How a NJ packer pre-cools blueberries and ripens tomatoes in one unit

A produce grower and packer in New Jersey, USA runs two processes with one piece of equipment. Its ZGROUP Blast Chiller 2XL is a pre-cooling unit with a built-in ripening system: during the season it pre-cools blueberries in under 2 hours, and once the berry harvest ends it switches to ripening tomatoes, working as a tomato ripening room. The unit connects to the dock, so product flows directly from receiving to shipping.

The challenge

Many produce operations do not handle a single crop in a single way. This grower and packer needed fast cooling for blueberries during the season, and controlled ripening for tomatoes the rest of the year.

Those jobs usually call for two different machines. Pre-cooling needs a lot of cooling capacity to pull field heat out fast; ripening needs precise control of ethylene, temperature and humidity. Buying both would have meant two investments, two spots on the dock, and a pre-cooling unit with little to do once the berry season ended.

The solution

ZGROUP supplied one Blast Chiller 2XL with ripening, a unit that combines the best of both:

• The cooling capacity of a pre-cooling tunnel, enough to cool down any load, including blueberries in under 2 hours.
• A ripening system with ethylene, temperature and humidity control, so the same unit ripens tomatoes.

The unit connects to the dock. Product moves from receiving into the unit and from there straight to shipping, in a direct flow. It is modular, needs no permanent construction, and ZTRACK runs and monitors both programs.

The results

• < 2 h for blueberries
• + Ripening for tomatoes after the berry season
• 1 unit for both processes

Pre-cooling blueberries: what matters

Pre-cooling blueberries is about speed. The goal is to bring berries down from field temperature quickly, before they go into storage or onto a truck. A pre-cooling unit is designed to pull heat out fast; a cold room is designed to hold product at temperature. Most berry operations need both.

What to look at when planning berry pre-cooling:

• Cooling time. A 10-pallet ZGROUP pre-cooling unit brings berries down in less than 2 hours.
• Flow. Connecting the unit to the dock keeps the path from receiving to shipping short.
• Use outside the season. A unit that only pre-cools berries works hard for a few months. With a ripening system, as on this site, the same unit keeps working the rest of the year. Renting for the season is the other option: units are available to rent or to buy.
• Humidity. Humidity control from 50% to 95% RH is available through the ZGROUP humidifier system, which is derived from its ripening rooms.

One unit, two processes

A Blast Chiller with ripening gives one unit two jobs. The forced-air cooling capacity handles peak berry arrivals, and the ripening system turns the same space into a ripening room. ZTRACK reports temperature and alarms for each program. Installation takes 2 to 5 days with no civil works, and every unit carries a 5-year warranty.

Seasonal equipment that works year-round

A blueberry pre-cooling unit works hardest during the berry season. With the ripening feature, it keeps earning its place on the dock after the season: receiving, staff and shipping stay shared, and there is one asset to pay for instead of two.

Because the unit is modular, it can later be moved and reinstalled at another site.

Questions to answer first

• How many pallets of berries arrive on a peak day during the season?
• Which products need ripening, and how often do they move through the unit?
• Do cooling and ripening run at the same time, or one after the other?

With those answers, ZGROUP can size the unit, or units, for both processes.

How a tomato ripening room works

Tomatoes are often picked before full color and finished in a ripening room close to market. The room controls the air around the fruit, temperature, humidity, ethylene and CO₂, so each load reaches the color stage the buyer asked for. Cycle length depends on the variety, its condition on arrival and the stage required, so each program is set for the product.

On this site, the ripening room is the same Blast Chiller 2XL that pre-cools the blueberries: it connects at the dock and ZTRACK runs the ripening program. See our ripening rooms, more cold storage projects in New York and New Jersey, or our guide to ripening vs. degreening rooms.

Is it right for your operation?

If you pre-cool berries in season and ripen other produce the rest of the year, one unit can serve both. See the Pre-cooling tunnel and our ripening room, or talk to our team about your crops and volumes.