The Xtend® Integrated Postharvest Cooling Management System (XIPCMS) is a quality control system developed to monitor and control temperature and weight loss of fresh produce during forced air-cooling and vacuum-cooling processes.
The system aims to enable its users to reap the maximum benefit from these processes, while preventing damage to fresh produce lines that typically experience dehydration when cooled.
The system, which forms part of the StePac Xtend QA Bodyguard system, uses predefined parameters for each specific produce type to indicate precisely when to terminate the cooling process.
XIPCMS can be used in a modular manner - for either or both forced-air and vacuum cooling processes, with or without the weight loss monitoring functionality - according to the requirements and sensitivities of each produce item.
The system provides full traceability of the cooling processes down to the level of the single pallet, by means of a pallet tag, and generates detailed reports on each cooling cycle. These reports are stored in a dedicated database and remain available for retrieval by authorized users for up to six months.
Its introduction into Europe comes on the back of a year-long iceless shipping project for fresh broccoli in the US, which Stidham believes has proved the system’s worth. “The major benefit to shippers and their customers is that this system provides 100 per cent traceability from field to the point of delivery to the customer, through a process that will not allow the product to be devalued in any way,” he told the Journal.
“We are taking the art out of the process and really adding science to ensure growers, shippers and receivers, whether they be in the foodservice or retail sectors, can achieve consistent arrivals. By doing that, much of the tension can be taken out of the deal.
“The monitoring technology and acquisition of data that we bring to the table is really part and parcel of ensuring quality throughout the supply chain.”
StePac has been working with several US companies, including Duda and Coastline, in the last 12 months, to develop the system’s use within iceless broccoli shipments.
“StePac’s Xtend system gives us a higher level of confidence that our iceless broccoli products will maintain their quality, freshness and nutrient content,” says Sammy Duda, division vice president of Duda’s California operations. “We spent over a year investigating the system and believe it provides the most comprehensive solution to meeting our quality standards for our year-round iceless broccoli program.”
“That was the original motivator for the system,” said Ben-Tzur, “but the application can extend and is capable of providing benefits to any commodity that is pressure-cooled, hydro-vacuum-cooled or vacuum-cooled.
It will graduate from broccoli to other lines and also to other types of cooling technology and to all other products moving through hydro-cooling facilities, he adds. And after initially focussing on temperature and weight-loss issues, the system now has additional functionality, bringing real-time internal and external quality factors into the equation.
StePac has developed XIPCMS to work with its Xtend modified atmosphere packaging range and, says Ben-Tzur, while the two could be used independently, this is not something the company recommends. “When there is a marriage between the XIPCMS technology and Xtend MA packaging, we have proved that the performance of the fruit or vegetables far extends beyond normal expectations in terms of shelf-life . We want to optimise the efficiency of our bags and ensure that they perform to their maximum potential at all times. This integrated approach will make that happen. The synergy between controlling the quality of the produce with MA packaging and monitoring its performance and characteristics in real-time throughout its journey to the customer is a winning proposition.”
Some products do not require MA packaging, of course, and in these instances, the independent use of the XIPCMS is valid and still “offers huge potential” he says.
“Cooling is never precise and products typically come out of the process either under-cooled or over-cooled, which is obviously far from ideal and puts the entire supply chain at risk.”
StePac, he says, is selecting clients in Europe to extend the product to the old continent. “We have to feel confident that users are able to bring out the best in our products, which means they themselves have to employ excellent post-harvest practises. We are looking through the supply chain for partnerships and we genuinely believe that everyone will benefit by dealing with an integrated system rather than the individual elements of that system.
“We already have a customer for the system in the UK, the identity of which we will announce a little later in the year,” says Ben-Tzur.
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