Produce carrying trays and method of cooling produce in a five-down configuration

A shipping tray containing produce carrying containers comprising ventilation openings, said shipping tray comprising a bottom and a plurality of walls extending from said bottom, each said wall extending at an angle to an adjacent one of said walls and including a plurality of ventilation openings, said ventilation openings each being aligned and coextensive with at least one of said ventilation openings in the produce carrying containers so as to allow cooling fluid to pass through said walls and into the containers when the containers are positioned within the shipping tray, at least one of said walls including a first row of said ventilation openings wherein said ventilation openings include two openings in two of said walls and five openings in two of said walls.

A tray for use in a five down configuration on a pallet, said tray containing produce carrying containers with fluid passage openings, said tray comprising first and second walls extending at angles to each other, said first wall including a plurality of ventilation openings each being aligned and coextensive with at least one of said fluid passage openings in the produce carrying containers within said tray and said second wall including a plurality of ventilation openings each being aligned and coextensive with at least one of said fluid passage openings in the produce carrying containers so that fluid can pass through both walls of said tray and the produce carrying containers when cooling fluid is introduced into said tray through at least one of said walls, wherein at least one of said walls includes a row of said ventilation openings and said first wall comprises a sidewall and said second wall comprises an endwall;

• and wherein said tray includes a plurality of sidewalls and a plurality of endwalls wherein said endwalls each include four of the ventilation openings, said row of ventilation openings forms a lower row of ventilation openings, and each said ventilation opening is arranged in a respective one of an upper row and said lower row wherein said lower row of said endwall ventilation openings includes ventilation openings of different lengths.

A tray for use in a five down configuration on a pallet, said tray comprising sidewalls and end walls extending at angles to each other, each said sidewall having eight ventilation openings including large ventilation openings and small ventilation openings for aligning and being coextensive with respective fluid passage openings in produce carrying containers that are positionable within said tray and each said end wall including a plurality of ventilation openings for aligning and being coextensive with respective fluid passage openings in the produce carrying containers so that fluid can pass through the sidewalls and end walls of said tray and the produce carrying containers when said tray is positioned on the pallet, wherein said small sidewall ventilation openings and a plurality of said large ventilation openings are positioned in a row adjacent said bottom and a plurality of said large ventilation openings are arranged in a row spaced from said bottom.