BISWAJIT MOHANTY M.F.Sc 1ST YEAR FISH PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY

COLD CHAIN IN AGRICULTURE ,

FISHERIES & ALLIED SECTORS

INTRODUCTION Refrigerated foods are one of the fastest

growing sectors of the fishery and food service industries.

Continued success relies upon effective

management of the ‘cold chain’, a term used to describe the series of interdependent operations in the production, distribution, storage and retailing of chilled and frozen foods.

Control and management of the cold

chain is vital to preserve the safety and quality of refrigerated foods.

WHAT IS COLD CHAIN ? Cold chain is a temperature controlled

supply chain.

It is an uninterrupted series of storage and distribution activities which maintain a continuous refrigerated storage facility at a constant temperature.

It is used to help in extending and ensuring the shelf life of the perishable products.

WHY COLD CHAIN IS IMPORTANT ? Different food processing industries require their

raw materials and finished goods to be transported under temperature controlled condition.

This is necessary to preserve their integrity and quality of the products .

The implementation of an effective cold chain minimizes loss of texture and flavour to the product, and delivers fresh products to the consumer both in and out of the season.

Cold chain retain the product quality as well as nutritional value.

ADVANTAGES AND USE OF COLD CHAIN

The use of “Cold" handling and storage systems as an investment to prevent perishable food losses is widely used in developing countries and can be highly cost effective for increasing demands for these foods.

The Food Processing Ministry is working as a bridge between farmers and consumers and it has set up 42 mega food parks and 138 cold chains in the country.

This will form a seamless grid from the farmer to the consumer.

CONT… The objective of the scheme of Cold Chain,

Value Addition and Preservation Infrastructure is to provide integrated cold chain and preservation infrastructure facilities without any break from the farm gate to the consumer.

It covers pre-cooling facilities at production sites, reefer vans, mobile cooling units as well as value addition centres which includes infrastructural facilities like Processing, Collection Centres, etc. for agricultural products, fish and fishery products, dairy, meat and poultry etc.

DIFFERENT TEMPERATURE RANGE FOR STORAGE PRODUCTS Cold chain is basically a temperature

controlled storage & movement of temperature sensitive products.

There are different temperature ranges required for storage & shipment of different products.

Temperature plays a vital role in the process of metabolism and detoriation process of the Perishable food items.

CONT… PRODUCTS

FROZEN CHILLED

Pharmaceutical

-22 oC (vaccines)

2 oC to 8 oC

Meat & Poultry

-20 oC 2 oC to 4 oC

Processed Food

-18 oC 2 oC to 4 oC

Ice cream -25 oC --Dairy -- 2 oC to 4 oCChocolates -- 16 oC to 18 oCRetail -18 oC to -

22 oC2 oC to 8 oC

PROPERTIES OF COLD CHAIN A cold chain for perishable foods is the

uninterrupted handling of the product within a low temperature environment during the Post Harvest steps of the value chain including harvest, collection, packing, processing, storage, transport and marketing until it reaches the final consumer.

An integrated cold chain encompasses the management of the movement of perishable food products from the field through entire Post Harvest chain to the final consumer.

CONT… The Primary segments of an integrated cold chain include

(1) Packing and cooling fresh food products, (2) Food processing (i.e. freezing of certain processed foods,

(3) Cold storage (short or long term warehousing of chilled or frozen foods),

(4) Distribution (cold transport and temporary warehousing

under temperature controlled conditions) and

(5) Marketing (refrigerated or freezer storage and displays at wholesale markets, retail markets and foodservice operations)

CONT… Cold chain logistics is the planning and

management of the interactions and transitions between above five segments, in order to keep foods at their optimum temperature for maintenance of quality, food safety and prevention of waste and economic losses.

Speed is often the key to success when handling and marketing perishable foods using a cold supply chain

PRESENT STATUS OF COLD CHAIN IN SEAFOOD EXPORTS FROM INDIA

The fisheries sector has been one of the major contributors of foreign exchange earnings through export.

Over the past few years, safety has become very topical subject eliciting a great deal of public concern particularly in the developed countries, where food safety offences are now dealt at Government level.

Once caught, Marine fish food products are highly perishable. Marine foods for export typically need to be quickly frozen after initial processing and kept frozen until purchased by the consumer.

CONT… New initiatives have been adopted for developing the

sector to increase yields and ensure a sustained livelihood for fishermen.

There has also been an amplified effort to increase exports to other countries through improvements in infrastructure facilities like cold storage, that better address post-harvest management.

To cope up with the increasing demand for safe food and to satisfy the needs of health / quality of consumers of the global seafood market, MPEDA Quality Control Section has identified and implimented several programmes which can be addressed via efficient cold chain solutions across the value chain.

COLD CHAIN COMPONENTS

The cold chain components for export value chain are:-

Flake Ice/Block Ice (Farm to Factory Gate) Block Processing/Blast Freezing/IQF

(Processing and Freezing)

Freezer Cold Storages (Storage) Cold Chain Containers (Logistics and Export).

KEY ISSUES IN COLD CHAIN DEVLOPMENT IN INDIA

Increse in domestic and export demand.

Benefits of growth in demand is not passed on adequately to the farmer.

Large price gap between the first point of sale and the price at final retail sale points.

Underdevloped logistics and losses during transportation of products.

Benefits are not passed on to the end customer.

Tremendous increse in the production of processed food products, vegetables, and fruits.

CONCLUSION Finally we need to promote the use of

cold chain as a means to prevent the waste of limited natural resources.

Cold chain is so much useful in

Transportation and safe hadling of food products without any loss of quality.

THANK YOU