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Effects of COVID 19 on Cold Supply Chain of Industry

Effects of COVID 19 on Cold Supply Chain of Industry

Name: Nipun Tandon

Department of Management , Monroe College, King Graduate School

23FL-MG615-154W : Managing in Global Environment

Professor Name : Judith Riggs

Date: 29th October 2023

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Effects of COVID 19 on Cold Supply Chain of Industry

Abstract:

Introduction: Food cold chains are refrigerated supply chains that are used to keep perish-

able products at low temperatures during production, storage and distribution, with the goal

of maintaining quality while reducing losses (Hu et al., 2019; Qian, Ruiz-Garcia, et al.,

2020). The importance of food cold chains was highlighted by a study of food loss from

2009, which found that improper refrigeration was the primary factor in 20% of global food

loss (International Institute of Regrigeration, 2009). In the last decade, increased demand for

refrigerated and frozen merchandise, governmental support, and innovation in cold chain in-

frastructure have led to considerable growth in the global cold chain industry (Ndraha et al.,

2018). A recent report suggested that the value of the global cold chain may reach USD

293.27 billion by 2023 (Markets & Markets, 2018).

The NAICS Classification code is 493120.

On 30th January 2020, the World Health Organization (World Health Organisation Report

2020) declared it an international public health emergency (Lal et al. 2020). At the time of the

current research work, the United States of America (U.S.A.), India, Brazil, France and the

United Kingdom (U.K.), are the fve most afected countries due to COVID-19. At the same

time, more than 482 million COVID-19 confrmed cases and the loss of more than 4.9 million

human lives had been reported worldwide (Worldometer 2022). Still, the cases of coronavirus

continue to increase. Yet, no approved vaccine has been discovered that eliminates the possi-

bility of coronavirus spreading. Phase-wise lockdowns, bulk quarantine, travel bans, the pro-

hibition of transportation and social distancing were imposed by the majority of governments

in their respective countries to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the current
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Effects of COVID 19 on Cold Supply Chain of Industry
scenario of the COVID-19 outbreak, the most critical challenge for governments and policy-

makers is to provide healthy food and healthcare security for the people (Shanker et al. 2021;

Marques da Rosa et al. 2021). In the wake of the novel COVID-19 pandemic, people have

become more aware and health-conscious. As a virtue, people have stressed the quality of the

product rather than its cost (Lu et al. 2020), resulting in an increase in demand for healthy

and hygienic foodstufs and other perishables on a large scale. Perishables are those products

that have short life cycles, are sensitive to environmental parameters (such as temperature,

pressure, humidity and light), and are fragile (Joshi et al. 2011). Therefore, when these prod-

ucts are exposed to temperatures outside a sustainable range, chemical reactions start, and a

microbial decay in their quality, integrity and potency occurs (Ali et al. 2018; Joshi

et al. 2009). Therefore, they require a temperature-controlled environment (such as refrigera-

tion and smart packaging system) for production, storage and movement (Masudin and

Saftri 2020).

Question: Why I am choosing this industry?

Ans: I am choosing this industry because of its challenging applications and requires utmost

care while transporting as it is perishable product.The demand for the cold chain products is

high in all over world.

Question: Does the industry link to your future career goals/vision, link to the industry you

are currently working in, or link to the industry that you would like to gain entry?

Ans: It is linked to my current working domain as cold supply chain need monitoring based

on cloud computing and my field of working also matches to the cloud computing and moni-

toring for various industries not only limited to this industry.

