With the growing popularity of new websites that allow consumers to purchase frozen meat and other perishables online, cold chain technologies are more important than ever.
The term cold chain refers to all aspects of the temperature-controlled supply chain – from refrigerated production to storage to transportation – needed to preserve and extend the shelf life of frozen poultry products. It requires precise validation systems that monitor safety and temperature throughout the supply chain.
More than 100 million square feet of new cold storage warehouse space will be needed in the next five years to keep up with consumer demand for freshly frozen food, a new report from real estate brokerage CBRE estimates. In 2017, the temperature-controlled warehouse industry earned more than $5.3 billion in revenue.
Digital technologies
Many retailers have invested in emerging digital technologies to improve cold chain logistics.
Walmart uses blockchain – where data on each interaction with a perishable is tracked in a database – to keep track of potential food recalls on frozen food products. Transship, a company that specializes in transporting refrigerated perishables, recently partnered with start-up technology firms, TradeLens, Future Tech Transport and Ceres Technology, to integrates blockchain and real-time equipment tracking in order to improve transportation efficiency.
In airports and ports in the Middle East, robots and sensors are used to move perishable food from ship-to-plane-to-truck at airports and ports.
New refrigerant chemicals
Vapor compression is currently the dominant technology used to freeze food using a process called the thermodynamic phase change cycle. During this process – which is also used in air conditioners – refrigerants are compressed into a liquid form and then expanded into a colder gas phase that is blown into a refrigerator.
One new technology that could replace vapor compression uses a chilled slurry mix of water and salt that can maintain temperatures as low as -40℉. The method “provides cooling not by using pressure, but by moderating the chemical composition of its refrigerant,” a process that is up to 35% more efficient than traditional methods, according to the company’s website.
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