The Cold Chain Difference

As the sun peaks over the horizon it's warming rays begin anew the process so critical to the growth of everything we eat. It's somehow ironic then that once the fruits of the suns nurturing are harvested, the sun and its' warmth become the enemies of produce longevity. Enter the cold chain.

From the time a piece of fruit or a vegetable is picked, or dug up a biological clock begins. It's a clock that can be manipulated, and even slowed to a crawl, but only if the principles of the cold chain are maintained.

All produce has a ripening timetable that continues after it is disconnected from its nutritional lifeline. Most are picked so the ripening timing will coincide with the arrival at the culinary pallet. With more than a century of family experience in the produce industry The Freshness Professionals of Consumers Produce know the life cycles of produce and understand the critical nature of temperature in that process. That's why virtually every inch of the Consumers Produce warehouse, and our trucks, are climate controlled.

Climate control is critical because improper temperatures can shorten the shelf of life of fruits and vegetables by days. Those additional days allow our customers more time to use the products we pass along to them and reduce their overall loss. AKA, they save money!

Visit our Railroad Street home anytime and you'll see employees and customers in jackets. It doesn't matter whether it's an 86-degree summer afternoon or a 10-degree winter night, inside our warehouse you'll find temperatures carefully maintained. That's not to say it's an even temperature throughout the warehouse. To slow the ripening process fruits and vegetables require different temperatures and our individually controlled rooms allow for those temperature variances.

The responsibility for maintaining the proper climates year round falls to John Ogle and his staff of trained maintenance experts. Not an easy job when your coolers are three stories tall and big enough to handle a small convention. Whether it's the iced product room that sits at 32-degrees, or the tomato area at 55-degrees, too much cold can be just as damaging as not enough, so tolerances are tight and constantly monitored to maintain the optimum temperature.

Monitoring Quality

"I don't want to sell anything to one of our customers that I would not serve to my own family," says Freshness Professional Rich Miles putting in words the attitude of those who work the Consumers Produce warehouse.

Our quest for only the best quality begins long before the produce arrives in Pittsburgh. With the most experienced buyers in the region we seek out only the best quality from trusted growers. With more than 100-thousand square feet of available storage we are then able to bring that level of quality home to our customers in quantities that guarantee the most competitive prices.

When fresh products arrive at our warehouse they are inspected before they enter a world filled with the hum of forklifts scurrying back and forth collecting the items customers' request. Filling a customers order is much more than matching the items on a pallet to words on a piece of paper. Each of our Freshness Professionals takes pride in checking and double-checking the quality of what we sell. We work hard to win and keep our customers confidence. It's a trust we do not take lightly.

Please direct questions or send e-mail to sales@consumersproduce.com