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Effects of COVID 19 on Cold Supply Chain of Industry
Risks and impacts Economic, socio-cultural and technological factors on cold supply

chain during pandemic

Technological Factor : The importance of food cold chains was demonstrated by the global

COVID-19 pandemic, which was caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2

(SARS-CoV-2). The primary goal of food cold chains is the maintenance of low temperatures

(Badia-Melis et al., 2016). Unfortunately, the survival of SARS-CoV-2 is favored by the low

temperatures at which refrigerated and frozen foods are kept during the majority of the “farm-

to-table” journey (Han, Zhang, He, & Jia, 2021; Mercier et al., 2017; Shi et al., 2020). Un-

foreseen changes in temperature and improper management of food cold chains can have

detrimental effects on food quality, leading to increased levels of food risk and reduced con-

sumer confidence (Ndraha et al., 2018; Rizou et al., 2020). The concepts of the unbroken

“chain” of cold temperatures and product history are the most basic core characteristics of

food cold chain systems, and an unlinked chain with missing documentation can negatively

affect food cold chain tracing and potentially slow the implementation of product recalls dur-

ing food safety incidents (Qian, Dai, et al., 2020). A recent report suggested that cold chain

traceability systems can play an important role in rapidly identifying the sources of contami-

nation responsible for SARS-CoV-2-related food safety incidents (KristínGuðmundur, 2019).

Novel information technologies can be used to achieve fundamental improvements in food

cold chain management practices. Utilization of the internet of things (IoT) in food safety is a

relatively new approach. Major applications of the IoT include food supply chains, where

they can be used to trace food products and monitor food safety and quality (Bouzembrak et

al., 2019). For example, wireless sensors and RFID tags can be used for real-time monitoring

of cold chain environments via deployment in cold warehouses and trucks (Corradini,

2018; Wang et al., 2017). Effective risk management and shelf life prediction are for time-
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Effects of COVID 19 on Cold Supply Chain of Industry
and temperature-sensitive products. AI-based models for predicting freshness and shelf life

have been used to ensure food quality and safety (Tamplin, 2018; Shi et al., 2019). Lau et al.

(2021) proposed a federated learning-enabled multi-criteria decision-making methodology to

achieve risk quantification in cold chain management. Enhanced traceability implemented via

blockchain-based technology has the potential to significantly improve the transparency and

accountability of food supply chains (Kshetri., 2018; Lin et al., 2020) and prevent fraud

(Qian, Wu, et al., 2020) via the application of authentication and additional cybersecurity

policies (Banerjee et al., 2017). Blockchain adoption in the supply chain is country-specific

(Queiroz, Telles, & Bonilla, 2019) and food-specific (Behnke & Janssen, 2020; Garaus &

Treiblmaier, 2021), so the context of applications must be considered. Although the idea of

applying blockchain technology in cold chain management to formulate intelligent mecha-

nisms has been proposed (Lau et al., 2021), a corresponding technical framework remains ab-

sent. The combination of blockchain and IoT technology can play an important role in

achieving effective and efficient traceability (Creydt & Fisher, 2019). By focusing on inte-

grated consensus mechanisms, a framework for applying a blockchain-driven IoT in food

traceability was recently proposed (Tsang et al., 2019). However, the myriad potential appli-

cations of blockchain and IoT technologies in food cold chain management have not yet been

comprehensively analyzed with a specific focus on COVID-19.

Environmental Factor : Frozen fish, fish products, mollusks and crustaceans must be kept at

−18 °C. Frozen meat products such as pork, beef, mutton, and chicken must also be kept at

−18 °C. The temperatures required for the storage of vegetables and fruits vary according to

their characteristics. Leafy vegetables, beans, and berries must be kept at 0–3 °C, 2–7 °C, and

0–3 °C, respectively. The food cold chain temperatures required for a wide range of perish-

able products are standardized among 49 countries by the Agreement Concerning the Inter-
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Effects of COVID 19 on Cold Supply Chain of Industry
national Carriage of Perishable Foodstuffs and on the Special Equipment to be Used for

such Carriage (ATP) (UNECE, 2020).

