The American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI), in partnership with the Global Cold Chain Alliance (GCCA), has developed a new protocol to standardize and modernize temperature monitoring across the frozen food supply chain.
The agreement provides a unified, data-driven approach to tracking temperature fluctuations from production to distribution. It is designed to help frozen food manufacturers, cold chain logistics providers and retail/foodservice distributors improve operational efficiency, enhance food quality and safety, and reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.
“This represents a major advancement for frozen food manufacturers and broader cold chain partners as we drive continued improvements in quality and sustainability,” said Dr. Sanjay Gummalla, AFFI’s senior vice president of food safety and scientific affairs. “By establishing a common framework for monitoring temperature fluctuations, we’re not only improving consistency across the cold chain — we’re also laying the groundwork for a more sustainable future.”
“There are major opportunities for businesses across the cold chain to identify and eliminate inefficiencies in how they use energy to keep food frozen,” said Shane Brennan, senior vice president of strategy, partnerships and policy at the GCCA. “To seize this opportunity, it’s critical to build a shared understanding of how to monitor and log temperatures across every link in the chain. This protocol is a big step forward and lays the foundation for greater collaboration to drive efficiency, sustainability and high-quality food preservation.”
Readers interested in additional information may download the protocol at https://affi.org/sustainability/cold-chain-temperature-monitoring-protocol.
