
To improve food safety, each stage of food production should be meticulously carried out and monitored.
The HACCP system is a scientific and systematic method for identifying, assessing, and controlling hazards in the food manufacturing process. The HACCP system incorporates food safety control into the process design rather than relying on end-product testing. As a result, the HACCP system offers a preventive and thus cost-effective approach to food safety.
The principles of a HACCP System are as follows:
Conduct a hazard study by identifying potential dangers and implementing control measures
Any biological, chemical, or physical agent in food that can cause an adverse health effect is considered a food safety hazard. Restaurateurs collect and evaluate information on hazards found in raw materials and other ingredients, the environment, the process, the food, and the conditions that lead to their presence to determine whether or not these are significant hazards and consider any measures to control identified hazards.
Identify, validate and monitor important control points (CCPs)
A crucial control point is when control can be applied to prevent, remove, or reduce a food safety concern to an acceptable level.
Not every danger and the preventative measure-identified point will become a crucial control point. A logical decision-making procedure is used to establish whether or not the process is a critical control point.
In a critical control point, the critical limit is an observable or measurable criterion that divides acceptability from the unacceptability of food. These required limits should be set and scientifically validated to show that they can control dangers to an acceptable level when correctly applied.
A HACCP system must be monitored. Monitoring involves a predefined sequence of observations or measurements to assess whether a critical control point is under control. Monitoring can alert the plant if the process loses control, allowing it to take action before reaching the limit.
Take corrective measures
Corrective action is conducted when the critical control point monitoring data show that the limit could not be met, indicating a loss of control.
Because HACCP is a preventative approach, plant management must plan ahead of time to address anticipated deviations from predefined critical limits. Whenever a key control point limit is exceeded, the plant must promptly correct it.
The plant management must plan and ensure that the remedial efforts effectively bring the CCP under control. The corrective actions must include the proper disposal of the impacted products.
Verify the HACCP plan and processes
Before implementing HACCP, it should be validated using authoritative sources' instruction or an examination of scientific literature. The HACCP plan should be reviewed to control all important risks relevant to the food company.
To ensure that the HACCP plan is followed and the hazards are adequately controlled, procedures should be established. Any changes that may affect food safety necessitate a review of the HACCP system and revalidation of the HACCP plan.
Maintain documents and records
The HACCP system requires appropriate record keeping. Hazard analysis, CCP and critical limit determination should be documented. Likewise, CCP monitoring activities, deviations, and accompanying remedial actions should be carefully documented.
See Also: Top Food and Beverages Consulting/Service Companies
...Read more
Scientific research has proven that cannabis significantly benefits health by managing pain, supporting mental health, and alleviating symptoms of certain diseases.
Of all plant materials, cannabis—more commonly known as marijuana or weed—holds the most contentious and captivating history. Research into its repercussions on well-being is a subject of interest, with legal tides shifting and curiosity about latent health benefits growing. Though research is still ongoing, emerging evidence offers several health benefits; however, with the use of this substance, one should be aware of the probable advantages and limitations.
In terms of benefits regarding health, the most well-documented revolves around the ability of cannabis to alleviate chronic pain. This is because cannabis is known to contain compounds called cannabinoids—tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol being just a few. Once they are ingested or smoked, they come into contact with a person's endocannabinoid system, where they interact with pain signals to reduce inflammation. The evidence has been quite overwhelming for treating conditions such as arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and neuropathic pain. Cannabis presents one such course for the possible management of chronic pain with reduced addiction risks compared to traditional pain medications, including opioids.
It also has some promising applications in attenuating symptoms associated with mental health. CBD, a non-psychoactive constituent of cannabis, has been gathering attention as probably having anxiety and depression-reducing effects. Some of these studies have proven that CBD helps in mood balancing and decreases anxiety without the intoxicating effects THC produces. This makes CBD a prospective therapy for people who suffer from anxiety, PTSD, and other disorders in mood. However, when talking about the effects of THC on mental health, things get complex. Sometimes, THC is found to increase anxiety in some people or cause paranoia.
Another area where cannabis is gaining tremendous prominence is with its potential to improve sleep quality. Many people turn to cannabis for various causes of insomnia and other sleeping disorders. The soothing properties of THC can induce relaxation and help one fall asleep. Also, cannabis may modulate the architecture of the sleep pattern and promote a more significant proportion of deep sleep. However, reliance on cannabis for sleep should be done very cautiously since long-term use of cannabis affects the sleep pattern and leads to tolerance.
Cannabis is being researched for its potential in symptom relief in certain medical conditions, such as chemotherapy-related nausea and vomiting, HIV/AIDS appetite loss, and muscle spasms in multiple sclerosis. However, the therapeutic potential of cannabis is not fully realized, as it can cause cognitive impairment, dizziness, and altered judgment. Additionally, cannabis use can be restricted or allowed for wide accessibility and regulation under regional laws. Individuals considering cannabis use should consult with health experts to ensure it aligns with their unique health needs and conditions.
...Read more
Top
