Have you ever considered what's involved in getting your perishable products from the farm to your kitchen table?
The cold supply chain is a specialist logistic network for transporting temperature-sensitive products, such as pharmaceuticals, food, and beverages from one place to another. It is estimated that within Australia’s cold supply chain alone $3.8 billion of food is wasted annually — largely due to poor temperature management. This figure includes 25% of fruit and vegetables production, 3.5% of meat and seafood and 1% of dairy.
In order to reduce this statistic, it is imperative cold chain producers and logistics providers are using adequate and appropriate temperature control methods for the products they are transporting.
Why is temperature control important?
The goal of the cold supply chain is to ensure that the perishable products they transport are safe for consumption or use once they reach the end user — achieved by using tailored temperature control methods.
When consumable items are concerned, there is a minute margin for error, which is why products such as vaccines are to be kept between 2–8°C, while fruit, vegetables, and fresh meat are between 2–4°C.
If perishable goods are not properly protected while in transit it turns into waste, affecting both the business’s pockets and the environment, due to unnecessary landfill. Maintaining the quality of products can not only reduce costs and your impact on landfill but will ultimately lead to satisfied customers and greater demand.
The cold supply chain and packaging
Staying within a set temperature range is vital to the integrity of a shipment along the supply chain as it not only ensures optimal shelf life, but safe consumption. Therefore, it is imperative the packaging used to protect these products is both adequate and fit-for-purpose to avoid expensive damages or risking public health.
Monitor Marks are an inexpensive solution that can help to ensure that product quality is not compromised throughout the supply chain. They are a temperature indicator that self-adheres to secondary packaging and provides an easy-to-read history of time and temperature.
A temperature control product utilised by leading food and beverage retailers around Australia is foil insulated packaging. The foil works by blocking heat from getting into the parcel, while the durable bubble layer provides cushioning and acts to reduce cool air leaving the parcel.
Boutique chocolatier, Little Cocoa, switched to Signet’s Own foil insulated mailer bags to preserve their product quality during transit, and have since had zero non-compliance reports.
A cold chain product commonly used in conjunction with insulated packaging is cold gel packs. They are a reusable ice pack solution that lasts five times longer than standard crushed ice and ensures the temperature inside insulated packaging is maintained in transit.
Pat and Stick’s Homemade Ice Cream, an iconic Sydney ice cream company, implemented Signet’s Own Cold Gel Packs to stabilise in-the-box temperatures and keep their ice cream frozen for longer.
For many businesses, cold chain packaging needs to serve more than one purpose. In addition to providing temperature control, the packaging products used may also need to be food grade compliant.
Businesses in the food and beverage industry can increase their food safety assurance by using HACCP certified packaging. The benefit of sourcing packaging from a HACCP accredited plant and using HACCP certified packaging, is that the products manufactured are done so by a production team highly skilled in food safety and contamination elimination processes.
Signet’s local Flexibles facility is HACCP certified and manufactures products such as carton liners that can be used for food products.
Arakai Estate use carton liners manufactured in Signet’s HACCP-accredited Flexibles facility to protect their tea leaves from contamination during transit. They also use moisture absorbing sachets inside the cartons to ensure the leaves remain dry and no mould or condensation occurs.
Ensuring the safe travel of perishable goods means nothing if the receiver does not know how to identify and store the goods. Product warning labelling is an essential part of the cold supply chain and waste minimisation — it communicates whether a product perishable and then if it is to be refrigerated or frozen.
Shipping company, Sea Swift, implemented a custom tape solution to differentiate between freezer and refrigerator freight at the receiving end. Since the introduction of the tape, Sea Swift has eliminated mix-up incidents over two years.
Cold chain packaging is constantly evolving to meet new needs and regulations and ensure a safer supply chain. By understanding how the cold supply chain functions and tailoring packaging processes to suit the shipment’s specific transport environment, businesses can minimise or eliminate waste, save costs, ensure food safety, and provide an excellent customer experience.
For information on Signet’s wide range of Cold Chain Solutions, contact our Sales Team on 13 7446, email sales@signet.net.au, or Live Chat with us by visiting signet.net.au.
