View source for Cold chain

{{short description|Low-temperature supply chain}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{food safety}}

A '''cold chain''' is a [[supply chain]] that uses [[refrigeration]] to maintain perishable goods, such as pharmaceuticals, produce or other goods that are temperature-sensitive.<ref name="WHO">{{cite web |title=The Vaccine Cold Chain |url=https://www.who.int/immunization/documents/IIP2015_Module2.pdf |access-date=19 December 2020 |website=www.who.int |publisher=WHO}}</ref> Common goods, sometimes called '''cool cargo,'''<ref>Lou Smyrlis (19 September 2013). [http://www.ctl.ca/news/cns-claude-mongeau-preaches-eco-system-of-collaboration-at-port-days/1002607171/ "CN's Claude Mongeau preaches 'eco-system of collaboration' at Port Days"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921054734/http://www.ctl.ca/news/cns-claude-mongeau-preaches-eco-system-of-collaboration-at-port-days/1002607171/|date=21 September 2013}}, Canadian Transportation Logistics, Retrieved 20 September 2013</ref> distributed in cold chains include fresh agricultural [[produce]],<ref name="CTFVPx">{{cite web |last=Kohli |first=Pawanexh |title=Fruits and Vegetables Post-Harvest Care: The Basics |url=http://crosstree.info/Documents/Care%20of%20F%20n%20V.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110114150117/http://crosstree.info/Documents/Care%20of%20F%20n%20V.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=14 January 2011 |access-date=6 April 2009 |publisher=CrossTree techno-visors}}</ref> seafood, [[frozen food]], [[photographic film]], chemicals, and [[pharmaceutical product]]s.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gyeszly |first=S. W. |title=Total System Approach to Predict Shelf Life of Packaged Food Products |url=https://www.astm.org/stp14842s.html |journal=Food Packaging Technology |date=1991 |language=en-US |publisher=ASTM International |pages=46–50 |doi=10.1520/STP14842S|isbn=0-8031-1417-6 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> The objective of a cold chain is to preserve the integrity and quality of goods such as pharmaceutical products or perishable good from production to consumption. <ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.paho.org/en/immunization/cold-chain | title=Cold Chain - PAHO/WHO &#124; Pan American Health Organization }}</ref><ref>https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/searo/india/publications/immunization-handbook-107-198-part2.pdf
 {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2024}}</ref> 

A well functioning, or unbroken, cold chain requires uninterrupted sequence of refrigerated production, storage and distribution activities, along with associated equipment and logistics, which maintain a desired low-temperature interval to keep the safety and quality of perishable or sensitive products. Unlike other goods or merchandise, cold chain goods are [[Decomposition|perishable]] and always en-route towards end use or destination. Adequate cold storage, in particular, can be crucial to prevent [[food loss and waste]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/ca6122en|title=The State of Food and Agriculture 2019. Moving forward on food loss and waste reduction, In brief|publisher=FAO|year=2019|location=Rome|pages=12}}</ref>

==History==
Mobile [[refrigeration]] with [[ice]] from the [[ice trade]] began with [[reefer ship]]s and [[refrigerator car]]s ([[icebox]]es on wheels) in the mid-19th century.<ref>{{Cite web |title=FRIDGE SPACE - Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |url=https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item?id=TC-BVAU-969&op=pdf&app=Library&oclc_number=1033137690}}</ref> The term ''cold chain'' was first used in 1908. The first effective cold store in the UK opened in 1882 at [[St Katharine Docks]].<ref name="Install new cold storage"/> It could hold 59,000 carcasses, and by 1911 cold storage capacity in London had reached 2.84 million carcasses.<ref name="Install new cold storage"/> By 1930 about a thousand refrigerated meat containers were in use which could be switched from road to railway.<ref name="Install new cold storage">{{cite book |last1=Otter |first1=Chris |title=Diet for a large planet |date=2020 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=USA |isbn=978-0-226-69710-9 |page=45 }}</ref>

