Cold Chain Traceability System Tackles Food, Pharmaceutical Waste

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Cold Chain (Credit: Pixabay)

A cold chain traceability system powered by an Internet of Things platform that will help keep food and medical products safe throughout transport as well as improve supply chain sustainability is being developed by Ericsson and DeltaTrak.

The system will provide up-to-date tracking data for perishable food and biopharmaceutical products during cold chain transport with Ericsson’s IoT Accelerator platform and cold chain management from DeltaTrak. The companies say the collaboration will use sensors and automated data to increase food chain visibility and reduce waste while increasing awareness of how products are transported throughout supply chains, which will also help reduce emissions.

The companies say a major component of their partnership is to reduce food waste. They say food can spoil during transport and between 5% and 10% of shipping containers are typically held in quarantine when they reach port, pending temperature verification. Additionally, if the containers are opened, the products inside are prone to spoiling.

The cold chain traceability system can provide the current temperatures of the products using tracking devices inside the containers. The information can be used to make sure goods are safely stored without breaking container seals.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that 14% of the world’s food is wasted, with a value of nearly $400 billion, before it reaches retail centers. The UN also says that food waste accounts for up to 10% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.

In the United States, the EPA estimates food waste results in 170 million metric tons of carbon emissions per year. The US Food and Drug Administration says between 30% and 40% of food is lost in the supply chain. The two federal agencies have a goal to reduce food waste in the US by 50% by 2030.

According to the International Trade Administration, $260 billion of annual biopharmaceutical sales are dependent on cold chains. The biopharmaceutical industry loses $35 billion a year to failures in cold chain logistics, which can cause degradation in vaccines and other medicines making them unusable, a report from the IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science found.

The significance of keeping food and medicines safe during transport has increased the need for cold chain efficiency and management systems. UPS Healthcare, for example, has a cold chain and packaging center in Kentucky. The company says the facility helps it advance its cold chain offerings as well as offer reusable cold chain packaging.

Trucking company Hill Brothers Transportation has also installed a refrigerated trailer monitoring system to track the location and temperatures of freight. A data and energy intensity system by Ndustrial, M&M Carnot, and Logix is designed to increase energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions for food processing and cold storage facilities.

The Ericsson and DeltaTrak system will use Deutsche Telekom technology to keep online throughout cold chain transport. The companies say the traceability system will eliminate blind spots during transport allowing products to be monitored throughout the entire supply chain process.

Environment + Energy Leader