The modern supermarket environment is complex and unique.
The sheer size and scale of the products, departments, people and different temperatures required for such a facility can present real challenges.
Some of the problems experienced by the industry can be related to humidity, especially in frozen food storage, both on the shop floor and in high volume storage facilities both on-site and in remote cold storage facilities. These problems include:
Failure of refrigeration and freezing systems
Condensation and icing inside freezer doors and display cases
Customers frustrated because they can't see the product through the vapor display case and glass doors.
Frost shock and the resulting loss of sales and product
Staff and customers becoming uncomfortable with overheating or overcooling.
Controlling the indoor air in a supermarket is vital if it is to operate at all times.
Supermarkets are places where consumers have direct access to products and can check the quality of the product for themselves to determine if it is worth buying. Proper humidification ensures that food not only stays fresher for longer, but is also visually appealing. In short, it moves products from the shelf to the customer's home faster. The image of the supermarket is seen as offering high quality products.
Reducing spoilage and maximizing profits
Proper humidification in supermarkets will minimize the amount of product wasted due to spoilage. This is because consistent relative humidity (RH) control at equilibrium levels helps food maintain a healthy water weight. As a result, less product is wasted and more can be sold to customers.
Make the product visually appealing
Proper humidification around or at the produce level can help keep fruits and vegetables more visually appealing because they are at a higher humidity level - this will reduce the ripening or maturing of the produce. As a result, they will be more attractive to buy, help launch products with short expiration dates, and even reduce the purchase cost of product ordering.
Take, for example, the current trend for vertical freezer display cases in most supermarkets. These products are presented to customers in a very easy to observe manner, but moisture enters due to the constant opening of the doors. Each time the door is opened, the cold air is lost and replaced with warm, moist air from the store itself. This air is usually unregulated and, as it hits at about -18 produce 0 C, the result is frost shock (seen as white frost) and an increase in the refrigeration load in response to sudden changes in temperature.
Simply adding a desiccant dehum unit to the specific air handling system of a freezer can reduce the dew point sufficiently to prevent (or at least significantly reduce) the incidence of product frost and help reduce the additional heat load on the refrigeration equipment.
Our team of specialized engineers has the knowledge, experience and skills to deal with these complex humidity control requirements. Desiccant dehumidification systems will greatly improve supermarket operations and maintain ideal humidity levels throughout the building.
We operate cold store dehumidification systems for many other small independent organizations, helping to create energy efficient humidity control and reduce supermarket energy consumption.
