Funkcja przemysłu chłodniczego w produkcji i konserwacji, żywności w środkowej Polsce

The refrigerating engineering is the youngest and simultaneously the most dynamically developing branch of the food-processing industry in Poland. It groups 16 companies having at their disposal 58 cold stores, which are distributed throughout the whole country (Fig. 1), In the area under survey this industry is represented by The Refrigerating Engineering Company in Łódź and by The Central Laboratory of the Refrigerating Engineering in Łódź. The Central Laboratory of the Refrigerating Engineering is a research and development centre. Its production of frozen foodstuffs constitutes a secondary-type activity, and it is carried out at the level of about 250 ton in The Experimental Plant of Frozen Foodstuffs. In the future the plant is to supply 800 ton of food products with the entire output being left in Poland. The Refrigerating Engineering Company in Łódź is the main producer and distributor of frozen foodstuffs in the nearby administrative provinces of Łódź, Piotrków, Sieradz, Płock, and Skierniewice. It has 3 cold stores with a total refrigeration capacity of 212 ton per day. The storage capacity of the company meets the demand of the region for frozen foodstuffs in 70 per cent. The company performs services in the field of storage and refrigeration of foodstuffs and produces between 6 and 7 thousand ton of frozen fruit and vegetables, readymade foodstuffs and ice-creams per year (Table 1). Its output goes in GO per cent to the domestic market, while export includes frozen fruit only (60 to 80 per cent of production). The company can process 25 to 30 per cent of the total quantity of goods while the remaining part is sent to other cold stores in Poland within the framework of co-operation. In turn, the se cold stores send between 3 and 5 thousand ton of their own products to The Refrigerating Engineering Company in Łódź. In this way the company is able to supply between 6 and 7 thousand ton of frozen foodstuffs a year to the above mentioned 5 administrative provinces. About 65 per cent of all frozen foodstuffs are sold in the administrative province of Łódź (Tables 5 and 6).