Since June, the coronavirus nucleic acid tested positive on imported cold chain food or their outer packaging in Beijing, Shandong and many other provinces. The national food supervision institute and various localities have issued relevant regulations, policies and standards to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Today, Foodmate has compiled knowledge about the food cold chain and the classification of cold chain foods for your reference.


1. Food cold chain

Cold chain logistics involves many industries such as food, medicine and chemical industry. At present, the food cold chain is the bulk of China's cold chain logistics, and the industry accounts for 90%. According to the "Terms and classification of frozen food" (QB/T 5284-2018), the cold chain is a logistics process to maintain the food qualities, and it requires the entire stages including processing, storage, distribution and sales are under the specified low temperature. In addition, The National Health Commission and the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the "National Food Safety Standard Hygienic Code for Food Cold Chain Logistics" (GB 31605-2020) on October 13, 2020. This is the first mandatory national standard for food cold chain logistics. According to the standard, food cold chain logistics refers to a logistics project that uses temperature control as the main method to keep food within the required temperature and humidity range from delivery to sale.

1.1 Composition of food cold chain

The food cold chain consists of four aspects: frozen processing, frozen storage, refrigerated transportation, and frozen sales.

Frozen processing: Including the cooling and freezing of meat, poultry, fish and eggs, and processing operations at low temperatures; the pre-cooling of fruits and vegetables; low-temperature processing of various quick-frozen foods and dairy products, etc.

Frozen storage: Including the cooling storage and freezing storage of food, as well as the modified atmosphere storage of fruits and vegetables and other foods. It is to ensure the low temperature preservation environment of food during storage and processing.

Refrigerated transportation: Including the low temperature state of medium and long-distance transportation and short-distance distribution of food. In the process of refrigerated transportation, temperature fluctuation is one of the main reasons for the deterioration of food quality. Therefore, transportation tools should have good performance to maintain the specified low temperature and keep it stable, especially in long-distance transportation.

Frozen sales: including frozen storage and sales of various cold-chain foods at the wholesale and retail stage. With the rapid development of various supermarket, they have gradually become an indispensable and important stage in the food cold chain.

1.2 Temperature control of food cold chain

The temperature of cold chain food will fluctuate during the production, processing, and transportation. Therefore, it is necessary to unify the operating specifications and control the temperature of each stage.

The nominal reference temperature of the frozen food is below -18°C, and the temperature rise limit during transportation is -15°C, and it is required to drop to -18°C as soon as possible. Before the refrigerated truck is loaded with goods, the temperature should be pre-cooled below -10°C. Frozen food whose temperature exceeds -12°C will be rejected. The refrigerated display cabinet should be kept below -15°C after loading, and the temperature rise should not exceed -12°C in a short time.

The nominal reference temperature of the refrigerated food is below 4°C and above the freezing point. The temperature rise limit during transportation, is 7°C (except for some fruits and vegetables). The temperature rise of the refrigerated display cabinet in a short time shall not be higher than 10°C. The outside temperature of the cabinet does not exceed 24°C and 55%RH.

Vehicles used in the cold chain food transportation must be equipped with temperature control recorders to record ambient temperature, as well as the cold storage also needs to establish detailed temperature control information records. The temperature control monitoring record includes the ambient temperature and product temperature, and the product traceability can be traced by checking the ambient temperature and product temperature.

2. The classification of cold chain food

Cold chain foods refer to food that are prone to spoilage, including food ingredients, processed food or semi-finished products, and special biological products. Common cold chain foods in China include meat, aquatic products, fruits, vegetables, etc. The specific classifications are shown in the table below.

Note: [1] Cold chain instant food: Using grain, beans, aquatic products, vegetables, fruits, livestock and poultry meat as the main raw materials, producing by cold processing or rapid cooling after partial heat processing, being pre-quantified or pre-quantified in sealed packaging materials or containers, and storing, transporting and selling to the consumers under low temperature conditions. The cold-chain instant foods (including staple foods, rice balls, sushi, sandwiches, burgers, and others) can be directly consumed.

[2] Cold chain food: Using grain, livestock and poultry meat, aquatic products, fruits and vegetables as the main raw materials, producing by rapid cooling after thermal processing, being pre-quantified or pre-quantified in sealed packaging materials or containers, and storing, transporting and selling to the consumers under low temperature conditions. Such food (including staple foods and other dishes) can be eaten directly after heating.

3. Summary

Since the food cold chain is a supply chain system with the purpose of protecting the quality of perishable food and requires to maintain a low-temperature environment, it has higher requirements and more complexity than ordinary normal temperature logistics systems. It is necessary to collectively consider the various issues involved in production, transportation, sales, economics and technology, and coordinate the relationship between them to ensure the safety of cold chain food in the process of processing, transportation and sales.

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Please note: Original English article of Business Division of Food Safety and Regulatory Compliance of Global Foodmate, please indicate the source from the Global Foodmate if reprint.

Business Division of Food Safety and Regulatory Compliance of Global Foodmate provides food standards & regulations research, labelling compliance consulting/Chinese label design, industry public opinion monitoring and analysis, registration services (of Infant formula, FSMP, Health food, Novel Food Ingredients, Novel Food Additives, New Varieties of Food-Related Products and Overseas manufacturers of imported food) and other comprehensive food safety solutions for domestic and overseas enterprises and institutions in food industry. 

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