COLD CHAIN
Improvements in the cold chain could save the economy billions
A lack of universal processes in Australia’s cold chain is leading to heavy stock losses.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, some had identified areas where improvements could be made in Australia’s cold chain. Now, stakeholders are being urged to act. Adam McCleery reports.
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s technology continues to evolve, the role of the cold food supply chain has become increasingly prominent because chilled and frozen products that otherwise were limited in their marketability, can be transported longer distances. However, one issue preventing the Australian cold chain reaching its full potential is a lack of processes in place to ensure verification and validation across multiple points in the chain. Mark Mitchell, Australian Food Cold Chain Council (AFCCC) chairman, said the logistical companies and supermarkets were working as best as they can within the current cold chain but the absence of another layer of verification at critical control points was having an adverse effect. “The cold chain is a quality management system with food safety being the critical overlay,” said Mitchell. The cold chain refers to the management of the temperature of perishable products to maintain quality and safety. According to Mitchell, each sector of the chain,
from the point at which the product is harvested or manufactured, to the point at which it is consumed in the home, shares responsibility. “The consequences of COVID haven’t really changed too much around some of the pre-existing conditions already in the cold chain,” said Mitchell. “It has amplified a couple, but essentially our cold chain in this country is the way it is because it has been that way for some time. COVID hasn’t really placed a huge impact on it. “If anything, COVID put a spotlight on compliance issues, hence we were involved in the early advice at a state and federal level and we had no silver bullets for them because we reminded them that the issues were already there.” Mitchell said the biggest issue facing the Australian cold chain was the absence of a national regulatory system to ensure a uniform approach to the transport of chilled and frozen goods. “The Australian standard for asset validation is all voluntary,” he said.
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“Therefore, it’s not done as often as it should be. In terms of the cold chain, the handling process of chilled and frozen goods in this country is all around food safety law. “What they don’t do is recognise world’s best practises in the cold chain quality management system.” The critical control points along the cold chain, whether the change of custody of a product, transport or storage, present higher risks of breaks in the cold chain, through its nature. Mitchell believes installing new methods and regulations would go a long way to mitigating those risks. “There needs to be transparency of temperature. You must manage all those critical points,” he said. “You can’t validate a product as being safely delivered, or that is has gone through a compliant cold chain, unless you have verification at every step. “There are great operators doing their bit, but the breaks can happen, and when they do it extends down the line.” In June of 2020, a study by the Melbourne-based Expert Group, for
the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, and Refrigerant Australia, revealed failures in the cold food chain costs the Australian economy billions of dollars in farm gate value. “It’s almost criminal that one quarter of Australia’s production of fruit and vegetables is never eaten,” said Mitchell. “This loss alone accounts for almost two million tonnes of otherwise edible food, worth $3 billion. Meat and seafood waste in the cold chain costs the country another $90 million and dairy losses total $70 million.” As part of a push to overhaul some areas of the cold chain, Mitchell presented to the World Packaging Organisation at the Smart Packaging Virtual Summit in August 2021, to make a call for cold chain stakeholders to become verifiers in a new cold chain culture. The idea would see verifiers measure product temperature at all points of the chain while passing them on during the receiving and delivery of chilled and frozen goods. Event organisers said positive
