How the controlled cold chain establishes a new product quality standard for the flower industry

When you put fresh tulips in a vase, who doesn't like their crisp sound? The perfect bridal bouquet, and sure it will be the best day the bride has ever had? When you enter the hotel lobby, will you see the smell of cloves in the huge centerpiece? Flowers nourish our senses. But only when we encounter them, they are in an impeccable state.

It is a huge challenge to keep the flowers in perfect condition from the nursery to the consumer. At all stages, relevant personnel do their best to maintain good product quality. But doing your best is not always enough, as we have seen in Holex. Why are some flowers not of good quality, and some flowers have been in the vase for two weeks? Well, thanks to FlowerWatch, we have the answer: it all depends on the degree time.

Through cooperation with scientists and flower companies, FlowerWatch has a unique insight into the success factors of the industry. They developed the "500-degree hour standard" quality assurance method, which is the core of their standard. In this method, FlowerWatch uses the Celsius temperature scale. How does this work? It describes time-temperature exposure, expressed in degree hours. This is the average temperature of a given flower shipment during the entire transportation process multiplied by the number of hours (1 degree hour = 1 hour x 1°C). From the grower to the consignee, the life of the vase will be shortened by 1 day every 500 degree hours. The key to successful cold chain performance is to minimize the number of hours that flowers take from cutting to reaching the flower shop.

Holex's customers, wholesale florists, are all over the world. New York, Dubai, Seoul, Shanghai... are just a few places where Holex flowers arrive by plane every week. They travel thousands of kilometers and shine when needed. Whether it is placed in a simple vase on the kitchen table, a stunning bridal bouquet, or as a condolence flower: it is very important for them to perform at their best. According to FlowerWatch quality standards, in order to maintain Holex's quality commitment, many wholesale florists trust that Holex has taken many measures to better control the degree time.

In addition to the large number of existing pre-cooling facilities, Holex has recently installed vacuum coolers in its transportation department. This makes them the first flower export company in the Netherlands to use vacuum cooling technology internally.

In cooperation with FlowerWatch, a utility has been developed to ensure that all FlowerWatch quality standard steps are taken internally: from the auction or the arrival of flowers directly from the grower, to storage, picking and packaging.

In addition, Holex has also redesigned its complete series of flower transport boxes. The size is perfectly matched with the slide rail of the aircraft, and the air circulation around the box is ensured, so that the air breathing of the flower itself will not cause the flower to heat up.

Through these developments, Holex is able to reduce degree time in such a way that they are at an appropriate level when the goods leave the premises. In the example below, you can see the importance of degrees in the transportation of your shipment.

It is Wednesday morning. Holex buyers have received your order that arrived on Saturday and they are arranging the required products at the Dutch growers. The products are shipped to Holex, where they are stored in cold storage for 24 hours. On Thursday, the products are selected and packaged. After this, the boxes are taken to the Expedition cold storage room, where-for 24 hours-they are further cooled (in a vacuum cooler or pre-cooling device) and will be placed on the skid.

On Friday afternoon, the cargo left the Holex factory and was trucked to London Heathrow Airport, arriving on Saturday morning. The plane slides on the plane, takes off a few hours later, and flies to Miami Airport in the United States for a 9-hour flight.

Due to the time difference, the plane arrived at Miami Airport in the United States on Saturday night. After the goods pass through customs clearance, the goods are taken to the freight forwarder. In Miami, we cooperate with K&M Handling. In their warehouse, the goods are cooled back to 2°C. On Sunday morning, wholesale florists or their truck drivers are ready to ship the cooled goods to their destination, ie cash and carry them with them.

It was really a trip, don’t you think? This is the moment when we should look at the degree time accumulated in this transportation process. You will see that due to the cooling process during the stay in the Holex facility, the entire journey has almost no effect on the vase life of the product!

Holex Flower is the first Dutch flower export company to obtain the FlowerWatch distributor standard certification, which is part of the FlowerWatch global flower supply chain quality standard. The standard ensures that Holex uses a set of critical control points to prevent unnecessary "temperature exposure" and organize a fast and efficient supply chain. This leads to minimal loss of vases and shelf life, as well as loss of quality and value.

Jeroen van der Hulst of FlowerWatch: "It turns out that Holex Flower attaches great importance to working with a complete cold chain, from growers to wholesale florists. In addition to the adjustment and expansion of the production process, employees have also received extensive education in the past year. They have successfully passed all FlowerWatch tests!"

First of all, it is important to understand that the sooner your order is placed in our online store, the more time we have to cool your goods for transportation. When you order later this week, you seem to get "fresher flowers", but when you remember the degree hour rule, your flowers will be fresher when they reach their destination because they cool better.

When your shipment arrives, please make sure to send it to a cold room with a temperature set point between 1-2°C (33.8-35.6°F). Avoid peaks above 4°C (39.2°F)! Pay attention to the continuous monitoring and meticulous recording of the temperature to ensure that you understand the temperature changes in the refrigerator compartment. It is also important that all flowers in the refrigerator are cooled. Place them correctly and ensure even air circulation throughout the refrigerator compartment.

In addition, all areas where flowers are stored or processed must be kept free of any external source of ethylene and no flowers older than 7 days to prevent the occurrence of a source of gray mold disease.

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