Mobile mechanical refrigeration was invented by [[Frederick McKinley Jones]], who co-founded [[Thermo King]] with entrepreneur Joseph A. "Joe" Numero. In 1938 Numero sold his Cinema Supplies Inc. movie sound equipment business to [[RCA]] to form the new entity, U.S. Thermo Control Company (later the [[Thermo King Corporation]]), in partnership with Jones, his engineer. Jones designed a portable air-cooling unit for trucks carrying perishable food,<ref name="Minnesota Hall of Fame"/> for which they obtained a patent on 12 July 1940,<ref name="Black Firsts">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=93SDBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA613 | title=Black Firsts: 4,000 Ground-Breaking and Pioneering Historical Events | publisher=Visible Ink Press | author=Smith, Jessie Carney  | year=2012 | pages=613 | isbn=978-1-57859-424-5}}</ref> subsequent to a challenge to invent a refrigerated truck over a 1937 golf game by associates of Numero's, Werner Transportation Co. president Harry Werner, and United States Air Conditioning Co. president Al Fineberg,<ref>[https://archive.org/details/eightblackameric00hayd <!-- quote=werner. --> ''Eight Black American Inventors'' by Robert C. Hayden] Addison-Wesley, 1972; pp. 46- 50.</ref><ref name="Minnesota Hall of Fame">{{cite web | url=http://www.msthalloffame.org/frederick_mckinley_jones.htm | title=Frederick McKinley Jones | publisher=Minnesota High Tech Association / [[Science Museum of Minnesota]] | work=Minnesota Science and Technology Hall of Fame | access-date=11 February 2010}}</ref><ref name="Black Firsts"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.greatachievements.org/?id=3864|title=Air Conditioning and Refrigeration History - part 4 - Greatest Engineering Achievements of the Twentieth Century|website=www.greatachievements.org|access-date=24 April 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161203195802/http://www.greatachievements.org/?id=3864|archive-date=3 December 2016}}</ref>

This technology has been frequently in use since the 1950s, when it was most often used for preserving animal-based cells or tissue. As medical breakthroughs, such as in cancer treatment, have taken place, the demand for cold chain systems has grown. The [[COVID-19 pandemic]] and its associated [[COVID-19 vaccine|vaccinations]], have caused vastly increased need.<ref name="Kelly">{{cite web |last1=Kelly |first1=Kate |title=Critical to Vaccines, Cold Storage Is Wall Street's Shiny New Thing |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/15/business/cold-storage-covid-vaccine.html |website=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=20 December 2020 |date=15 December 2020}}</ref>

==Uses==
[[File:VillageReach vaccine cold chain.jpg|thumb|Cold chain being maintained using ice box while transporting polio vaccine]]
Cold chains are common in the food and [[pharmaceutical]] industries and also in some chemical shipments. One common temperature range for a cold chain in pharmaceutical industries is {{convert|2|to|8|C}}, but the specific temperature (and time at temperature) tolerances depend on the actual product being shipped.{{cn|date=August 2023}}

===Produce===
Unique to fresh produce cargoes, the cold chain requires to additionally maintain product specific environment parameters<ref name="CTFVPx"/> which include air quality levels (carbon dioxide, oxygen, humidity and others).{{cn|date=August 2023}}

===Vaccines===
The cold chain is used in the supply of [[vaccines]] to distant clinics in hot climates served by poorly developed transport networks. Vaccines can lose their efficacy if cold chain management fails.<ref name="Pambudi">{{cite journal | last1=Pambudi | first1=Nugroho Agung | last2=Sarifudin | first2=Alfan | last3=Gandidi | first3=Indra Mamad | last4=Romadhon | first4=Rahmat | title=Vaccine cold chain management and cold storage technology to address the challenges of vaccination programs | journal=Energy Reports| volume=8 | year=2022 | issn=2352-4847 | doi=10.1016/j.egyr.2021.12.039 | pages=955–972 | s2cid=245490703 | doi-access=free | bibcode=2022EnRep...8..955P | pmc=8706030 }}</ref> Disruption of a cold chain due to war may produce consequences similar to the [[smallpox]] outbreaks in the Philippines during the [[Spanish–American War]], during which the distributed vaccines were inert due to lack of temperature control in transport.<ref name="alexcode914">{{cite web|url=http://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/wwi/communicablediseases/chapter9.html|title=Office of Medical History|website=history.amedd.army.mil|access-date=24 April 2018|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216235803/http://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/wwi/communicablediseases/chapter9.html|archive-date=16 February 2017}}</ref>

