What Is Cold Chain Monitoring and How Can It Protect Your Temperature-Sensitive Products?

When transporting perishable goods, especially food and medicine, the biggest and most costly concern is spoilage, which can jeopardize consumer health and safety or lead to waste. In fact, on a global scale, up to 20% of food spoils during transport, making food loss a significant contributor of the 1.3 billion tons of food—or one-third of all food produced—that is wasted each year. The pharmaceutical industry faces a similar challenge—13% of all bio-pharma products are lost during transportation, resulting in $35 billion of waste. In addition to food and medical products, fleets also transport chemicals and electronics (such as batteries that are subject to melting from extreme heat) that require specialized temperature monitoring to ensure product safety and quality. 

A key strategy to reducing the loss of temperature-sensitive goods is a cold chain, or a temperature-controlled supply chain. Fleets rely on cold chain technologies to remotely monitor the status of their shipments to avoid spoilage as well as to ensure they are meeting their sustainability and safety requirements. Read on to learn how cold chain monitoring devices can protect your temperature-sensitive products.

What is cold chain monitoring? 

Cold chain monitoring refers to the process of closely tracking and managing the temperature and environmental conditions of products that are sensitive to temperature throughout the supply chain. The primary goal of cold chain monitoring is to prevent temperature excursions, which can lead to product degradation, spoilage, and even potential health risks. Temperature is a critical factor, but other environmental conditions—such as humidity, light exposure, and vibration—can also affect the integrity of sensitive products and are often monitored as part of the process.

Cold chain monitoring devices, also known as temperature data loggers, are wireless sensors that leverage Internet of Things (IoT) technology to provide real-time temperature data for fleets that ship perishable products. These devices are commonly placed in reefers, refrigeration units, or cold rooms to give fleet managers, cold chain managers, and customers visibility into the temperature of various products. Real-time alerts can instantly warn you if the temperature has fluctuated below or above a predetermined threshold so you can respond in the moment to mitigate any potential damage and waste. 

Preventing product spoilage: the importance of an unbroken cold chain.

Whether your team stores, distributes, or delivers temperature-sensitive products, an unbroken cold chain is critical to maintaining the highest-quality product. Keeping perishable goods at certain temperatures while in transit requires precise recordkeeping and if something goes wrong, it can lead to rejected loads and unhappy customers. 

Cold storage can be challenging, however, when a change as small as one degree can lead to thousands of dollars in spoiled product. When shipping food products, organizations must meet the FDA's Food Code that states perishable foods must be stored at 41 degrees Fahrenheit or below. Further complications caused by environmental conditions, power outages, or even an open door can cause temperature exposure that leads to a rejected load, despite best efforts to store the product at the correct temperature. With an effective cold chain monitoring system, your fleet can significantly reduce the chance of spoiled loads to maintain your customer relationships and product integrity. 

What features make up an effective cold chain monitoring solution?

An effective cold chain monitoring system is crucial for maintaining the integrity and safety of temperature-sensitive products, such as vaccines, pharmaceuticals, perishable foods, and more. To ensure success of your cold chain monitoring system, it should incorporate several key features:

• Real-time temperature monitoring: Continuous, real-time temperature monitoring is fundamental to a cold chain. Temperature sensors placed at critical points within the cold chain track and report temperature variations promptly to ensure the products remain within specified temperature ranges.

• Data logging and recording: The system should record and store temperature data over time, allowing for historical analysis and compliance documentation. 

• Alarm and alerting mechanisms: The system should have configurable alarms and alerts to notify relevant personnel when temperature deviations occur. Alerts can be sent via SMS, email, or mobile apps to ensure rapid response to temperature excursions.

• Proof of delivery: The ability to track whether a load was successfully delivered and accepted is critical to chain of custody—together, proof of delivery and temperature logs provide evidence of compliance. Once the delivery is accepted, the receiver is responsible for maintaining proper product temperature.

• Remote monitoring: The ability to monitor the cold chain remotely is essential for quick response to issues, reducing the need for physical checks and inspections. Remote access to data and alerts can be crucial for timely interventions.

