Case Study for Distributor of Frozen Steaks

The Goal:

A national steak distributor current using 1.5 inch thick foam coolers came to us looking for an alternative. They wanted an environmentally friendly insulation alternative that could still keep the steaks frozen for 72 hours in shipping. FrioBox alone was insufficient, as was 1.5” denim, so we proposed a FrioBox with a ½” air space in combination with 1” denim insulation.

The Setup:

The box consisted of a shipper box with a FrioBox liner with a ½” air space, with 1” thick denim insulation inside the FrioBox. 10 lbs of frozen steaks were inserted into the box, followed by 10 lbs of dry ice. This is the same set-up the distributor currently used with their existing foam insulated boxes. Thermocouples were applied to 2 steaks at the bottom and 2 steaks at the top of the box. The boxes were sealed and placed into our environmental chamber set at 80 degrees F for 48 hours, to simulate a shipment under the ISTA Summer Profile. 

The Results:

Each of the steaks started at about 6 degrees F with the temperature falling due to the dry ice. After 24 hours, the coldest steak was at -75 F and the warmest was at -40 F. After 48 hours, the dry ice was quickly sublimating, and all steaks were at between -6 F and -18 F. By 72 hours the dry ice had completely sublimated, all the steaks measured approximately 26 F, and all were still frozen.