AFKLMP Cargo becomes the first airline group to receive this proof of quality and standardisation. This is an important step towards further improvements in the global floriculture industry.
Cold chain management has emerged in recent years as a vital success factor in the post-harvest life of fresh flowers. Temperature exposure during storage and transportation contributes to discolouring, wilting, poor flower opening and premature ageing. The end result is reduced vase life, often by several days.
FlowerWatch has developed a fail-safe quality assurance system. This system does not just identify challenges in the cold chain, it actually helps to permanently fix them. The system's central concept is ‘time temperature exposure’, which is expressed in degree hours. This is the average temperature of fresh flowers throughout the transportation phase multiplied by the number of hours (1 degree hour = 1 hour x 1 degree Celsius). Every 500 degree hours reduces vase life by one day. The key to successful cold chain performance is thus to minimise the number of degree hours.