Atmospheric air is composed of 20,8% oxygen, 78% nitrogen and about 0,03%carbon dioxide. The principle of controlled atmosphere is based upon the variation of this composition with the aim of slowing down ,as much as possible, the fruits’ respiration rate and relative maturity.

Both technologies foresee a variation of the parameters relative to the atmospheric composition, but for modified atmosphere continuous monitoring during storage is no longer used (for example “bagged” products, cut-fresh etc) whereas in controlled atmosphere continuous and constant monitoring of the gaseous composition is carried out using customized analysis systems and, if necessary, correction of the values can be made.

Controlled atmosphere is to be considered “clean” technology, and absolutely does not foresee the use of chemicals, and it is for this same reason that it is considered one of the safest and most reliable technologies with regards to human health .

Particularly, in the storage of biological products, a sector that has grown considerably over the last few years, this is the only available storage me

The list of products that can benefit from being stored under controlled atmosphere is long. The main products are: apples, pears, kiwifruit, plums, blueberries, strawberries, tomatoes, mango ,avocado, pineapple, banana ,citrus fruits etc.

The main prerogative is the absolute impermeability/tightness of the storage room, therefore, during the  construction phase it is necessary to provide all the necessary solutions to avoid gaseous exchanges with the outside environment once the store is destined for CA storage. In particular, the floor must be properly prepared , all refrigeration panel joints must be sealed, a suitable CA door installed, a siphon for the de-frost water discharge from the refrigeration plant must be installed,  gas tightnessof all passages and piping must be carried out and to complete the work the final gas-tightness test on termination of the running tests.

ULO means Ultra Low Oxygen, an acronym introduced during the 80’s that indicates storage techniques using oxygen levels lower than 1,5% inside the store rooms/cells (nowadays the tendency is to maintain the value around 1%)

ULO is applied to guarantee even more restricted conditions with respect to traditional CA, with the aim of maintaining the qualitative characteristics of a product even longer.

It is mainly applied during the storage of apples.

ILOS means Initial Low Oxygen Stress and is based on the lowering of oxygen to extreme limits, around 0,5% inside the cell, for a brief period (+/-15 days) with the aim of avoiding the scald that some varieties of apples suffer during long-term storage, as well as maintaining optimal qualitative characteristics.

Swinglos technology represents the latest frontier in CA storage. The system is based on the principles of dynamic CA (DCA), according to which a constant and fixed  value for the duration of storage is no longer foreseen, instead variable values (henceforth dynamic) are used. (LINK).

In other words the gaseous values undergo variations during the storage period according to the reply from the fruit itself ,especially the pulp, through application of repeated oxygen stress.

It is important to know what goes on inside the fruit pulp under such conditions to prevent and avoid the formation of alcohol in apples, which would render the product inedible. To this purpose, the only safe and applicable method is connected to alcohol analysis, easily detectable using an enzymic/enzymatic analyzer

Certain cv are harvested early with respect to their full maturity, to allow them to be transported and handled (bananas for example). In such cases maturation is carried out during storage, using ethylene. Fruit Control Equipment’s markets/has  a system which supervises automatic emission of the gaseous maturation mixture.

Controlled atmosphere is applied in numerous other situations as well as fresh produce storage. For example in the disinfestations sector, this method may be employed for the storage of various products such as seeds (wheat, rice, coffee ,pulses etc) nuts (walnuts, peanuts etc) dried foodstuffs (teas, herbs etc) and even beverages (oils, wine, juices etc.)

Controlled atmosphere in its’ wider term is used in other fields such as the transformation of plastics, the archiving and disinfestation of works of art, the neutralization/sterilization of premises and storage areas using technical gases and many other applications

Fruit Control Equipment’s, a leader and standard bearer of “made in Italy” around the world/worldwide leader and standard bearer of “Made in Italy”, produces entirely in Italy.

The production site is in Locate Triulzi, in the milanese outer-metropolitan area, within easy reach of three international airports.

The technical, commercial and administrative offices are housed in the same premises

Fruit Control Equipment’s’ customers are spread worldwide in over 45 nations . The company is able to manage all problems related to controlled atmosphere application with a staff composed of agronomists, technicians and engineers and can give complete service, from the design stage up to plant supervision.

Our collaboration with leading national and international research institutes has always been very close, in order to enable us to study and apply innovative technologies in the field of fresh horticultural produce storage, as demonstrated by various international publications.

There are also a wide number of  research institutes worldwide with FCE signature plants.