Patent ID: 8083085

Claim:
A produce cooling method comprising: having a plurality produce packaging trays with upper and lower ventilation openings arranged at two opposing ends of each tray; having a plurality of produce packaging containers, containing produce therein, each with ventilation slots arranged between a lid and a body of each container and each comprising a curved bottom surface that defines a single air passage that spans under substantially the entire bottom of each container defining a ventilation channel under the container, arranging the containers in the cooling trays so that ventilation slots of the packaging containers are in alignment with the upper ventilation openings of the cooling trays and also in alignment with ventilation slots of other packaging containers in the tray and so that the ventilation channels of the packaging containers are in alignment with the lower ventilation openings of the cooling tray and wherein the ventilation channels of the packaging containers are aligned with each other enabling airflow to pass into the tray through the ventilation openings, through the ventilation channels, and out of the cooling tray through a ventilation opening at an opposite end of the tray thereby enabling airflow to pass into the tray through the ventilation openings and through each of the containers by passing through the aligned ventilation slots of adjacent containers and out of the cooling tray through a ventilation opening at an opposite end of the tray; having the trays arranged on a pallet in a three by three layer of trays placed so that ventilation openings of the cooling trays are directly adjacent to and in alignment with ventilation openings of at least one other cooling tray; passing a cooling air flow through the cooling trays such that the air flow passes into the ventilation openings of the trays on a first side of the pallet and through each of the containers and trays and passes out of the ventilation openings of the trays on a second side of the pallet opposite the first side; and wherein said method is further characterized by a cooling rate that enables the produce harvested in a field at temperatures of above about 75° F. to be cooled to 34° F. in less than about 166 minutes.