OT - commecial air-curtain fridges in shops

[Tim Watts]

Older commercial fridges and freezers in shops often had a "load line" marked where items shoul dnot be stacked above/in front of in order to guarantee theitem is kept cold.

I was in Marks and Sparks, Acre Lane, London yesterday and was a bit bothered by the piles of ready meals which seemed well forward of the shelf.

These are air-curtain fridges with a blower strip in front of the lowest shelf and a receiver strip at the top. Slightly more complicated was the fact that the receiver is not vertically over the blower strip but set back by about a foot.

No load lines marked - but the pile on the lower shelf was nearly reaching the front of the air curtain (I could feel) and disrupting the curtain flow.

How do you tell? I would have assumed that all items should be clearly behind the full depth of the air curtain.

I did mention it to the manager who was nearby, but he didn't seem to understand the units very well either...

I'm not normally a faddy git, but I'm fussy that what I eat has been stored correctly (on this occasion, I took items from the back to be sure). And I'm curious.

[Gordon Henderson]

Carry a little IR thermometer with you and check the temp. It has to be under 8C by law, but really ought to be under 5C.

Gordon

[Andrew Gabriel]

I think they work the other way around. Cold air is dropped from the top over the contents. It is retrieved from the bottom (both the front grille and under the bottom shelf) to be recycled, rather than lost into the store where it would be wasted.

I would guess blocking the bottom would reduce the recycling of the cold air and reduce the efficiency of that cabinet, but might not impact the temperature so much.

Like someone else said, measure it with an IR thermometer.

I would suggest most people in the food industry don't actually know everything they should about handling food...

[Tim Watts]

That's entirely possible.

I'll have a closer look next time :)

Sadly not have :(

I saw one drop a doughnut or a cookie on the floor a few weeks back. Somehow I found myself watching him to see if it went straight back on the shelf. It didn't. Maybe I'm too cynical!