Proper pre-cooling will further:

1.reduce rate of ageing, resulting in longer shelf life;

2.prevent mushroom browning

3.slow the rate of produce decay by slowing or inhibiting microbial growth (fungi and bacteria);

4.reduce the rate of ethylene production

5.increase market flexibility

6.meet customer requirements

Overall it helps to reduce the loss in quality of produce once it’s been harvested. Likewise, precooling increases the shelf-life of fresh produce. Higher quality and longer shelf-life means more profits to mushroom growers.

2. Pre-cooling methods

2.1 Available pre-cooling methods

There are different alternative methods for pre-cooling of mushroom 

1.Room Cooling (in a conventional cold storage)

There is a trade-off with Room Cooling. It requires relatively low energy but is very slow.

2.Forced Air Cooling (or blast air cooling, forcing cold air through your produce)

Forced air will cool faster compared to room cooling, but it will always cool “outside-in” and will reach the core of the product only after long cooling

3.Vacuum Cooling uses the boiling energy of water to cool down your produce.

For the water in the product to boil, the pressure in the vacuum room must be brought down to ultra-low pressures. Cooling to the core of the boxes is easy – and fast. 

3. Vacuum pre-cooling

By far  the  most  important  part  of  maintaining  the  quality  of  harvested  mushrooms  is  ensuring  that  they  are  cooled  as  soon  as  possible  after  harvest  and  that  optimum  temperatures are maintained during distribution. Mushrooms are usually harvested at relatively high temperatures. As they are living products, they continue to create heat (and moisture). To prevent excessive temperatures, increase shelf life, reduce rejects and achievable prolonged shipping times, quick pre-cooling right after harvesting or packing is vital.

Vacuum cooling is 5 – 20 times faster and more effective than conventional cooling! Only vacuum cooling can cool ultra-fast and uniformly to the core down to 0 – 5°C for most produce within 15 – 20 minutes! The more surface the produce has related to its weight, the faster it can cool, providing you have chosen the right vacuum cooler: depending on the desired end temperature, mushrooms can be cooled between 15 – 25 minutes.