The mounting problems of food waste in the cold chain will never be solved until the university and vocational sector introduce tertiary courses that treat the cold chain as a legitimate industry.
The founder of what is believed to be Australia's first independent cold chain consultancy, Keep
It Cool Consulting, Adam Wade, blames temperature abuse and poor processes for today’s food waste crisis.
He said there is a fundamental weakness in cold chain understanding and its importance to the quality and safety of food, and everything else that needs to be carried at set temperatures.
“This is an industry that moves $42 billion worth of foodstuffs through the Australian cold chain, but still manages to lose $3.8 billion worth of that food through wastage mainly brought about by poor work practices,” Wade said.
“Of course, there are tertiary courses in logistics and refrigeration, but there are no courses anywhere that teach what the cold chain is because most of its operations are out of sight and therefore out of mind.
“Trucks and warehouses are tangible and visible, whereas the cold chain itself is harder to comprehend because of the multitude of behaviours and practices that must be performed for it to operate as it should.”
Wade said companies struggle to attract workers in an environment that is always cold, often operate during the night or early hours and generally offer poor labour rates relative to other industries.
“And this will never change either, until working in the cold chain is elevated to an accredited skill set and people are hired because of their knowledge of the cold chain environment and the multitude of processes that each must contribute to be profitable and compliant,' Wade said.
As part of his mission to help all participants in the Australian cold chain industry to improve performance, compliance and profitability, Wade has published a detailed practical guide covering modern cold chain problems and solutions, called Cold Logic.
“I wrote Cold Logic, not as an academic thesis, but as a guide written from warehouse floors, product staging areas, loading docks and refrigerated transports – the places where cold chain success or failure is decided in real time,' he said.
Keep It Cool Consulting has introduced a range of training initiatives which Wade believes may help change a lax cold chain culture into one in which full compliance with HACCP principles is not only every company's mission, but one in which there is less reliance on insurance claims to save far too much food going to landfill.
“This method of operating has become so commonplace that many well-intentioned cold chain operators may not be aware that they even have a problem. Nor do they realise that concepts and solutions exist that can lead to less wastage, higher profits for them and happier consumers,” he said.