Understanding Distribution Environment for Fresh Produces

UNDERSTANDING DISTRIBUTION ENVIRONMENT FOR FRESH PRODUCES

Sponsoring Institution

National Institute of Food and Agriculture

Project Status

COMPLETE

Funding Source

HATCH

Reporting Frequency

Annual

Accession No.

0198021

Grant No.

(N/A)

Cumulative Award Amt.

(N/A)

Proposal No.

(N/A)

Multistate No.

(N/A)

Project Start Date

Jul 1, 2003

Project End Date

Jan 1, 2005

Grant Year

(N/A)

Program Code

[(N/A)]- (N/A)

Recipient Organization
OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
CORVALLIS,OR 97331

Performing Department
FOOD INNOVATION CENTER EXP STA

Non Technical Summary
A lack of information about the distribution environment of fresh produce could lead to bad management of the distribution system, less effective handling systems, high cost packaging systems, and inferior quality of fresh produce. The purpose of this project is to develop an information database of distribution evironment for fresh produce.

Animal Health Component

40%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

40%

Developmental

60%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
503	1199	2020	50%
503	1499	2020	50%

Knowledge Area
503 - Quality Maintenance in Storing and Marketing Food Products;

Subject Of Investigation
1499 - Vegetables, general/other; 1199 - Deciduous and small fruits, general/other;

Field Of Science
2020 - Engineering;

Goals / Objectives
The objective of this research is to develop an internet-based distribution environment database for fresh produce. The specific objectives are: 1. Identify the types of high value fresh produce that are most susceptible to quality damage in distribution and handling. 2. Develop and design an instrumental fresh produce package for measuring distribution environment data including temperature, humidity, shock, vibration, and global position. 3. Evaluate the existing packaging materials and container designs used with the identified types of produce under simulated abusive logistic environments. 4. Identify the critical handling methods and transportation modes that cause the most damage to fresh produce. 5. Develop a database of distribution environment, packaging materials and containers for fresh produce.

Project Methods
Objective 1 - An extensive literature search related to distribution environment for fresh produce will be conducted through the world wide web, libraries, academic institutions/universities, professional associations/organizations, and government agencies. A survey may be developed to gather information of existing distribution environment for fresh produces from processing plants, packing houses, shippers, and grocery stores. The information may include the type of fresh produce, the amount of produce shipped, the type of packaging materials and containers, the amount of transportation loss and damage, the kind of damage, the major causes, loading/unloading methods, and other distribution environmental information. Objective 2 - An instrumented box will be designed, built and used for collecting environment data during shipping. The instrumented box will be able to measure the real-time temperature, humidity and pressure inside the shipping container as well as the amplitude of shock and vibration in three directions and the location and velocity of the transportation vehicle (GPS data). Key instrumentation will be performed by a field recorder SAVER SV-1 made by Lansmont Corp. The instrumentation unit will be built into a dummy food container that has the same size and configuration of an actual food packaging container. The instrumented box will be able to record the environment data at the desired time interval. Objective 3 - Based on the information gathered in objectives 1 and 2, we will be able to know the level of temperature and humidity variation in a specific distribution environment for the fresh produce, the amplitude of vibration and shock on the produce packages, maximum and average drop height of the fresh produce packages, where those take place, and at what time. Objective 4 - The physical properties of the packaging materials and containers for the identified fresh produce can be evaluated by measuring gas (O2, CO2, or N2) and water vapor permeability, and its physical (mechanical) properties (e.g. strength and elasticity) before and after shipping. The effect of logistic environment data collected during the shipping process on the performance of polymer packaging materials can then be examined. With the collected environment data, the level or variation of temperature and humidity stress as well as level of shock and vibration throughout the whole shipping process can be estimated. Objective 5 - a commercial database software will be developed and used to manage the information gathered from surveys, existing internet databases, and actual lab measurement. It will be sorted according to the type of fresh produce, transportation modes and routes, distribution seasons, handling methods, packaging materials and containers. It can be accessed and shared online from the internet by the users.

Progress 07/01/03 to 01/01/05

Outputs
A lack of information about the distribution environment of fresh produce could lead to bad management of the distribution system, less effective handling systems, high cost packaging systems, and inferior quality of fresh produce. The purpose of this project is to develop an information database of distribution evironment for fresh produce.

Impacts
This project will provide food companies and packaging suppliers needing information for properly pacakging material selction, packaging design, and handling of their fresh produce products.

Publications

No publications reported this period

Progress 01/01/04 to 12/31/04

Outputs
During the reporting period (1/1/2004-12/30/2004), the research work has been focused on the following areas: (1) developing a packaging material, container, and supplier library and database; (2) searching for and collecting information on distribution environment for fresh produce; and (3) acquiring data logger for temperature, humidity, vibration, and impact inside the food packaging containers. A packaging material and container library/database has been developed. The database has included various packaging material and container products from over 70 packaging suppliers. Also included are local co-packers, graphic and structural designers, and distributors. At this stage, the database has the built-in function of item sorting, searching, and grouping based on a particular item attribute. Specific packaging material and container can be sorted and selected based on the type of food products, the type of packaging materials and containers, barrier properties or performance of the packaging materials, the name of the local suppliers, and other attributes. It has a capability of network interaction. A packaging supplier or user can access the database to look for needed information or can input or update their own information page with a login name and password. Some initial impacts of this database have been shown from the service it has provided to NW packaging suppliers and food companies. Several food companies have successfully developed their food products by using the information obtained from the database. In addition, initial work has been conducted to identify major fruit commodities in the Northwest, who the major distributors are, and the distribution environment from post-harvest to storage, including type of fresh produce shipped, amount of produce shipped, types of packaging materials and containers, amount of transportation loss and damage, kind of damage, major causes, loading/unloading methods, type of transportation, duration of trip, and storage conditions (temperature and humidity). Work that has been completed includes: determination of major fruit commodities in the Northwest, preliminary web-based and periodical search for research/articles on distribution environment of fresh produce, and preliminary data collection of northwest fruit distributors and fresh fruit transportation conditions. Finally, for development of the instrumented packaging container, different data loggers for temperature, humidity, and vibration as well as GPS interface system has been searched and evaluated for performance and cost. We are going to purchase and put together an instrumented packaging container in the next reporting period.

Impacts
This project will provide food companies and packaging suppliers needing information for properly pacakging material selction, packaging design, and handling of their fresh produce products.

Publications

No publications reported this period