Welcome to the June 2010 edition of 'Chain of Thought' - FCI's e-Newsletter.

In this newsletter, we focus on the factors of importance in the maintenance of fruit and vegetable quality. The main article begins by establishing a definition of quality, which includes the concept of food safety. We also provide an overview of the influences that seem to be contributing to the increase in fresh produce related outbreaks in recent years. Finally, we illustrate the effect of quality losses in commercial operations, using a stochastic simulation to calculate potential wastage in value and volume.

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Happy reading!

Silvia Estrada-Flores

Principal Consultant

Newsletter Archive

January 2008- Download (1.82Mb).

In our first issue we discuss the topic of co-innovation in the food industry. We also talk about traditional and new temperature monitoring technologies for the cold chain. Finally, we mention the top ten reasons why a cold chain fails.

April 2008 - Download (0.79Mb).

This issue explores the environmental impact of food supply chains. Aspects such as “Food Miles”, carbon footprints, eco-labelling and other aspects are discussed, incudling how these issues are interconnected and how these affect food companies as a whole.

September 2008- Download (1.32 Mb).

In this issue we explore the use of thermography as a predictive maintenance tool for cold stores and containers.Defects such as thermal bridges, airflow through gaps and damaged insulated sections can all be visualised through thermography.

January 2009- Download (1.8 Mb).

In this issue we discuss the results of two thermographic surveys.The first case is an example of how even a well designed and well maintained facility can benefit from the results of a thermographic survey. The second case illustrates the use of thermography as a tool to decide when it is time to decommission a container that may be jeopardizing the integrity and safety of food products or unnecessarily increasing transportation costs.

March 2009- Download (1 Mb).

In this edition we discuss the level of preparedness of the Australian food supply chains to face pandemic scenarios. Our second article discusses the effects of dirty evaporators on the performance of refrigeration systems. Cleaning evaporator coils can help to avoid potential food safety incidents. And what about energy efficiency?

December 2009- Download (1 Mb).

This issue discusses the drivers of innovation in the fresh-cuts industry and some interesting trends such as mechanical harvesting, RFID-enabled traceability and irradiation as a technology to enhance food safety.

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