This is the final publication in a three-leaflet series on proper transportation of perishables. Written by UCD agricultural engineering specialist Jim Thompson and non-UC co-authors, this full-color leaflet provides comprehensive information on protecting perishable products before, during, and after a flight. It covers managing the temperature extremes that are common in air freight, selecting the proper boxes for shipment, planning a load, product compatibility, loading air freight containers, and monitoring temperature during transit. The 22-page publication also describes the advantages and disadvantages of air freight and describes the services provided by freight forwarders.

This publication joins its companion volumes Refrigerated Trailer Transport of Perishable Products and Marine Container Transport of Chilled Perishable Produce, also written by Thompson and others. USDA asked Thompson to write the first leaflet, which was Marine Container . “They liked it so much they kept going,” he says.

Perishable products are also shipped via break-bulk shipping—where the whole ship is refrigerated—and by rail, but Thompson knows USDA won’t persuade him to write further publications on those transportation methods. “No research information exists,” he says.

Air Transport of Perishable Products
Pub. 21618,
$12, with discounts available for Division personnel