The Global Cold Chain Alliance (GCCA) and the American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI) have recently developed a new protocol to standardize and modernize temperature monitoring across the frozen food supply chain, tracking fluctuations from production to distribution.
The protocol is designed to help frozen food manufacturers, cold chain logistics providers and retailers “improve operational efficiency, enhance food quality and safety, and reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions,” according to a statement from the GCCA, based in Arlington, Virginia.
“There are major opportunities for businesses across the cold chain to identify and eliminate inefficiencies in how they use energy to keep food frozen,” said Shane Brennan, Senior Vice President of Strategy, Partnerships and Policy at the GCCA. “To seize this opportunity it’s critical to build a shared understanding of how to monitor and log temperatures across every link in the chain. This protocol is a big step forward and lays the foundation for greater collaboration to drive efficiency, sustainability and high-quality food preservation.”
“This protocol represents a major advancement for frozen food manufacturers and broader cold chain partners as we drive continued improvements in quality and sustainability,” said Sanjay Gummalla, AFFI’s Senior Vice President of Scientific Affairs and Food Safety. “By establishing a common framework for monitoring temperature fluctuations, we’re not only improving consistency across the cold chain – we’re also laying the groundwork for a more sustainable future.”
Understanding temperature fluctuations
Significant technological advancements in equipment, facilities and monitoring capabilities now provide “unprecedented access” to temperature data throughout the supply chain, said the GCCA, adding that this “creates the opportunity for innovation in the relative temperature tolerances set out in the operating procedures.”
AFFI and GCCA convened a taskforce of industry experts and professionals to develop a standardized protocol for capturing, recording and understanding temperature fluctuations from production through final distribution. “This initiative addresses a critical knowledge gap in our industry regarding the real-world temperature variations experienced by frozen products,” said the GCCA.
The GCCA said the newly developed protocol provides guidance on:
- Identification of critical monitoring points across the supply chain.
- Best practices for data collection, management and analysis.
- Establishment of baseline measurements for future research and improvement.
In addition, said the GCCA, implementation of this protocol will enable cold chain operators to:
- Better understand variations in temperature set points across different products and operators.
- Identify and address significant temperature deviations during product journeys.
- Support future initiatives to optimize energy consumption and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
- Provide foundational data to further explore and enhance food safety, quality and shelf-life implications.
“We invite all stakeholders in the frozen food supply chain to adopt these protocols and participate in this important industry-wide effort to enhance our collective understanding of temperature management,” said the GCCA. Together, we can make improvements that benefit consumers, businesses, and the environment that will help grow the category of frozen food.
GCCA is also part of The Move to -15°C, a sustainability initiative dedicated to cutting carbon emissions in the frozen food supply chain by transitioning the standard temperature set point of the cold chain to -15°C (5°F).
“There are major opportunities for businesses across the cold chain to identify and eliminate inefficiencies in how they use energy to keep food frozen.”
Shane Brennan, Senior Vice President of Strategy, Partnerships, and Policy at the GCCA
