A cold storage store is a facility that is required to maintain certain environmental conditions to keep products safe from getting contaminated. For some diverse foods to stay fresh for longer, there must be proper cold storage, with minimal energy consumption and product loss. Freezing extends the life of food by reducing the physical, chemical, and microbiological processes that lead to the deterioration and decay of products.

These are the types of cold storage stores:

Bulk Cold Stores

These stores are typically used to store specific seasonal products such as potatoes, apples, chilies, and more. Seasonal cold storage is a highly efficient technique and is environmentally friendly. It generally uses the winter stored energy, which is natural and cold, in the summer season for free cooling.

Multi-purpose Cold Stores

These are used to store a variety of commodities and products throughout the year. Products such as different types of meat like lamb and chicken, vegetables, dry fruits, spices, fruits, milk products, etc. are stored in multi-purpose cold stores. These units are installed mostly near consuming centers.

Small Cold Stores

Pre-cooling facilities are built inside this type of cold storage store, where fresh fruits like grapes and other fresh produce are stored. When it comes to cooling systems, small-scale producers have a variety of alternatives, including mechanical refrigeration, electric-based cooling, and passive evaporative cooling.

The cost, efficacy, and safety of the pre-cooling system for the sort of product to be cooled, as well as the predicted financial profits, should all be taken into account when making the decision to use small cold stores.

Frozen Food Stores

These units have aided in developing and expanding the frozen foods business, both domestically and internationally. Frozen foods have a good track record when it comes to food durability. They’re usually kept at -18 degrees Celsius, which is the commercial norm for food preservation. When compared to other preservation processes such as heating or drying, one of the most significant advantages of freezing is the convenience and ease of protection with minimal influence on food quality. Although each product has its own recommended storage temperature, most frozen food products are kept between 0 and 30 degrees Fahrenheit.

Walk-in Cold Stores

Also known as Mini Units , these can be found in distribution centers, supermarkets, and other places. Walk-in freezers, which resemble walk-in cold rooms in appearance, can operate at much lower temperatures and are meant to keep consumables for months. The temperature ranges from -18 to -22 degrees Celsius. This type of storage can be used for a variety of items such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food and beverage, dairy, and other goods that require low-temperature storage.

Controlled Atmosphere (CA) Cold Stores

Controlled Atmosphere (CA) storage stores have been a crucial part of the food storage sector for the last fifty years, allowing even seasonal fruits and vegetables to be available all year round. It extends their shelf life after they’ve been harvested. This is done through a non-chemical storage method that employs low oxygen and high carbon dioxide levels in the storage atmosphere, as well as refrigeration. It may also include the removal of ethylene and the addition of carbon monoxide in some cases.

Since this type of cold storage requires high capital and is also expensive to maintain, such stores are only appropriate for long-term storage of products such as apples, kiwis, and pears.