Keeping frozen foods frozen

Hi all,

I'm really struggling to find a way of keeping frozen product below -12°C, as per our delivery policy, on our chilled vehicles. In our freezer we have various frozen fruits and vegetables (no meat, just things like peas, sweetcorn and blackberries for example) and whatever trials I run on keeping the product cold don't seem to work.

I've used polystyrene boxes, put ice packs in them and also trialed Thermos cool boxes with ice packs but within 2 hours with the boxes closed and sat at 4-5°C the temperature drops significantly. And our drivers can spend over 6 hours on the road sometimes. Most of the time the temperature drops from between -12° and -17°C to anywhere between -4° and 0°C within those first 2 hours.

Can anyone recommend a better method to try and keep the temperature right down? This just happens to be our final action point from an audit we've never had before and are desperate to pass.

Failing that, is there any reason I couldn't be naughty and change the procedure to a slightly higher frozen temperature to aid compliance? 

Regards,

Andy

Hello Andy,

Putting/sprinling salt over the will do. But the effect of table salt on your product I cant tell.

regards,

redfox

Hello Andy,

Sprinkling salt over the ice will do.But the effect of the table salt on your product I cant tell.

regards,

redfox

Hi Andy,

What's the reason for not using frozen transport? It would solve the problem.

Our policy is not to use chilled or ambient transport for frozen product unless the customer DEMANDS it and signs a concession form. Samples (1kg) will go ambient, but are packed with ice (from a -18 freezer) into an insulated polystyrene box and it seems to work fine. We also receive samples packed the same way and they are fine.

Hi Andy,

 

What's the reason for not using frozen transport? It would solve the problem.

 

Our policy is not to use chilled or ambient transport for frozen product unless the customer DEMANDS it and signs a concession form. Samples (1kg) will go ambient, but are packed with ice (from a -18 freezer) into an insulated polystyrene box and it seems to work fine. We also receive samples packed the same way and they are fine.

BrummyJim,

We only sell a small quantity of frozen stock, over 90% of what we sell is chilled or dry (including salads, vac packed prepared veg and fresh fruits). So having a frozen vehicle wouldn't be practical or cost effective. It's becoming quite frustrating that everything I'm trying isnt working.

Regards,

Andy

Would a portable freezer do the job? You can have it inside the vehicle running off a 12v supply. Even reaches -18. Limited volumes though.

http://www.mgdonline...sor-coolers.php

Just had a look at the link you attached and it looks like quite a good idea. Unfortunately I think we're aiming to do it on the cheap (*rolls eyes*), hence the potential use of cool boxes and polystyrene. We have 25 vehicles to get insulated storage for and only distribute a small quantity of frozen goods so paying £200 for a portable freezer in each van just isn't something our MD would want to do. Thanks for your suggestions though, its nice that you're trying to help me out

Andy

You're welcome Andy. Good luck!

Hi Andy,

Use Dry ice ?

IMEX this is the usual method for air transport.

PS - i asumed yr  "drops" = "rises"

I also think that dry ice is a solution to look into.

Martha