Cold chains are universally uses in the food, pharmaceutical and some chemical shipments. The cold chain is a logistical system which manages temperature, often between 2 o to 8 o Celsius. It is a series of distribution activities which continuously maintain this temperature in order to protect the temperature-sensitive cargo from manufacture to the point of consumption. Unique to fresh produce cargoes, the cold chain requires to additionally maintain product specific environment parameters which include air quality levels (carbon dioxide, oxygen, humidity and others) which makes this the most complicated cold chain to operate
It is important for every cold storage to have a refrigerant, a valve, a vapour barrier and insulation during the cargo shipping, leakages may occur from the containers and when this happens, the temperature may increase which can lead to spoilage as well. In order to avoid such kind of problems, the containers have to be filled with insulators.
The cold chain is a well-known method for reducing losses and wastages. The primary segments of an integrated cold chain, which include; 1) Packing and cooling fresh food products, 2) Food processing (i.e. freezing of certain processed foods, 3) Cold storage (short or long term warehousing of chilled or frozen foods), 4) Distribution (cold transport and temporary warehousing under temperature controlled conditions), 5) Marketing (refrigerated or freezer storage and displays at wholesale markets, retail markets and foodservice operations) can be simple or complex, low tech or high tech. Cold chain logistics is the planning and management of the interactions and transitions between these five segments, in order to keep product at their optimum temperature for maintenance of quality, food safety and prevention of waste and economic losses. Speed is often the key to success when handling and marketing perishable product.
It creates consistent results that the company can rely on. It helps earn trust of product to end-users. It opens opportunities for powerful business marketing. It can boost employees sense of professionalism. It can create bigger money-savings.