The firm's new Heating, Ventilation & Air Conditioning (HVAC) technology seeks to protect foods and prevent tainting between products.
In order to avoid tainting, the room is sealed air tight and maintained under negative pressure.
“Any form of temperature control in warehousing creates positive pressure. Fans blow air over cooling coils, and the movement creates positive air pressure which, in turn, forces air to seep out of the warehouse chamber to adjacent chambers,” Richard Potts, distribution centre manager, explained to us.
“GAC Dubai has deployed specialist HVAC technology to create negative pressure by sucking the air out of the warehouse chamber in a controlled manner and expelling it outside. By ensuring that the room is sealed air tight and maintained under negative pressure, this ensures that air carrying any strong scent does not interact with products in adjacent storage areas, thus avoiding tainting.
“Further, the extracted air passes through a heat exchanger to enable energy-efficient cooling.”
Meeting client needs
The specialist facility made its debut providing storage for chewing gum and candy with a strong peppermint flavour, for a long-standing client.
The facility can be also be used for dry goods, confectionery, pet food, or any food product that emits a strong scent.
GAC Dubai offers services of consolidation and regional distribution of dry goods, confectionery and pet food on behalf of major international manufacturers, as well as storage and local retail distribution to supermarkets.
The firm revealed to us that the facility was actually refurbished to meet the specific needs of one of its customers.
“Such attention to the individual needs of our customers is one of the many ways we strive to add value to our services and help them achieve their business goals,” said Potts.
“After significant development in our food storage infrastructure in 2015 and ISO 22000 accreditation in 2017, our investment in this specialist solution to meet our clients’ needs further underpins our continuing commitment to high quality food handling operation.”
Other developments
Recently, GAC Dubai also launched its new contract logistics facility in the logistics district of Dubai South.
The new site added to the company’s existing contract logistics capacity and complements its facilities in the Jebel Ali and Dubai Airport Free Zones, bringing its total capacity to over 170,000 pallet positions.
Furthermore, the facility has 45,900 pallets, and is two-chamber temperature and humidity controlled. This allows it to handle a diverse range of product categories including FMCG, food and beverage and beauty products, said the firm.
The facility also has an environmentally-friendly cooling plant and advanced building management systems, and uses 100% recycled water, LED lighting with motion sensors and solar power.
Previously, inadequate logistics facilities in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region was a big concern for its food supply chain.
However, not long ago we reported that improved cold chain infrastructure is boosting consumer demand for frozen processed meat, cold drinks and flavoured milks among other products across the Middle East.