Introduction :

India is the largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the

world scenario but the availability of fruits and vegetables
per capita is significantly low because of Post Harvest loses
which account for about 25% to 30% of production. Further,
the quality of sizeable quantity of produces also deteriorates
the moment it reaches the consumer. This happens because
of perishable nature of the products. If consumption is not
getting stabilized, the farmers switch over to other crops
instead of going for one crop in the subsequent year, and
cycle continues. Our farmers continue to remain poor even
though they take risk to cultivate high value fruits and
vegetables year after year. Introduction of Cold storage /
Cold room facility will help them in removing the risk of
distress sale and simultaneously will ensure better returns.
The annual production of fruits and vegetables in the
country accounts for 18 to 20% of our agriculture out put.
Varied agro climatic conditions and better availability of
scientific package of practices, there is a vast scope for
increasing the production. The lack of cold storage / cold
room facilities is one of the main bottlenecks in tapping the
potential. In Orissa the cold storage facilities are very less.
The cold storages, which are available in the State, are
mostly to store single commodity like potato, which results
in poor capacity utilization. Introduction of cold storage/cold
chain facilities in the State can prove to be a boon for the
horticulture farmers.

Cold storage is basically a term used for refrigerated of

frozen storage facilities, usually used to store food or
pharmaceuticals. Storage of food products under low
temperatures using temperature and relative humidity
controllers to maintain the desired conditions inside the cold
rooms as well as ventilations systems to provide adequate
storage conditions. Cold storage is the one widely
practiced method for bulk handling of the perishables
between production and marketing processing. It is one of
the methods of reserving perishable commodities in fresh
and whole some state for a longer period by controlling
temperature and humidity within the storage system.
Maintaining adequately low temperature is critical, as
otherwise it will cause chilling injury to the produce. Also,
relative humidity of the storeroom should be kept as high as
80-90% for most of the perishables, below (or) above which
his detrimental effect on the keeping quality of the produce.
Most fruits and vegetables have a very limited life after
harvest if held at normal harvesting temperatures.
Postharvest cooling rapidly removes field heat, allowing
longer storage periods. Proper postharvest cooling can:
 Reduce respiratory activity and degradation by
enzymes
 Reduce internal water loss and wilting
 Slow or inhibit the growth of decay-producing
microorganisms
Reduce the production of the natural ripening agent,
ethylene.
In addition to helping maintain quality, postharvest cooling
also provides marketing flexibility by allowing the grower to
sell produce at the most appropriate time. Having cooling
and storage facilities makes it unnecessary to market the
produce immediately after harvest. This can be an
advantage to growers who supply restaurants and grocery
stores or to small growers who want to assemble truckload
lots for shipment. Postharvest cooling is essential to
delivering produce of the highest possible quality to the
consumer.
Cold storage can be combined with storage in an
environment with added of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide,
etc. according to the nature of product to be preserved. The
cold storage of dried/dehydrated vegetables in order to
maintain vitamin C, storage temperature can be varied
with storage time and can be at 0°-10°C for a storage time
of more than one year, with a relative humidity of 80-95 %.
The cold storage of perishables has advanced noticeably in
recent years, leading to better maintenance of organoleptic
qualities, reduced spoilage, and longer shelf lives.
These advances have resulted from joint action by
physiologists to determine the requirements of fruit and
vegetables, and by refrigerating specialists to design and
run refrigerating machines accordingly.
Care should be taken to store only, those kinds, which
does not show in compatibility of storage, when storing
multi produce in the same room. For example, apple can
be stored with grapes, oranges, peaches, and plums
and not with banana. However with potato and cabbage
slight danger of cross actions can occur. Contrary to this,
grape in compatible to all other vegetables except
cabbage.To resolve the incompatibility during cold storage,
foodstuffs are grouped into three temperature ranges.
Based on their thermal incompatibility the produce
are classified into
1. Most animal products (or) vegetable produce, not
sensitive to cold (0-4°C)
E.g. Apple, grape, carrot and onion
2. Vegetable produce moderately sensitive to cold (4-8°C)
E.g. Mango, orange, potato and tomato (ripened)
3. Vegetable produce sensitive to cold (>8°C)
E.g. Pineapple, banana, pumpkin and bhendi.
Based on the purpose the present day cold stores are
classified into following groups:
1. Bulk cold stores: Generally, for storage of a single
commodity which mostly operates on a seasonal basis
E.g.: stores for potatoes, chilies, apples etc.
2. Multi purpose cold stores: It is designed for storage of
variety of commodities, which operate practically,
throughout the year.
3. Small cold stores: It is designed with pre cooling
facilities. For fresh fruits and vegetables, mainly for export
oriented items like grapes etc.
4. Frozen food stores: It is designed for with (or) without
processing and freezing facilities for fish, meat, poultry,
dairy products and processed fruits and vegetables.
5. Mini units /walk in cold stores: It is located at distribution
center etc.
6. Controlled atmosphere (CA) stores: It is mainly designed
for certain fruits and vegetables.
The term "cold storage" refers to the storing of goods in a
refrigerated atmosphere. This means heat is removed from
the storage container or room to help keep items — often
food — fresh for delivery, long- or short-term storage, and so
on. Cold storage helps prevent spoilage of foods and other
items meant for consumption, and it can be used in a variety
of other settings, such as hospitals, warehouses, and
anywhere else that stores products in need of preservation.
When transporting goods, refrigeration trucks are often used
to keep items cold throughout the transportation process.
India is the largest producer of fruits and second largest
producer of vegetables in the world. Fruits & vegetables,
being perishable in nature require certain techniques of
preservation for retaining the freshness intact and making
them an acceptable item even after few days of ripening.
It also facilitates the farmer to realize a better price
instead of selling the product at a throw away price due to
the perish ability. This necessity as evolved a new concept of
storing these items at below or just above sub-zero
temperatures known as cold storage. Introduction of Cold
storage/ Cold room facility will help them in removing the risk
of distress sale and simultaneously will ensure better returns.
The annual production of fruits and vegetables in the country
accounts for 18 to 20% of our agriculture output. Varied agro
climatic conditions and better availability of scientific
package of practices, there is a vast scope for increasing
the production. Cold Storage is a special kind of room, the
temperature of which is kept very low with the help of
machines and precision instruments. India is having a unique
geographical position and a wide range of soil, thus
producing variety of fruits and vegetables like apples, grapes,
oranges, potatoes, chillies, ginger, etc. Marine products are
also being produced in large quantities due to large coastal
areas. As per 2008-09figures, India produces around 215
Million Tons of Fruits and Vegetables, 3 Billion Tons of Marine
Products, 109 Million Tons of Milk, 56 Billion Eggs and
38 Million Tons of Meat per annum. Commercially apples,
potatoes, oranges, etc are stored on large scale in the cold
storages. Other important costly raw materials like dry fruits,
chemicals, essences and processed foods like fruit juice/pulp,
concentrate dairy products, frozen meat, fish and eggs are
also stored in cold storages to regulate marketing channels of
these products. A cold storage is a temperature-controlled
supply chain network, with storage and distribution activities
carried out in a manner such that the temperature of a
product is maintained in a specified range, needed to keep it
fresh and edible for a much longer period than in normal
ambient conditions.

