Tips & Tricks for Winter Storage Crops
It’s hard to believe it’s already that time of year where we are storing root vegetables, apples, and more for the winter season! A clean environment with the right temperature and humidity is crucial in maintaining food quality and safety. Here are some things to follow in preparation for your winter storage systems:
Temperature and Humidity
Certain crops like certain temps and humidity. Carrots need humidity, while garlic and (non-green) onions are not a fan of humidity. If you’re curious about the ideal temps and humidity to maintain for crops you are storing, check out this resource from the University of Tennessee.
Condensation and Drip Pans
With winter storage, it’s important to think about how you are managing the humidity you are purposely creating for quality reasons. I’ve witnessed some creative options. With root cellars, they are not easily cleanable, so make sure you are storing produce off the ground, not contacting walls or any surfaces with produce, and really monitoring for pests (there’s a lot more to it than that, you can reach out for more specifics!).
I’ve seen sprinklers used in cold rooms to maintain humidity levels. While this works for large spaces, it also comes with a lot of management: minimizing splash off the floor onto produce, ensuring the sprinklers don’t touch the condenser and create condensate that drips of the condenser and contacts produce, water tests for the water source of the sprinkler, and more.
In any cold storage space, do not allow any condensation from condenser pipes, condensers, drip pans, etc. to drip on and contact produce. If a condenser sweats and drips into a walkway in the cold room, then there needs to be a plan in place to a) regularly clean it and/or b) train people not to drive equipment or walk through the puddle. If the drainage pipe for the drip pan is sweating, be sure to stack produce items, especially products that are in open bins, away from walls.
If you need the extra space in your storage room and have a sweaty condenser, you can choose to clean and sanitize the condenser, drip pan, etc. so that you’re treating it the same way as you would a food contact surface. That means a cleaning & sanitizing record would need to be kept for this practice too.
Another method in maintaining humidity in the cold room is putting high-humidity products into plastic bulk crate bags. It keeps the produce in the bag relatively humid enough, while not making the entire environment of the whole cold room really wet, sweaty, and/or a lot of moving parts to manage during the winter months.
As you can see, there are many options that come with different storage methods! However, flooding the floor of your cold storage room is not an effective way to introduce humidity into your system. If you’re curious about the science or the details behind this, let’s talk! But the short version is that there’s a great deal of risk with that method.
What’s in the Drains?
Whether it’s a french drain, trench drain, or something else, drains vary in cleanability. If you do clean your drains, avoid using high pressure hoses, as they can spread around everything you are trying to get out of the drain onto produce and/or food contact surfaces!
In cold storage areas that have a condenser, I like to follow the path of where the condensate is being drained to. Is it to a drain that’s in the middle of the cooler, that everyone steps on? If so, how do you clean it, when, and/or do you train staff to walk around it? Is it to a drain where produce is stored directly on top of? Or is it drained outside of the cooler, to a place where there is no foot traffic or produce storage, washing, or holding?
What’s Next?
There are a lot of factors to think about when it comes to cold storage and how to do it properly and safely. That’s where us technicians can help you! We navigate what risks may or may not be present in your storage systems, and how to manage them in a way that works for you. We can also help you create any required records. And we have cost-share dollars available!
