Carrier Refrigeration

Turn to the Expert: Eduardo Kerbel, Ph.D. The perishables that Eduardo Kerbel has researched in his career would form a healthy supermarket shopping list: bananas, pineapples, grapes, kiwifruit, melons, apples, oranges, grapefruit, peaches, plums, carrots, broccoli, celery, tomatoes, sweet corn and more. Q&A With the Postharvest Expert – Eduardo Kerbel ContainerLINE 2015 | Turn to the Expert company's bananas and pineapples grown in Central America and the Caribbean. He later started his own postharvest consultancy. For this issue of ContainerLINE we discussed his new responsibilities and the importance of proper postharvest handling. Fresh-cut flowers, too. Kerbel has studied them all, and he knows that each responds differently from the moment it is picked, in what is known as the "postharvest" stage. Kerbel, who recently joined Carrier Transicold as its first postharvest technology business manager, says that transporting goods from the farm to the supermarket and having them arrive in the top condition today's consumers expect involves considerable science, as well as proper care in processing, handling, packaging and of course, refrigeration. For the last three decades, Eduardo has immersed himself in the postharvest business. Born in Mexico, he earned a bachelor's degree in food engineering at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana in Mexico City, where his interest in postharvest technologies was sparked. He then pursued a master's degree in food science and a doctorate in plant physiology from the University of California, Davis, anticipating a lifetime career in academia. After nearly four years teaching postharvest physiology, handling and technology, and establishing a related research laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he chose the adventure of the business world in the early '90s. He first served as director of R&D for a commercial grower in California, and later held a similar position for the Mexican government's agricultural department in support of farmers in the state of Sonora. Following that, he joined Dole Fresh Fruit International, serving for nearly 20 years as director of postharvest physiology and technology, where he became well- acquainted with modern container refrigeration units used to ship the What is your role with Carrier Transicold? My responsibility is to approach growers and shippers more directly, to understand their needs and help them take advantage of technologies that can help them reach their customers. There is an opportunity for us to help the grower deliver the best possible product to the shipping line. Part of my responsibility is to help them take advantage of technologies like XtendFRESH ™ to improve their ability to successfully reach consumers with higher-quality perishables transported in refrigerated containers. 10

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