Step-by-Step: Commercial Refrigeration

Commercial refrigeration is the process used to mass preserve food and perishable products in large-scale refrigeration systems. Commercial refrigeration is heavily regulated by safety standards seen in the Environmental Protection Agency and the United States Department of Agriculture. Regulation is needed because many commercial refrigerators emit harmful pollutants into the atmosphere, including ozone-depleting compounds. Businesses must carefully follow regulatory and safety protocols when freezing food or perishable chemicals in refrigeration units.

Things You'll Need

• Processed materials
• Small-scale storage refrigerators
• Commercial refrigerators

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Instructions

• 1

  Process all materials that will be refrigerated. To guarantee that the refrigeration process will work, the products going into the refrigerator must be processed and inspected under company rules and government regulations.

• 2

  Collect the processed materials. The materials may be freshly butchered meat or medical supplies that require low refrigeration.

• 3

  Cool small amounts of the processed materials in non-industrial refrigerators. Bringing the material into the large, commercial refrigerator could damage the tissue or chemical integrity of the product. Therefore, most processing and refrigerating plants cool the materials in preparation for commercial refrigeration.

• 4

  Turn on the commercial refrigerator. The commercial refrigerator takes time to reach the specific temperature for what it is delivering or storing. Different types of food, chemicals, and medical supplies have different freezing points, so depending on the cargo, the commercial refrigerator needs its temperature lowered to the appropriate level.

• 5

  Transport the slightly refrigerated products into the commercial refrigerator. As soon as the commercial refrigerator is ready for transport or storage, all the products should be placed inside. Company rules might suggest packers place products in a certain order in the commercial refrigerator, such as certain grades of meat placed in order.

• 6

  Hold onto the materials in the commercial refrigerator until it is ready to ship. Many commercial refrigerators can be placed onto trucks. If the commercial refrigerator cannot, then remove the materials from the commercial refrigerator onto the transportation truck.