This week in CA insights we wanted to talk about the ‘cold chain’. You have most certainly heard that term used through the years but we wanted to shed some light on the reasons for it and the process. The cold chain is basically a term used to describe how flowers are kept at a low temperature to insure freshness and longer vase life. Essentially, once a flower is cut from the plant it begins to ‘die’. If that flower is kept at temperatures of less than 40 degrees F, its life can be prolonged.
The process starts with the growers, once they have harvested the flowers they are slowly brought down to ideal temps before packing. If the cooling process is ‘rushed’ after they are cut then the flowers could be ‘shocked’ and they will be unsuitable for shipping. Once they are packed the boxes are cooled and shipped via refrigerated truck to our facility in Oxnard, CA. When they are received here, it is in a 45 degree dock area, we check for correct counts and then probe the boxes for temps. Ideally we would like to see the boxes come in at or below 40 degrees.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Eye On DVFlora