Can I store all fruit at the same temperature?

No. Chilling-sensitive species are damaged below their threshold temperature, so multi-commodity facilities need separate zones.

Can fruit and vegetables share one cold room?

Only where the commodities share a temperature band and neither is damaged by the other's ethylene production. Mixed produce facilities are normally zoned: a temperate zone near 0 to +4 °C, a chilling-sensitive zone around +8 to +13 °C, and separation between ethylene producers and ethylene-sensitive crops.

How is a fruit cold room sized?

From peak daily intake tonnage, product entry temperature, required pull-down time, stacking density and holding volume. Pre-cooling duty and holding duty are calculated separately, because removing field heat needs far more capacity than holding chilled fruit.

Do I need pre-cooling as well as cold storage?

For freshly harvested produce, yes. Pre-cooling removes field heat quickly; a storage room is not designed for that duty.

What humidity should fruit rooms run at?

Most fruit rooms target high relative humidity to limit weight loss, with the exact figure species-dependent.

Fruit

Cold storage for fruits and vegetables: temperatures, pre-cooling and cold room sizing

Fruit storage is unusual because the correct temperature is species-specific and because chilling injury makes 'colder' actively wrong for several commodities. Field heat removal (pre-cooling) usually dominates the refrigeration duty in packhouses, so a fruit cold room is sized on daily intake tonnage and pull-down time, not on floor area alone.

Request a quote for a fruit cold store

The brief opens pre-filled with the commodity, the target temperature (0 to +4 °C temperate fruit) and the required storage life (Commodity-dependent). Adjust the numbers and send one brief to qualified suppliers.

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Condition	Indicative temperature	Humidity	Engineering note
Chilling-sensitive fruit (e.g. banana, mango, citrus varieties)	+8 to +13 °C	85–95 % RH	Storing below the species threshold causes chilling injury.
Temperate fruit (e.g. apple, pear, stone fruit)	0 to +4 °C	90–95 % RH	Controlled-atmosphere storage extends season for some varieties.
Berries and soft fruit	0 to +2 °C	90–95 % RH	Rapid pre-cooling is critical to shelf life.
Pre-cooling duty	Design case, not a holding setpoint	n/a	Sized on field heat, tonnage per day and target pull-down time.

Values are indicative planning ranges used for early-stage refrigeration sizing and procurement. They do not replace product-specific food-safety, pharmaceutical, regulatory or customer requirements, which take precedence in every case. Confirm final conditions with your quality function and a qualified refrigeration engineer.

Refrigeration engineering considerations

Pre-cooling is a separate duty

Removing field heat within hours requires far more capacity than holding fruit at temperature. Forced-air, hydro- or vacuum cooling should be scoped explicitly.

Chilling injury

Each species has a minimum safe temperature. Multi-commodity packhouses therefore need zoning rather than a single setpoint.

Humidity and weight loss

High relative humidity limits moisture loss; coil sizing and temperature difference across the evaporator drive this.

Ethylene management

Ethylene-producing and ethylene-sensitive commodities should be separated, with ventilation or scrubbing where required.

Seasonality

Harvest peaks mean the plant must be sized for a short, intense season, which changes both capacity and energy strategy.

From temperature to system requirement

1. Confirm the storage condition for your product and market.
2. Size the room — cold room size calculator.
3. Calculate the refrigeration duty — refrigeration load calculator.
4. Check operating cost — electricity cost calculator.
5. Send one brief to qualified suppliers — build an RFQ.

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How ColdMatch Group works — independent B2B procurement and sourcing platform — ColdMatch Group is an independent B2B procurement and sourcing platform for industrial refrigeration, cold storage and cold-chain projects from USD $250K+, where the ColdMatch team reviews each buyer brief, contacts suitable third-party suppliers on the buyer's behalf and organizes their responses.

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