In the face of massive product recalls, rapidly changing consumer demand and global food price increases, the buzzword in retailing is integrity. However, this is not about business ethnics or sustainable resources. It is about end-to-end temperature integrity through hyper efficient logistics.
Elsevier Food International, Vol. 11, Number 1, February 2008
Len Lewis

For decades, perishables have been a point of difference for supermarkets whose ability to sell high quality fresh foods 12 months a year is the difference between success and failure. As such, it is no longer just a matter of how far food has to travel, but how well. In fact, some feel that rising demand for fresh products is not the result of consumer demand, but the development of a reliable cold chain.
“There have been a lot of improvements in shipping fresh foods over the past few years.
But it’s continuing to evolve,” said Barbara Pratt, director of refrigerated services, North America for the Maersk Group, one of the leading companies in shipping containers.
“Shippers want increased visibility. They want to know where their products are in the supply chain and to make sure temperatures are being monitored and that they are secure from tampering.”
Dermott Crombie, vice president, global marine solutions for Thermo King added: “The amount of perishables moving through the supply chain is increasing all the time because the costs and science have improved immeasurably and this has impacted the quality of product from far off places. The bottom line is that people expect to eat strawberries at Christmas.”

Temperature control is key

Fine temperature control at all points in the supply chain is critical

For the most part, improvements in the cold chain –including transportation, distribution centres and at retail – have enabled them to do just that. “There’s an old joke about property values being a matter of location, location, location. In perishables, it’s temperature, temperature and temperature,” said Crombie.
However, one of the biggest problem areas and will be for some time to come, according to industry observers, is China where the lack of a good cold chain is seriously limiting distribution of fresh products within the country and will inhibit China’s ability to export fresh foods. Moreover, the lack of an efficient cold chain will keep many food exporters in the US and Europe from reaching China’s 1.3 billion consumers.
The situation was summed up by James Rice, head of China operations for Tyson foods in a recent Wall Street Journal interview when he described frozen chicken being loaded onto a non-refrigerated flatbed truck in summer with a blanket over them.
Situations like this may not be solved any time soon, according to a recent study of China’s cold chain by Chicago-based consulting firm A.T. Kearney which found that only about 15per cent of products that should be temperature-controlled are handled this way.
This compares with 85 per cent compliance in cold chain practices in Europe and the US, Kearney said.

Upgrading the chain
Steps are being taken to correct the situation before the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the Shanghai World Expo in 2010. But it will take US$100 billion to develop an efficient and safe supply chain, according to Kearney. At present, China only has about 30,000 refrigerated trucks and 250 million cubic feet of cold storage space. Based on current food expenditures, more than ten times as many trucks and twice the cold storage space will be needed to keep up with demand by 2017. However, this may be money well spent since China loses an estimated 30 per cent of its meat and produce, which translates into economic losses of about US$15 billion annually.
But, whether it is China, Europe or the US, fine temperature control at all points in the supply chain is critical. “Most fresh produce has an optimum temperature and the closer you get to it the better. But if you go below it you can cause serious damage,” said Crombie. “In a way it’s like playing blackjack. You get to 21 and you win – go to 22 and you lose. Getting the exact temperature all the time and across the entire width of a container is very important and now we can hold the supply air temperature, the air going over the container, to within a quarter of a degree Celsius.”
Temperature control is even more complicated with cargos that are aspiring or alive. “They produce carbon dioxide and ethylene and you may need to ventilate some of those gases outside the box to keep the atmosphere where you want it. Consumers expect the cargo to arrive as if it were just picked and that requires more fine temperature, humidity and atmospheric control,” Crombie said.
Consequently, Thermo King has introduced new compressor technology that reduces the weight of the machine, enabling shippers to put more cargo into each container. “We’ve also increased energy efficiency and with many supermarkets looking at the carbon footprint of cargo brought in from long distances, reducing energy consumption helps.”

Equipment trends
New equipment has also extended the temperature range down to –35 degrees Celsius, the optimum for items like premium ice creams and seafood with a high fat content. “In the past, these products were shipped by air and were often in short supply due to logistical problems. Now, they can be moved at a more reasonable cost and with a lower environmental impact. But getting cargo down to the proper temperature as quickly as possible is also becoming a key part of supply chain logistics for fresh foods and we are working on equipment that will pre-cool cargo as it’s harvested and loaded into containers.

Refrigerated containers for sea shipments are becoming increasingly important.

This greatly enhances shelf life,” Crombie said, adding that every hour spent at harvest temperature and not at the carrying temperature, costs the product one day of shelf life.
This becomes more important for international shipments, Pratt noted. “There’s a big,difference between transit times of one to three days within the US and one to three weeks from overseas. The longer the cold chain, the greater the opportunity for temperature fluctuations at different places along the chain.”
However, she agrees that significant progress has been made. “Microprocessors can now monitor temperatures and do things like adjust expansion valves, fan or compressor speeds or control the refrigerant in the system. This couldn’t be done ten years ago,” she said.
Additionally, genetics is coming into play.
“Today we move super sweet cherries in the global environment, a product that can maintain its sugar level longer and can therefore remain in transit for longer periods. We’re also working on some new logistics programs including a sea/air program under which commodities are handled in ocean containers for part of the journey and then in airplanes. This reduces costs to customers and addresses energy concerns while maintaining product quality,” said Pratt.

State-of-the-art shipping

New conpressor technology enables shippers to put more cargo into each container

Overall, refrigerated containers for sea shipments is becoming increasingly important for fresh foods and the containerised share of sea-borne reefer shipments is likely to hit 65 per cent by 2010, according to Safmarine, an Antwerp-based international shipping firm, which recently launched several state-of-the-art reefer vessels.
“These vessels have provided increased reefer capacity to South African fruit exporters shipping produce to the Far East,” said Marc Rooms, sales manager for Asia, Europe and Africa trade. “Shippers of fast-deteriorating, high-value commodities who opted for air freight in the past are now choosing to use refrigerated containers. Recent innovations and improvements in refrigeration technology have helped extend the shelf life of many produce items which, in turn, has made them suitable for transport by sea,” he said.
Another trend is the emergence of what has been called the ‘supermarket container’ named for the diversity of its contents. “Shippers who previously air freighted a variety of perishable produce are now switching to reefer containers because they find it efficient and cost effective to ship a number of different perishable items in one unit, particularly for short transit times,” said Rooms.
Asked about the differences between the US and Europe in terms of logistics, Pratt and others said there is no easy answer. “One geography is not more difficult than another. It all depends on the local infrastructure and the ability of the people in control to pay attention to detail. You can have the best trucks and rail system in the world but if you’re not monitoring them to make sure product is shipped at the right temperatures, you will have problems,” said Pratt.
Quality also depends on warehousing facilities.
“Handling frozen product is different than chilled. With frozens, you have to make sure air is circulating around the cartons. But with chilled, you need an air circulation system that removes heat. As such, a warehouse system has to be designed to handle a specific product and making sure people, resources and the infrastructure address these details is a local issue.”