• GPS tracking: Some products require not only temperature monitoring but also tracking of their physical location. GPS tracking can help ensure that products remain within designated areas throughout their journey.

• User-friendly interface: An intuitive and user-friendly interface is critical for operators and managers to monitor and manage the cold chain effectively. This includes easy access to data, alerts, and historical records.

• Battery backup and redundancy: To ensure uninterrupted monitoring, the system should have battery backup options and redundancy features, especially in case of power outages or equipment failures.

• Integration and compatibility: The system should be able to integrate with existing infrastructure—such as refrigeration units, transportation management systems, and inventory management systems—to provide a holistic view of the cold chain.

• Scalability: The system should be scalable to accommodate the varying needs of different organizations and industries. It should support the addition of more sensors and monitoring points as the cold chain expands.

• Supplier and customer collaboration: Some systems allow for sharing temperature data with suppliers and customers, promoting transparency and collaboration across the supply chain.

• Regulatory compliance: The system should adhere to relevant industry standards and regulations, such as Good Distribution Practice (GDP) for pharmaceuticals or Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) for food.

How Samsara’s Smart Trailer Solution protects your temperature-sensitive products.

Samsara's plug-and-play devices and cloud-based software make it easy to oversee cold chain logistics, collecting continuous location, operational, and temperature data for you and your end user. Whether your fleet has box trucks or refrigerated trailers, Samsara’s gateways, wireless temperature sensors, and cloud integrations allow fleet managers to monitor temperature and control reefer settings in real time. You can configure automatic SMS or email alerts to detect temperature range, so temperatures can be quickly adjusted if necessary. Additionally, you can set a specified timeframe before a notification is shared, so something like an open door does not automatically trigger an alert.

Robust documentation is also key to proving proper cold chain management. If the recipient requires evidence that a product was stored in freezers at 30 to 32 degrees for the entire trip, you need to be able to provide verification and protect your drivers. Likewise, you'll need this information on hand if the FDA comes to check your paperwork. Because Samsara provides continuous real-time temperature monitoring and historical records, you'll always have the documentation to quickly resolve any temperature validation issues. Some key capabilities of Samsara’s Smart Trailer Solution for cold chains include: 

• Monitor and track temperature in real-time: Samsara’s Environmental Monitor provides temperature reporting at your fingertips, meaning you can spot and correct fluctuations before they become a problem.

• Integrate with Thermo King and Carrier refrigeration units: Turn reefers on and off, change run mode, clear alarms, and adjust set-points from the Samsara dashboard.

• Differentiate service and quality: Win more business by providing temperature data in Proof of Delivery (POD) documents, and improve customer service with more predictable delivery times.

• Reduce temperature-related loss claims: Automatic alerts notify users when temperature is out of range, so you can avoid spoilage and protect your bottom line.

Cash-Wa Distributing decreases customer credits for false temperature claims by 30%. 

Broadline foodservice distributor Cash-Wa Distributing relies on Samsara to maintain the integrity of their supply chain across their fleet of 175 tractors and 220 trailers. Cash-Wa Distributing not only uses Samsara to ensure compliance with FSMA regulations, but to prevent temperature data collection errors, improve operational efficiency by reducing paperwork and manual probes, and provide proof of product quality. The team at Cash-Wa tracks the temperature of their sensitive cargo and uses Samsara alerts to be notified of any changes. 

“With Samsara’s always-on temperature monitoring, we can show that we’ve taken great care of the product every step of the way,” said Chad Henning, Cash-Wa Distributing’s General Manager. “We’re confident we’re compliant, and we’re winning more business.” Cash-Wa saw a 30% decrease in customer credits for false temperature claims by using Samsara Environmental Monitors to track, monitor, and prove temperature compliance of all deliveries.

If your fleet is looking for a cost-effective cold chain monitoring solution to monitor and control your refrigerated assets, check out Samsara Smart Trailer Solution and reach out for a free trial or demo today →