Beverage shipping can be extremely easy, in the case of carbonated drinks in cans, or they can have a lot of logistical concerns if they want to arrive at their destination in a state that is still safe to consume. As with fresh produce, there are various requirements to ensure beverages are protected, especially during certain times of the year.
Beverage shipping during winter, for example, has its own challenges if temperature-sensitive beverages must sit in an unprotected environment for any length of time while awaiting the next link in the supply chain to carry them over. Here are a few of the beverages that require special consideration.
Fruit Juice
Because fruit juice is all-natural, with no alcohol and little in the way of carbonation or preservatives, fruit juice is especially vulnerable for beverage shipping during the winter or even the summer. Extreme temperature fluctuations such as freezing or a hot environment can alter the nature of fruit juice. For example, while still drinkable when it thaws, frozen orange juice causes separation between the pulp and juices and even lessens the nutritional value.
On the other end of the spectrum, any juice left in high-temperature environments can accelerate the spoiling process. Warm temperatures invigorate the growth of bacteria that naturally reside in the juice, causing them to go bad well before the recommended expiration date.
Beer
Although beer contains alcohol and is thus more robust to transport than fruit juices, that doesn’t mean that it’s indestructible. Beer ships very well in cans, but beer as a beverage shipping during the winter can be vulnerable to harm if it’s in glass bottles. Beer will freeze when the temperature is cold enough, and in a glass bottle, it’s possible that the expansion of the frozen beer as ice can crack the bottle open.
Naturally, when the temperature warms up, the beer will leak through cracks, leaving the bottle empty.
Wine
As with beer, wine in glass bottles leaves it more vulnerable as a beverage shipping during the winter than drinks in a metal can or plastic container. However, an added danger beyond cracking the bottle is freezing wine displacing the cork. Wine must be kept in an airtight container before consumption. Once oxygen interacts with the wine, it acts as a corrosive agent, spoiling the wine and disrupting the taste or making the wine unsafe to drink.
While the premium solution to this problem is keeping beverages in a climate-controlled environment, this is both expensive and often not realistic to implement. A refrigerated or heated space requires power, which doesn’t lend itself to every step of the logistics supply chain. Delays at a harbor, airport, or warehouse near a train line can sometimes mean products get exposed to the elements for hours or even days.
More innovative solutions, such as passive pallet covers and other forms of insulation, can retain the initial shipping temperature of beverages. This protects a beverage shipping during the winter or summer from the extreme swings in temperature that can typically occur moving from one environment to another. It’s just a matter of planning and taking the required precautions.
