Ensure long-lasting freshness for food

We all know the story – you open your fridge’s veggie drawer only to find it contains limp lettuce, soft carrots, slimy cucumbers, and mouldy, over-ripe tomatoes. The only choice is to throw them into the bin – what a waste! Did you know that an unimaginable 1,3-billion tons of food is thrown away every year?

Of course, loadshedding has made things a lot worse. What is needed is a refrigerator that provides excellent protection from heat getting inside when the door is closed and the power is off.

A leading appliance and refrigerator manufacturer, Miele (www.miele.co.za), decided to tackle this issue head on.

According to Miele’s Jon Molyneax: “At Miele, we believe that to combat this, we need to develop a more conscious approach to how we handle food, and to include an ultra-effective freshness system in our fridges. Which is why PerfectFresh Active technology is a standard new feature on board Miele’s latest built-in K7000 and free-standing K4000 range of refrigerators.”

We need to develop a more conscious approach to how we handle food.

New mist-spray technology

Fruit and vegetables need moisture to stay fresh and crisp. At temperatures between 0°C and 3°C, says Molyneax, his company’s PerfectFresh Active system, provides long-lasting freshness in a visible way by spraying a fine mist onto the contents of the crisper drawer, preserving the quality of the food and its vitamins. This is well-known in professional applications, for example in delicatessens, and it ensures that food stays fresh for up to five times longer than it would in a conventional vegetable compartment.

“Extended freshness is guaranteed by the perfect combination of a temperature hovering around the freezing point and humidity. Freshness is added through the active moisturising system which produces a fine mist of water that settles on the food in the veggie drawer. This also helps to protect the quality and vitamins inherent in the produce being stored. This active system is familiar from commercial applications, similar to the vegetable cooling systems found in supermarkets for example,” explains Molyneax.

According to him, extra moisture, in the form of mist, is sprayed from the water container above, directly into the drawer every 90 minutes, and every time the door is opened.

“Compact and easy to clean, the water container has a capacity of 120ml to hold the small amount of water required. The low temperatures keep any nasty contaminations at bay, meaning that the container only has to be refilled every two to three months,” he adds.

A host of other unique features

Over and above this innovation, Miele’s two new refrigeration ranges provide a host of other unique features, including:

• Versatility and design: With FlexiBoard, a sectioned inner shelf, the front part of the glass shelf slides effortlessly under the rear section.
• Best insulation throughout a long life cycle: Miele relies on particularly high-end insulation with a core made from silica (silicic acid), a substance of organic origin with good environmental credentials. Goodbye loadshedding worries – Ed.
• Freezing or cooling: According to demand.
• LED lighting: In the case of the K7000 integrated refrigeration range.
• CleanSteel rear wall: The interior rear wall of some models features an elegant, sturdy CleanSteel finish to help ensure that cooling is distributed evenly within the appliance.
• Wi-Fi-enabled: All of the K7000 range offers Wi-Fi networking (WiFiConn@ct).