Temperature variances in a 12 m integral reefer container carrying plums under a dual temperature shipping regime

The South African plum industry is an important supplier of fresh fruit to the northern hemisphere from December to April. Extensive use is made of a dual-temperature shipping regime, which is a form of intermittent warming, in order to limit the occurrence of chilling-related internal defects like gel breakdown (GB) and internal browning (IB). The perception in industry is that use of the 12 m integral reefer containers leads to more quality defects than are experienced in conventional reefer vessels using the same temperature regimes. It was hypothesised that there are significant temperature variances in the integral reefers and three pallets of Sapphire plums were therefore wired with thermocouples to log pulp and air temperatures during commercial shipping to the United Kingdom.[...]