15.1.2   Minus goods
	Minus goods or frozen goods are packed into the container frozen and have in general to be kept at temperatures of from -18°C to -27°C. They include meat, fish, fats and derived products, these being goods in which respiration processes are suspended ("lifeless goods") but which do still undergo biochemical and microbial degradation processes, which may lead rapidly to spoilage. In recent years, a particular "niche business" using low temperature refrigerated containers or deep freeze reefer containers has developed, but so far it is limited almost exclusively to the Japanese market. These containers are used in particular to transport tuna and derived products at -60°C.   On fishing vessels, fish and shellfish are frozen as soon as they are caught.   The purpose of chilling and freezing is to maintain the quality of the goods during transport, the idea being that, after transport, chilled meat will be of the same quality as fresh meat. However, in the case of fruit, e.g. bananas, it may be necessary to allow certain ripening processes to proceed, albeit at greatly reduced rate, so enabling the fruit subsequently to ripen fully in ripening warehouses. This boils down to maintaining particular properties of the product, which determine its market value. This objective cannot be achieved merely by specifying certain technical control parameters, but also requires a raft of other cargo care measures, which may differ greatly from one product to another.

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