Advances in cold chain and refrigeration technology can improve poultry supply chain efficiency, help reduce costs and ensure sustainability from farm to fork.
“Most businesses for the last 100 years have run statically, meaning you plug it in the wall, you set the setpoint and you let it go until it breaks or fails. That leaves a lot of money on the table from an energy standpoint,” Manik Suri, founder and CEO, Therma, explained.
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.
“Refrigeration has a lot of waste and inefficiency around it and if we can use technology to reduce that waste, it can help save businesses money and help the planet,” he added.
These innovations include:
1. Automating cold chain temperature monitoring
Historically, the monitoring of refrigeration temperatures required manual tracking on a clipboard. This is a largely inefficient process, especially for places that don’t have staff working on nights and weekends. It can also quickly result in lost or spoiled inventory or food safety concerns.
“The internet of things (IoT) is a great example of a technology that’s used these days for reliable monitoring of the inside of fridges, freezers, distribution centers and warehouses,” said Suri. “In addition, sensors give us the ability to see what’s going on inside continuously and reliably.”
2. Remote refrigeration controls
Remote refrigeration controls function similarly to the smart thermostat devices commonly found in homes today. For personal use, these devices can learn how and when people use heat and air conditioning, resulting in more efficient energy use in the house.
“If you complement these kinds of devices with data science, you can actually do things like turn the devices on or off when energy prices change. So, when energy gets really expensive, you use less of it,” Suri stated.
