The Importance of Dehumidifiers for Fruit and Veg Production

June 24, 2024

Many people assume that fruit and vegetables don’t go through the same production processes as meat, confectionary, and snacks. Naturally, they aren’t made from scratch in a factory, but they do undergo vigorous processes post-harvest.

When you buy a pack of apples from the supermarket, they’re as fresh as they can be, and packaged in ways designed to preserve this freshness for as long as possible.

The Importance of Humidity Control in Fruit and Veg Processing

If you don’t control the humidity during fruit and vegetable production, there are a number of issues that can occur. These include:

• Poor Quality after Drying
• Mould and Yeast Growth
• Decay
• Inferior Freezing & Storage

Let’s go over each of those one at a time.

Controlling Humidity when Drying Fruit and Veg

The drying process is a crucial part of fruit and veg production. By drying them, you remove moisture, which in turn gives them the crunchy, flavourful texture we expect when we pick them up in the supermarket.

If the air around the products is too humid, they’ll continue to absorb moisture during the drying process. This means that they’ll need to be dried for longer, which ruins texture and flavour, or will be already soft and soggy when they are packaged.

Controlling Humidity to Prevent Mould and Yeast Growth in Fruit and Veg Production

If the temperature is warm, humidity can spoil large batches of fruit and veg. All food and drink production has to adhere to strict health guidelines. If there is even a tiny amount of mould growth on the products, the entire batch may need to be thrown away. This is not only time-consuming and bad for the environment, but also affects your bottom line. Thankfully, our dehumidifiers prevent this.

When there is no moisture in the air to absorb, mould and yeast are unable to grow. Our industrial dehumidifiers can also adapt to changing air temperatures, ensuring that the humidity will be controlled in all conditions, and at any time of year. You can also change the settings of your systems at the touch of a button; our systems never delay your production line.

Preventing Decay with Humidity Control

If you’ve ever bought fruit and veg, you know that it has a short life before it begins to decay. The main goal of fruit and veg production is to keep supplies as fresh as possible, so you get the maximum possible shelf life.

To do this, effective storage is key. Once produce has been cleaned, dried, and packaged, it needs to be stored well before it can be shipped to supermarkets. Freezers and cool rooms are the best way to achieve this, keeping fruit and vegetables in a state that prevents natural decay.

For this freezing to work, you need to control humidity. If too much humid air enters your system, you’ll get a build up of ice and frost that will ruin your produce. As it builds up, ice can also clog up air purifiers and filters, so downtime is needed to clear it, sometimes even once per day. This is time you can’t afford to sacrifice if you want to stay competitive.

A quality dehumidifier keeps the cold air circulating, shutting itself down whenever it detects too much ice. This prevents the build up of ice, so your freezers can work at their best for weeks or even months before they need any downtime.  The air is just as fresh, no matter how warm the temperatures are outside the freezer, as our advanced filters keep it clean and recycle it efficiently, saving you on your electric bills too.

Controlling Humidity when Packaging Fruit and Veg

Before you store your produce is arguably the most important part of the production process.

When packaging your fruit and vegetables, you need to ensure there is no excess moisture inside. This will be quickly absorbed by the produce, even if it has been thoroughly dried, leading to decay or a build-up of mould.

To prevent this, a quality dehumidifier is needed to keep the air moisture free during packaging. It will guarantee that, once sealed, there will be no moisture inside, and the produce will be safe to ship and store.

Why Choose DEHUM for Industrial Dehumidification?

As we mentioned earlier, we provide industrial dehumidifiers that benefit your entire production line. Humidity needs to be controlled during drying, cleaning, packaging, and storage.

By incorporating quality dehumidifiers in your factory, you can improve efficiency by a large amount, making the cost of fitting the systems negligible long term. They’re also designed to use as little energy as possible without sacrificing quality.

Unlike other providers, we go to great lengths to understand you and your individual needs. Then we can create systems that are perfect for you and your team. We even provide training and support as you get up to speed.

With this bespoke system, you’ll be able to overtake your competitors, producing more fruit and vegetables at a higher quality.

We’ve worked within the food production sector for over two decades now, providing quality equipment that ensures quality processing, storage, and flavour. We’ve seen firsthand how your industry has changed and have adapted to suit it.

We have been behind some truly exciting and innovative new technologies, which have virtually eliminated many of the issues that uncontrolled humidity can cause.

If you need help with your food or beverage manufacturing process or have any questions about us and what we do, please visit our website www.dehum.com or call 01926 882624.

We look forward to hearing from you.