The objective of this project was to conduct a shipboard performance evaluation of the BlueZone® Model 300 unit manufactured by Primaira, LLC. with aim to extends the shelf life of fresh fruit and vegetables (FF&V). With the limit of test condition, the test was conducted and recorded by chief and other ship crew.
3.1 System Description
BlueZone® Fresh Preservation Technology works by removing ethylene and microbial load from the atmosphere of refrigerated containers. The claimed purification capacity of Model 300 unit is up to 2,500 ft3 (70 m3).
The vessel COSCO JUDA was equipped with three walk-in refrigerators separately for Fruit & Vegetable, Meat & Fish and Groceries. Each walk-in has independent temperature sensor that was displayed in kitchen. The BlueZone® Model 300 was installed in Fruit & Vegetable refrigerator, with an estimate volume of 65m3. The temperature of walk-in refrigerator was set at 4°C.
3.2 Quality Control and Assurance
The test has been observed by the chief under the guidance of Test Procedure provided by Headway in January 2018. For the convenience of ship crew, the procedure was composed in Chinese with a translated version of User Manual. A copy of Test Procedure in English can be translated and provided upon request.
BlueZone® Model 300 unit has been installed according to the instructions on User Manual under the supervision of Cheng’guo, Liu, Senior Engineer of Headway, to ensure a stable performance of the unit.
The tests include a total of 3 test periods, starting from 12th February 2018 till 3rd April 2018. The walk-in refrigerator has been cleaned and ventilated between each period. All Fruit has been carefully cleaned wad wiped dry to prevent contamination and simulate shipboard practice.
The first period of test was started from 12th February 2018 to 5th March 2018. Ship crew purchased pears, cucumbers and lettuces for test purpose.
All FF&V were cleaned and stored on a separate shelf with white paper underneath. Chief was responsible for keep a record of the freshness of vegetable and take picture as often as possible.
After the test period, Headway engineer went back to COSCO JUDA for test data, from the data sheet provided by chief, the data shows that all FF&V were in perfect shape and taste during the entire period, which was not meet what Headway engineer witnessed onsite. Therefore, the data record by chief was considered invalid and will not be used in the final evaluation.
From what Headway Engineer has witnessed, the FF&V stored in walk-in was in a basically good condition.
The cucumbers were in a solid state with good taste after 21 days of storage.
As for the pears, four pears were stored on the shelf, two of them were in good condition, with a freshness rated 4 out of 5. The other two was partly rotten. Based on the observation onsite, the rotten part was the contact surface of two neighbor pears. Therefore, Headway engineer draw a basic conclusion the rotten was caused by the lack of contact with treated air.
Based on the description of ship crew, the BlueZone® Unit was kept running during the whole period. No alarm nor malfunction were observed. The intern-crew was doing the routine maintenance and cleaning
It has been proven that the BlueZone® Fresh Preservation Technology has shown great performance in preserve FF&V onboard the ship. According to the chief on COSCO JUDA, the shelf life of FF&V has been tremendously extended during the test period #3. Under most circumstances, the leafy vegetable will not last for two weeks, and strawberry won’t last for two days.
It is also observed that the fresh fruit are often rotten on the side that in contact with the container. Therefore, it might improve the performance of the unit if a special designed container with maximum contact of air was applied to FF&V.
Furthermore, for test purpose, all rotten (parts of) FF&V was not timely removed from the shelf. The situation might be better if FF&V were regularly cleaned as required onboard ship.
