How holiday favorites made it to your plate

The holiday season is here. If there was a time of year to eat your weight in food, it’s now. But have you ever wondered, how did this food get here?

And not just in the passenger seat of Aunty Anne’s car. How did the matzah make it to your plate? The eggnog to your glass or the turkey to the table?

Our heroes out there, the farmers, drivers, food transporters, storage and processing workers, and everyone who is part of the supply chain has a core role in the paddock to plate process. So firstly, cheers to them and happy holidays. Now let’s take a closer look at how a few holiday favorites made it to the table.

 

Eggnog

While a lot of foods are associated with this time of year, eggnog is probably the one that only gets consumed during the festive season. You don’t hear of people drinking eggnog in July (unless of course it’s a Christmas in July special). Made up of several ingredients (usually eggs, milk, cream, spices and rum or brandy), how do the eggs make it to your kitchen to put in the mix?

Once eggs have left the farm they get taken to a grading station where they are washed, graded and packaged. From here they are transported to the store where they are kept in cold storage or on the shelves. This process takes no more than a week, and to get them from A to B the eggs are transported using reefer trailers set at a cool 45 ° F / 7 °C to keep them fresh and healthy.

 

Turkey

A big favorite, not just in November but for December dinner tables too so how do these big birds get to the store ready for your feast?

Turkeys are farmed right across the US, but North Carolina and Minnesota together make up almost half of the production combined. In preparation for the holiday season, turkeys travel from the farm to the next stage of their journey. After processing, they are delivered fresh or frozen to stores using refrigerated trucks under strict FSMA compliance (Food Safety Modernization Act) guidelines to ensure consumer safety. Telematics ensures everyone in the supply chain can check that the turkey was kept at the correct temperature during its journey to the store, and by using two-way reefer controls, if anything does go astray, it can be quickly resolved reducing the chances of wasted loads and holiday turkey shortages.

 

Latkes

How do the potatoes that make this Hannukah staple get from the farm to your local store?

After spending around 150 days in the ground, potatoes are scooped up by harvesters and put into one ton crates. They’re then taken by trucks to the packhouse where the majority are stored in dark, refrigerated cold stores at 3 degrees celsius for several months, so we can have potatoes all year round (including the holiday season). When the potatoes are ready to be transported to the store, they usually travel in reefer trailers at temperatures between 39-54 ° F / 4-12 ° C keeping them fresh, starchy and delicious – perfect for your latkes or creamy mash potato.

 

Click here to find out more about how Coretex can help with food safety and logistics, and how it helps to get your holiday favorites onto the table.