Bjarke Delivers Food with a Good Conscience
The local supermarket manager in Løgumkloster, Denmark, has bought a cooling box for his delivery van. This way, the beef stays refrigerated all the way from the local branch of the supermarket chain SuperBrugsen to Mrs Peterson’s front door – and the manager is ready to meet future legislative requirements.
A Euro-pallet, an automatic timer at the price of three euros, and a 12 volt plug – that is about all supermarket manager Bjarke Ibsen from Løgumkloster needed to make his new 330 liter delivery van cooling box work.
During the night, the cooling box is placed on the Euro-pallet in the warehouse. At 6 a.m., the timer turns on the power ensuring that the temperature is exactly 1°C when Bjarke arrives at work in the morning. Then, all he has to do is fetch the pallet lifter, place the box inside the van, and plug in the 12 volt power supply.
“The box runs on the car battery, independently of the engine. It is very easy to operate and it improves the process of delivering food to private homes and businesses,” says Bjarke Ibsen.
Tightening of Legal Requirements
Then there’s the aspect of a good conscience. Not only retirees, kindergarten kids, and companies can enjoy refrigerated meals during summer, Bjarke is also certain that he is complying with existing and future food requirements of the Danish Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Fisheries. Law requirements dictate that the temperature of fresh foods which shop or restaurant owners deliver to commercial customers must not exceed 5°C.
"At the moment, random checks do not occur regularly, but I am sure this will change. The requirements of food safety are increasingly tightening and I prefer to be a co-player at the forefront of developments rather than trying to shirk my responsibility,” explains Bjarke Ibsen.
Inspiration Thanks to a Neighbor
In spite of the obvious advantages of the cooling box, Bjarke did not even know it existed until a neighbor told him about it during a weekend chat.
Bjarke’s neighbor works as an engineer at Secop. When he heard that Bjarke wanted to maintain food temperature during transport, but could not afford a refrigerated van costing 35,000 euros, he immediately invited Bjarke to visit Secop.
"They had a ready-for-use demonstration model and it was a natural choice. I bought it on the spot and still wonder why I had not thought of that before. The box is considerably less expensive than a standard van rebuilt to transport refrigerated food,” says Bjarke Ibsen.
The Italian company Euroengel is the producer of the cooling box which is designed for mobile transport. The Secop BD50F compressor for mobile applications which operates the refrigeration system of the box runs on the car’s 12 volt battery or 230 volt power supply networks.
The cooling box does not require a special van layout, so it will not be difficult for Bjarke Ibsen to re-sell it once the supermarket needs a new van.
