USDA Cold Chain Improvement Efforts Continue to Address Global Need

USDA Cold Chain Improvement Efforts Continue to Address Global Need

Steven D. Beasley and C. Gehlhar June 6, 2009.
International marketing specialist/ economist, Office of Trade Programs of the Foreign Agricultural Service, United States Department of Agriculture and international agribusiness specialist with the Office of Capacity Building and Development, of the Foreign Agricultural Service, United States Department of Agriculture
Email: steven.beasley@fas.usda.gov

Every year, billions of dollars of perishable foods are lost globally due to product spoilage and damage—losses that could be avoided through improvements in supply chain handling, storage, and distribution. “Cold chain” is a shorthand term encompassing all the critical steps and processes that food and other perishable products must pass through to ensure they reach the end-user in a safe, wholesome and high-quality state.

Like any chain, a cold chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Cold chain difficulties include: lack of, or limitations in, refrigeration; improper handling, storage, and transportation procedures; and inadequate humidity control. The problem exists among many commodities and across multiple sectors, such as farms, ports, cold storage and handling facilities, transportation, and wholesale and retail outlets. Breaks in the cold chain have widespread ramifications and are not restricted to a single sale. If the quality or safety of a perishable item is compromised at the importer or consumer level, it can erode long-term, general product acceptance and destroy otherwise viable export opportunities. Firms struggling with cold chain problems face erosion of profit margins and loss of competitive advantage.

Since 1998, the United States Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service has been actively engaged in international cold chain technical assistance to address product loss and quality degradation as a result of improper refrigeration and other cold chain infrastructure problems in emerging markets. Initial countries targeted were Thailand, the Philippines, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic. Stakeholders benefiting from capacity enhancement efforts in these pilot countries included U.S. exporters, local food distributors, and emerging markets exporters. Acknowledgement by all parties that improvements in the cold chain were a “two-way” street (i.e., benefiting not just U.S. exporters, but all stakeholders in the food chain), helped assure that this program had broad acceptance worldwide.

Technical seminars were conducted in the pilot markets to raise awareness of the problem, identify areas where impediments existed, and seek local support for follow-up activities in specific sectors. As a result of overwhelming success of the early USDA cold chain activities, the project rapidly grew to encompass almost two dozen emerging markets where USDA had offices to support the activities. These countries/regions included: China, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, India, Indonesia, South Africa, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Uruguay, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Bulgaria, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Jordan, West Bank/Gaza, and Morocco. USDA’s cold chain improvement work has evolved over the years into a multi-phased program incorporating seminars, in-company technical assistance, support for local cold chain association building, and learning missions to the United States for key emerging markets cold chain stakeholders.

For 2009, USDA Foreign Agricultural Service’s Office of Capacity Building and Development has proposed cold chain activities in the following countries: China, Philippines, Guatemala and South Africa. Training efforts will include outreach seminars and conferences to increase awareness of importance of cold chain among stakeholders, and roundtable/workshops on guidelines, standards and regulations on cold chain. These public sector efforts, which are coordinated by USDA, are designed specifically to complement and reinforce current or future cold chain improvement efforts that U.S. cooperator groups (“Cooperators”: non-profit commodity representative associations that work in cooperation with their industries and FAS to support agricultural exports) may undertake in emerging markets.^[1] Funding for the USDA cold chain improvement activities is sourced largely from the Emerging Markets Program, a Congressionally-funded technical assistance program designed to promote, enhance or expand the export of U.S. agricultural commodities to overseas emerging markets.