Running on Ice: A new home for avocados

All thawed out

A.M. King, a national design firm, has completed the expansion of a cold distribution center in Charlotte, North Carolina, for Henry Avocado Corp. The original Henry farm in San Diego County has been in continuous avocado production since 1925. 

The new facility is a mix of forced-air rooms, cooler storage space for produce, loading docks and a mechanical equipment room. It was designed with a refrigeration system that allowed for future expansion. The new facility has 11 ripening rooms and one cooler and was designed so that the temperature in each forced-air room can be independently controlled for maximum flexibility. The total capability of the facility is more than 1.5 million cartons of organic and conventional avocados per year.

“Now with the expansion, Henry Avocado will have the capacity to supply more customers with the freshest CustomRipened avocados in the Mid-Atlantic region,” said Ozzie Figueroa, Henry Avocado marketing and customer service director, in a Produce Blue Book article.

Temperature checks

Candor Expedite has developed a fully reusable cold packaging solution that allows pallet and box-size frozen and refrigerated shipments to go by dry van transportation and stay frozen or refrigerated for up to nine days. 

“I’ve witnessed the challenges shippers face in the frozen and refrigerated market. The excessive expenditure, along with issues like damaged products and delayed deliveries, is alarming,” Nicole Glenn, founder and CEO of Candor Expedite, said in an article in Food Industry Executive.

This technology now allows food shippers to have three separate temperatures on one shipment. Frozen, refrigerated and room temperature can all go on one truck, offering more cost-effective solutions to shippers. Everything is completely reusable, and no dry ice is used. 

Food and drug

Once upon a time in 2022, the Food and Drug Administration issued the food traceability rule that requires records be kept for critical tracking events throughout the supply chain for foods on the Food Traceability List. The rule went into effect Jan. 20, 2023.

Fast forward to now and the FDA has published a new resource to aid compliance with the new rule, including a frequently asked questions section to help those who are refining their processes ensure they are remaining compliant. 

In addition, the FDA has partnered with the Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance to develop training for the food industry on the Food Traceability Rule. Curriculum development has been initiated by a team including subject matter experts from FDA, industry and academia. The team is creating training exercises to help food industry personnel understand FDA’s Food Traceability Rule requirements. The training is anticipated to be available by mid-2025.

Cold chain lanes

This week’s SONAR chart takes a look at the reefer market as a whole for the U.S. The Fourth of July does add a short spike in demand as a majority of firework deliveries happen in the days before the holiday and are delivered in temperature-controlled trailers. There is that spike in demand as well as the slow Northern advancement of produce season.

Reefer outbound tender rejections will hit a peak in the next 24 hours as drivers look to enjoy some time off for the holiday. The beginning of next week will serve as holiday cleanup. The real test of a rebound in the freight market will come in the weeks following the Fourth. Should reefer rejection rates stay around 10% or higher, it would be a strong indication that the market is beginning to rebound.

Is SONAR for you? Check it out with a demo!

Shelf life

CONCOR and ITE Japan sign MoU for green cold chain logistics solution

Pretty cool: Erb Group celebrates 65 years in cold chain transportation

Birds Eye launches Crispy Chips in promotion partnership with Hasbro

The Ports of LA and Long Beach invest US$25m in truck charging

Eco-Friendly refrigeration system designed for cold storage warehouse

Wanna chat in the cooler? Shoot me an email with comments, questions or story ideas at moconnell@freightwaves.com.

See you on the internet.

Mary

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Source: freightwaves - Running on Ice: A new home for avocados
Editor: Mary O'Connell