For vaccines, there are different types of cold chains. There is an ultralow, or deep freeze, cold chain for vaccines that require -70 degrees C, such as the Ebola and [[Tozinameran|Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19]] vaccines, and some animal vaccines, such as those for chickens. Next the frozen chain requires -20 degrees C. Varicella and zoster vaccinations require this level. Then the refrigerated chain, which requires temperatures between two and eight degrees C. Most flu vaccinations only require refrigeration.<ref name="Fischetti"/>

In 2020, during the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], vaccines being developed may need [[ULT freezer|ultracold storage]] and transportation temperatures as cold as {{convert|-70|C}}, requiring what has been referred to as a "colder chain" infrastructure.<ref name="dereklowe1">{{cite journal|author=Derek Lowe|url=https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/cold-chain-and-colder-chain-distribution|title=Cold Chain (And Colder Chain) Distribution|date=31 August 2020|access-date=5 September 2020|journal=Science Translational Medicine}}</ref> This creates some issues of distribution for the [[Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine|Pfizer vaccine]]. It is estimated that only 25 to 30 countries in the world have the infrastructure for the required ultracold cold chain.<ref name="Fischetti">{{cite web |last1=Fischetti |first1=Mark |title=The COVID Cold Chain: How a Vaccine Will Get to You |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-covid-cold-chain-how-a-vaccine-will-get-to-you/ |website=www.scientificamerican.com |publisher=Scientific American |access-date=20 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201219072939/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-covid-cold-chain-how-a-vaccine-will-get-to-you/ |date=19 November 2020|archive-date=19 December 2020}}</ref>

==Validation==
[[File:Sunwell fish packing pumpable slurry ice.JPG|thumb|upright|[[Slurry ice]] used to ship sensitive food products]]
[[File:FE left view.jpg|thumb|left|Truck with cooling system]]
The cold chain distribution process is an extension of the [[good manufacturing practice]] (GMP) environment that all drugs and biological products are required to follow, and are enforced by the various health regulatory bodies. As such, the distribution process must be validated to ensure that there is no negative impact to the safety, efficacy or quality of the drug substance. The GMP environment requires that all processes that might impact the safety, efficacy or quality of the drug substance must be [[Validation (drug manufacture)|validated]], including storage and distribution of the drug substance.<ref name=dereklowe1/><ref name="WHO"/>

A cold chain can be managed by a [[quality management system]]. [[Temperature data logger]]s and [[RFID]] tags help monitor the temperature history of the truck, [[reefer container]], warehouse, etc. and the temperature history of the product being shipped.<ref>{{Cite journal
  | last1 = Riva
  | first1 = Marco
  | last2 = Piergiovanni, Schiraldi
  | title =Performances of time-temperature indicators in the study of temperature exposure of packaged fresh foods
  | journal = Packaging Technology and Science
  | volume = 14
  | issue = 1
  | pages = 1–39
  | date = January 2001
  | doi = 10.1002/pts.521
  | first2 = Luciano
  | last3 = Schiraldi
  | first3 = Alberto | s2cid = 108566613
 }}
</ref> They also can help determine the remaining [[shelf life]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Meyers|first=T|date=June 2007|title=RFID Shelf-life Monitoring Helps Resolve Disputes|journal=RFID Journal|url=http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/3357/1/128/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090630083639/http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/3357/1/128/|archive-date=30 June 2009}}</ref> Also, temperature sensors may need to be [[National Institute of Standards and Technology]] (NIST) traceable depending on the body monitoring the cold chain.<ref name="NIST">{{cite web|url=http://blog.absoluteautomation.com/cold-chain-temperature-monitoring/|title=Cold Chain Temperature Monitoring – Absolute Automation Blog|date=27 May 2016|website=absoluteautomation.com|access-date=24 April 2018|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180424020630/http://blog.absoluteautomation.com/cold-chain-temperature-monitoring/|archive-date=24 April 2018}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{div col|colwidth=35em}}
* [[Bacterial growth]]
* [[Pharmaceutical distribution]]
* [[Dry ice]]
* [[Phase-change material]]
* [[Frank Vale]], cold storage pioneer
* [[HACCP]]
* [[Insulated shipping container]]
* [[Packaging]]
* [[Shelf life]]
* [[Temperature control]]
* [[Temperature data logger]]
* [[Time temperature indicator]]
* [[Thermal decomposition]]
* [[Thermal insulation]]
* [[Tolerance (engineering)]]
* [[Transportation management system]]
* [[United States Pharmacopeia]]
* [[Vaccine storage]]
* [[Validation (drug manufacture)]]
* [[Verification and validation]]
* [[ULT freezer]]
{{div col end}}