This system facilitates long distance transport of vario

us products as well asmakes seasonal products available
over the entire year.
Fruits, vegetables and many other commodities can be
preserved by storage at low temperature, which retards the
activities of micro organisms. Micro organisms are the
spoilage agents and consist of bacteria, yeasts and molds.
Low temperature does not destroy those spoilage agents as
does high temperature, but greatly reduces their activities,
providing a practical way of preserving perishable foods in
their natural state which otherwise is not possible
through
heating. The low temperature necessary for preservatio
n depends on the storage timerequired often referred to
as short or long term shortage and the type of product.
In general, there are three groups of products:


Foods that are alive at the time of storage, distribution and

sale e.g. fruits and vegetables Foods that are no longer alive
and have been processed in some form e.g. meat and fish
products, and Commodities that benefit from storage at
controlled temperature e.g. beer, tobacco, khan sari etc.
Living foods such as fruits and vegetables have some natural
protection against the activities of micro organism. The best
method of preserving these items is to keep the product alive
and at the same time retard the natural enzyme activity
which will retard the rate of ripening or maturity.

Cold Storage is a special kind

o f room, the temperature of, which is
ke p t very low with the help of machines
andprecision instruments. India
i s h a v i n g a unique geographical position and a
wider a n g e o f s o i l t h u s p r o d u c i n g v a r i e t y
o f fruits and vegetables like apples,
grapes,oranges, potatoes, chillies, ginger,
etc.Marine products are also being producedi n
large quantities due to large coastalareas.
T h e p r e s e n t p r o d u c t i o n l e v e l o ff r u i t s a n d
vegetables is more than 100 m i l l i o n M T
and keeping in view growth rate of
population and d e m a n d , the production of
perishable commoditiesis increasing every year. The
cold storage f a c i l i t i e s are the prime
infrastructural c o m p o n e n t f o r
s u c h p e r i s h a b l e
c o m m o d i t i e s . B e s i d e s t h e
r o l e o f stabilizing market prices
and ev en ly distributing both on demand
basis andtime basis, the cold storage
i n d u s t r y renders other advantages and
b e n e fi t s t o both the farmers and the
c o n s u m e r s . T h e f a rm er s g e t o p p o r t u n i t y o f
p ro d uc i ng c a s h c r o p s t o g e t r e m u n e r a t i v e
prices.T h e c o n s u m e r s g e t t h e
s u p p l y o f perishable
commodities with lower
fl u c t u a t i o n of prices.
Commercially a p p l e s, p o t a t o e s,
o r an g e s are s t o re d o n l a rg e s c a l e in t he c o l d
s t o r ag es . Ot h er important costly raw
materials like dryf r u i t s ,
c h e m i c a l s , e s s e n c e s
a n d processed foods like fruit
j u i c e / p u l p , concentrate dairy products, frozen meat, fish and
eggs are being stored in cold storages to regulate marketing channels
of these products.