Cold supply chain challenges in the food industry
Introduction
The food industry is large and diversified, and has various segments one of those segments is the fresh food industry which just like all the other segments needs different supply chain strategies. Following the rise in demand for fresh food worldwide all year round many challenges facing cold chain supply have emerged. These challenges include; accommodation of strict regulations as suppliers try to deal with the high demand, obstacles as supplier choose containers to use in transporting their goods, responding to the expectations of consumers, delivering goods safety and fresh. Chilled goods offer the biggest challenge when it comes to transportation since they require special temperature conditions. How to record and save data happens to be another critical challenge in the cold chain supply food industry. Technology has been of great help in solving these challenges. The demand of fresh products is rising every day, therefore challenges that affect the cold chain supply should be identified and dealt with.
Managing and storing data is another problem in the cold chain supply since data is very essential in any food supply chain. 75% of food wastage happens between the process of production and distribution. This loss in food is a sign that their failure of communication between those who are involved in handling these foods from production to distribution. FDA are now demanding data records (Oceasoft, 2018). Agencies in charge are also urging suppliers to take initiative and inspect where their goods are coming from. They should patrol the warehouses in order to ensure that the necessary information for the cold chain supply is being recorded for further references (Oceasoft, 2018). While doing so they should inspect the sanitation, operating standards, pest control and the temperatures being used (Oceasoft, 2018).
How to monitor Products in the food chain is another challenge that has plagued the food industry over the years as a result of lack of technology in the previous years. It was very costly to monitor or follow a shipment on its journey, the downside of not being able to do so was not knowing when the goods get spoilt. However, technology has turned things around. The food industry is now able to track where and when their goods get spoiled. Companies are now able to track the shipments as they are being made. Technology has entered the cold food supply and helped in building more advanced warehouses that cater for the needs of these goods (Oceasoft, 2018). Meeting the regulations that are in place has presented another challenge for the food chain industry, policies are being implemented every now and them, domestically and internationally and business in the cold chain supply are struggling to meet these regulations (Oceasoft, 2018).
How these foods are delivered is a challenge in the food industry. The entry of Amazon into the food industry can be taken as a signal how consumers receive their goods has changed. Different consumers have different preferences and business are preparing to overcome the challenge presented by the different needs of consumers, some consumers prefer to have their good through home delivery while others want to pick their goods from retail shelves. It is proving to be a challenge to expand the industry in order to meet these preferences. Ensuring that consumers receive their goods within an appropriate window while the goods are still fresh is also a challenging factor. (Oceasoft, 2018).
Food spoilage in the cold supply chain has presented another obstacle. The aim of regulating climatic conditions such as temperatures and humidity is to maintain they life cycle of the good and has proved to be a challenging task at hand. Different products in the cold chain suppy require different conditions in order for them to continue with their life cycle. The traditional methods of storing these foods has for a long time depended on the experience of the operators who have to be in the storage rooms to regulate and monitor the conditions. Cold storage facilities are now dealing with this problem by making their storage facilities multi-commodity storage facilities, example is storing together goods that requires same conditions. With Multi-commodity storage businesses are now able to use one storage unit for various goods, while the temperature and humidity of each chamber is different and according to the product being stored in it (AB&R, n.d). The cold chain supply can now be elevated from the traditional way of monitoring goods.
Due to the increase demand and consumption of temperature sensitive products a supply management has been innovated and put in place. Controlling temperatures and humidity are important for this new innovation to be fully effective since these two are needed in ensuring the safety of foods. The cold food supply chain is growing due to many advances that have taken place in the food industry and the increased demand that is all year round. Demands of consumers are always changing and with time, therefore, the food supply chain should be able to prevent loss at any cost at the production level and ensure an efficiency in sales. Apart from delivering food safely and fresh an effective system should ensure that they deliver their products on time (Kuo and Chen, 2010).
As the demand for refrigerated food continues to hick, the more the need to have transport with carriers that are temperature-controlled increases (Bogataj, Bogotaj andVidopivec,2004). Transportation of fresh goods is very costly since the temperature of these goods has to be controlled during transportation and storage. At the stage of transportation perishable foods are more perishable, they require certain climatic conditions in order for them to be moved around, Controlling and monitoring the temperature is the key to keeping these foods fresh and maintaining their quality which at many times has been ruined during transportation (Aung and Chang, 2013).
