OmniFresh Product Technology
Over the last decade advances in transportation, packaging materials and processing technologies have refocused the food industry’s attention and investment. Where extension of shelf life was the holy grail of the 80’s improving then, maintaining product quality is what sells in the new millennium. Ever more costly GAP’s, GMP’s, SSOP’s and HACCP regulations continue to drive the quest for the safest, highest quality and highest margin products the industry can produce.
In agriculture, storage, transportation, processing and retail facilities nationwide the push is to eliminate waste, reduce costs, improve performance and offer the safest and highest quality product on the market.
The question is: In our enthusiasm for this new quest, are we ignoring what we already know?
It is only by learning how to extend shelf life that we can predictably extend the window of highest quality by depressing the natural ripening and decay mechanisms in food. In the final analysis, the highest quality is most reliably achieved as a by-product of pro-actively managing those factors which are known to extend shelf life.
Water is the enemy
It is well known that water is the enemy in refrigerated spaces. Clearly, condensate, in any form, reduces the efficiency of refrigeration systems, impairs their operation, increases energy and maintenance costs and reduces their useful service life. Anyone who operates refrigerated space faces some form of these problems on a daily basis. But it is so common a problem, few stop to consider what could be accomplished if it were solved or, how it might be solved.
There are, however, even more sinister, costly and dangerous aspects to the presence of excess water in refrigerated food storage.
Liquid water condensing on produce, meats, fish or fowl set up a predictable series of events which inevitably result in the contamination or spoilage of these products. Standing water encourages the growth of bacteria and mould colonies on food. Water vapour condensing on evaporator coils often serves as a means to transport potentially deadly microbial infestations throughout a cooler.
The old answer -- reducing the humidity in cooled spaces -- never did prevent mould growth and may seriously damage foodstuffs by causing them to give up the internal moisture required to keep them fresh, viable and healthful.
Temperature & Humidity
It is well documented that most produce likes the temperature to be between 32 degrees F and 38 degrees F; with, humidity between 85% and 99%. Store or transport products outside of these ranges and you can expect your products to pay the price in shelf life, safety and quality.
It's all about time
If a product has an expected shelf life of a week in typical storage, and those conditions can be managed to extend that to two or three weeks, the product is bound to be better, safer and more appetizing whenever it is used. “Food Quality: It’s all about time”
The graph (below) illustrates a day and a half in the life of the products stored in a cooler. As in all the exhibits to follow red is the recorded temperature, blue is recorded relative humidity and green the calculated dew point temperature. Notice that Temp varies from about 35.6F to a high of over 41F while the set point on the thermostat (black line) was 35F. Relative humidity, in this produce cooler, is dangerously low -- between 65% and 86%.
The result of the environment being constantly out of synch with the needs of the stored product is predictable. As food looses vital internal moisture, humidity in the space increases. Then, when the temperature drops, part of the condensing water falls back on the produce resulting in mold, mildew and spoilage while the rest freezes on the evaporator coils further degrading system efficiency.
The challenge of refrigerated storage has always been to balance these systems so that temperatures and humidity needed to ensure food freshness and safety could be predictably maintained at the same time equipment efficiencies are maximized.
At last there is a way to accomplish both goals at the same time.
The proprietary blend of FDA and USDA approved materials in OmniFresh products act to manage water vapour in a way that keeps dew point temperatures well below the recorded temperatures in the space. The result is that although relative humidity is maintained at the very high levels foods like, condensation is prevented. The resulting environment benefits the food while reducing energy cost wasted on inefficiencies due to condensation and icing.
The following graph illustrates changes to the (above) cooler after introduction of OmniFresh. The, now, balanced environment supports continued health and viability of the stored produce while preventing condensation and, keeping refrigeration equipment free from ice.
It is apparent that temperatures are moving downward as humidity is moving up. By the end of the test period Temp. has achieved and stabilized at the set point of 35F. Humidity, concurrently, moved up and stabilized at near optimum levels. Clearly, these conditions are much more likely to result in a higher quality product whether it is used in two days or a week.
Another example of these phenomena can be seen in frozen storage where swings in humidity are even more dramatic and the results can be even more costly.
Note in this example that the set point Temp (bold black line) of +7 degrees F is seldom reached by recorded Temp (red). Further, the Temp plot illustrates simultaneous defrost and compressor operation due to an ongoing “alarm” condition overriding normal operations. This was caused by a massive ice deposit on evaporator coils. Finally, notice the collision of the green dew point plot with the red temperature plot (arrow). Each event, such as this results in additional condensation and ice build-up. This freezer is, simply, out of control. And, no matter how hard it works, it cannot recover a normal operational profile without outside intervention.
In this case, the only outside intervention needed was the introduction of OmniFresh into the freezer.
No ice was removed manually, the thermostat was not reset and no adjustment was made to the defrost equipment. No change was made in normal operations, traffic or contents of the freezer.
Within 48 hours after installation, we see that temperatures consistently move lower until the set point is reached. Defrost (peaks) cycles return to a predictable pattern and defrost temperatures which had peaked at 30oF in the previous example are, now, no greater than 20oF. Humidity has been stabilized and, most importantly, dew point has been controlled to eliminate the possibility of further condensation.
Here is an example of the kind of change OmniFresh can make in a freezer’s operations within a matter of hours after installation.
The physics of OmniFresh and why it works are fairly simple. But, in order to understand how it works one needs to understand how produce ripens and spoils.
When stored in a low humidity atmosphere produce gives up water trying to equalize its moisture level to that of the surrounding air. In doing so, it literally haemorrhages to death, opening up fissures and giving bacteria and moulds a place to prosper in the process. On the other hand, condensate standing on foods, also, provides a completely acceptable site for bacterial and mould to grow which will ultimately invade and spoil the product. OmniFresh interrupts the natural mechanisms of decay by respirating water vapour very much like the products stored in cooled spaces – only faster and better. Unlike food which cannot recover moisture once it is lost, OmniFresh exhales water vapour into the atmosphere when temperatures rise. This increases relative humidity preventing dehydration of stored product. Then, when temperatures fall, OmniFresh inhales water vapour, reducing the dew point; thus, preventing condensation. The result is a balanced environment throughout the whole system. And, everything from your energy and maintenance budgets to the stored product benefit.
When your system is operating properly – for the food -- produce will neither wither nor rust, red meat stays red, fish produce far less histamine slime and tastes and odors stay where they belong. And because the refrigeration components remain ice and condensate free, they run less yet produce a colder and more stable environment as is shown above.
Although other products may claim to meet USDA and FDA requirements for certain applications, they are, most often, formulated with listed chemicals. These “additives” often require special handling precautions and present disposal issues. They are much more expensive, have a shorter useful life and work no better than the properly formulated blend of pure minerals used in OmniFresh which present none of these liabilities ( MSDS).
If your goals are to maximize the quality of your product and minimize your costs of doing business, you should try OmniFresh for the sake of your customers and your budget.