== Sources ==
{{Free-content attribution
| title = The State of Food and Agriculture 2019. Moving forward on food loss and waste reduction, In brief
| author = FAO
| publisher = FAO
| page numbers = 24
| source =
| documentURL =http://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/ca6122en
| license statement URL = https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_State_of_Food_and_Agriculture_2019._Moving_forward_on_food_loss_and_waste_reduction,_In_brief.pdf
| license = CC BY-SA 3.0
}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
{{refbegin}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Brecht |first1=Jeffrey K. |last2=Sargent |first2=Steven A. |last3=Brecht |first3=Patrick E. |last4=Saenz |first4=Jorge |last5=Rodowick |first5=Leonard |year=2019 |title=Protecting Perishable Foods During Transport by Truck and Rail. Supersedes USDA Handbook 669 of 1995. Document HS1328 of the Horticultural Sciences Department, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida |url=https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/HS1328 |accessdate=2023-05-09 }}
* Brian Lassen, "Is livestock production prepared for an electrically paralysed world?" J. Sci. Food Agric. 2013;93(1):2–4, Explains the vulnerability of the cold chain from electricity dependence.
* ''Manual on the Management, Maintenance and Use of Blood Cold Chain Equipment'', [[World Health Organization]], 2005, {{ISBN|92-4-154673-5}}
* Pawanexh Kohli, "Fruits and Vegetables Post-Harvest Care: The Basics", Explains why the cold chain is required for fruits and vegetables.
* Clive, D., ''Cold and Chilled Storage Technology'', 1997, {{ISBN|0-7514-0391-1}}
* EN 12830:1999 Temperature recorders for the transport, storage and distribution of chilled, frozen and deep-frozen/quick-frozen food and ice cream
* Ray Cowland, Developing ISTA Cold Chain Environmental Standards, 2007. <!-- [http://www.ista.org/Resources/TempRH%20Data/COWLAND_RAY_Dimensions07.pdf] dead link 19 November 2008-->
* {{Cite book |last=Rees |first=Jonathan |year=2013 |chapter=Chapter 1: Inventing the cold chain |title=Refrigeration Nation: A History of Ice, Appliances, and Enterprise in America |series=Studies in Industry and Society |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=9781421411064 |pages=11–30 }}
* Nordic Cold Chain Solutions, Manufacturer of temperature-controlled packaging, [http://www.nordiccoldchain.com nordiccoldchain.com]-->
{{refend}}
{{food preservation}}

{{Authority control}}

{{Vaccine safety}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cold Chain}}
[[Category:Supply chain management]]
[[Category:Logistics]]
[[Category:Food safety]]
[[Category:Temperature control]]
[[Category:Cooling technology]]
[[Category:Drug distribution]]
[[Category:Packaging]]
[[Category:Ice in transportation]]
[[Category:Pharmaceutical industry]]