Responding to the expectations of customers consuming these goods is a challenge. It requires a proper CCM (Kuo and Chen, 2010). Most people are known to consume chilled and frozen foods that can still be taken without heating. Transporting perishable goods under certain temperatures brings about new challenges to be addressed and managed (Bowman, Harrison and llilic, 2009).
Chilled goods remain the very difficult to transport since they require temperatures that are well controlled the temperature should not be too low to freeze the food nor too high to make them decay. These foods cannot be stopped from naturally decaying but the presence of high temperatures accelerates their rate of decay. Extra costs are incurred in the process shipping these goods to other destinations, cost such as certification cost are incurred while maintaining the temperature of these goods and also the cost of wireless technology that monitors the goods as they are being shipped (Rawat, 2015).
The increasing environmental impact on the cold raises a need for concern. Mother nature can be kind and hostile, it has provided hostile working environment for cold chain logistics, macroeconomic factors and fluctuations whether international or locally they can cause even bigger problems on the operating environment of the business (Sainathan, 2018). Weak links can be noted in the cold supply chain, moving these goods from storage to the carriers tends to present another challenge, they are exposed to different temperature conditions and even the slightest changes in temperature could damage the goods (Sainathan, 2018).
The demand for perishable foods has become a challenge to shippers as they try to find suitable transport and storage for these goods that demand a lot of attention during their transportation. Businesses are busying themselves with activities of building temperature and humidity-controlled warehouses and modifying their carriage units to fit the needs of these goods that are refrigerated in order to meet this growing demand and the safe time ensure the quality and safety of the goods is not at stake (Romeo, 2018). According to research conducted in China it was noted that the cold supply of the country was growing at a phenomenal rate and is placing an increasingly pressure on temperature-controlled supply pipeline that will require standards that will be enforced industrywide, better training to approach if it is to cope (Knowler, 2017).
In order for companies to cope with the challenges that arise in the cold chain supply measure will have to be taken. These measures include; the cold chain logistic will be forced to better their infrastructure by using more improved technology that would be following strict regulations, the supervision of the cold chain industry need to be stepped up and standards have to be met by encouraging forms to innovate and use technology to develop temperature monitoring systems. The companies in the cold chain should pay more attention to the expiry date. The government should also optimize customs clearance giving fast pass to vehicles transporting cold chain foods (Knowler, 2017).
Conclusion
The cold chain supply is being faced by a lot of problems such as adherence to strict regulation as companies try to cope with strict regulations, the obstacles of finding a suitable carrier, how to monitor how perishable goods are being transported and microbial growth. Data is another part of cold chain management, food loss between production and distribution shows that there is a gap in communication and FDA is demanding substantial data collection on electronic records. Moving these goods from their units of storage to vehicles present another challenge since the slightest change in temperature can lead to spoilage of the goods. The impacts of the environment of this food chain is another factor that raises concern. How to meet cold chain regulations continues to be a challenge. Managing to deliver these foods on time while they are still fresh pose another challenge. The increase in demand of temperature sensitive goods has led to the establishment of a management that will deal with the perishable goods. Chilled good remain the most type of goods to be transported. Some of the ways to solve these challenges are; the government to streamline its process and give passes to vehicles that are transporting fresh or highly perishable goods. The cold chain logistic will be forced innovate high technology that will help in monitoring the climatic conditions and adjust them to the preferences of the goods. In order to meet the demand for fresh and perishable goods the challenge facing cold chain supply have to be solved.
References list
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Rawat, S., 2015. Food Spoilage: Microorganisms and their prevention. Asian Journal of Plant Science and Research, 5(4), pp.47-56.
Romeo J, 2018, Cold Chain Challenge: Meeting Increased Demand for Fresh and Frozen Food. Retrieved from; https://www.foodqualityandsafety.com/article/cold-chain-challenge-demand-fresh-frozen-food/
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