Operating measures are applied in three main stages in the cold chain: (1) processing and

packaging, (2) transportation, and (3) storage, sales and catering. At each of these stages,

workers should ensure that they are maintaining a safe distance from each other, using appro-

priate personal protective equipment, carefully inspecting incoming goods, and applying ef-

fective cleaning and disinfection procedures. Proper application of the operating standards

outlined above at major control points in food cold chains is necessary to slow the spread of

SARS-CoV-2 and ensure that food products do not pose a health risk to consumers.
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Effects of COVID 19 on Cold Supply Chain of Industry
The major stages in food cold chains include precooling, processing, packaging, transporta-

tion, storage, sales, and catering. According to the critical control points for food cold chains

related to COVID-19 contamination outlined above, temperature control and whole-chain

traceability are crucial considerations. Precision temperature control can reduce the risk of vi-

ral transmission and improve food safety because temperature affects the shelf life of

food products and plays a major role in determining the survival time of SARS-CoV-2 on

product surfaces. Critical control points exist at every stage of a food cold chain, and infor-

mation collected at each of these control points can be used to trace food sources and destina-

tions when food-related incidents occur.

Economic Factor : A decline in economic growth has been observed in most countries (Bar-

bate et al. 2021). Amid the COVID-19 catastrophe, a signifcant decline in the frst and sec-

ond-quarter revenues of the CSC has been observed, while the monthly operational cost has

increased by 1–1.5% (GCCA 2020). It has been estimated that the coronavirus pandemic

might cost more than $2 trillion to the global economy by the end of 2020 (UNCTAD 2020).

However, the cost of the COVID-19 pandemic might reach $8.8 trillion in global economic

losses by the end of 2020 (ADB, as reported by BBC News, dated 15 May 2020).

The majority of cold chain food derivative products from each source of supplies are products

that are perishable, fragile and have a short product life. So that the process of production,

distribution and storage requires special treatment such as refrigeration, specific packaging

and strict quality controls. Some processes require cooling machines below 18 degrees Cel-

sius for products such as meat, cheese, seafood and milk so that the age of the product is

longer and slows the process of reducing the quality of food. Other products such as fruit and

vegetables require supermarkets to maintain room temperature cool enough and to spray wa-

ter keeping the freshness and quality of the product. Since the spread of COVID-19 in In-
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Effects of COVID 19 on Cold Supply Chain of Industry
donesia in March 2020 with all the chain effects ranging from social restrictions, lockdowns

and closing of several links in supply chains such as ports, airports and terminals have

changed the logistics movement of all products including cold chain products. The impact of

the COVID19 pandemic on food cold chains occurs along the supply chain of cold chain

products from upstream to downstream. The pandemic has changed the way of treatments

dealing with food cold chain form the source of supply, the storages, distribution and trans-

portation and the way in serving consumers. This article discusses the impact of COVID-19

Pandemic on the cold chain food business process in Indonesia that have not been much paid

by considering several current issues such as supply-demand issue, food safety and food

transportation challenges and mitigations.

Socio-Cultural Factor : Food safety is the condition and effort needed to prevent food from

possible biological, chemical and other contaminants that can interfere with, harm and endan-

ger human health (Ziska et al., 2016). The increasing number of positive cases of COVID-19

has an impact on all areas, one of which is the safety issues of the food cold supply chain. For

food safety issues in Indonesia, it is very important for the cold chain food industry to

strengthen personal hygiene measures and provide training on food hygiene principles to

eliminate or reduce the risk of food surfaces and food packaging materials contaminated with

viruses from food workers. Workers in the packaging processes of food manufacturing and

food transfers from manufacturers to distributors or customers are the cold supply chain busi-

nesses should be trained periodically. A study by Acikel et al. (2008) indicates that the

knowledge level on food and personal hygiene before and after being given training differ

significantly, more than 15 percent of 100 respondents. Therefore, periodic training for staff

along the food cold supply chain on food hygiene principle is suggested to reduce the spread

the COVID-19 virus through the supply chain.

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Effects of COVID 19 on Cold Supply Chain of Industry

Conclusion:

The successful implementation of the COVID-19 pandemic protocols around world for cold

supply chain could prevent from a food crisis and economic crisis in several sectors during

the COVID-19 pandemic. This is because of most the distribution activities, especially in the

fields of industry, producer goods, and wholesale trade, were still hampered. In addition,

foodstuffs in the cold supply chain have accumulated due to customers who do not buy the

food and the difficulty of distributing their foods during the pandemic, so that the decline of

producers’ income could not be avoided. The supply demand shock during the pandemic due

to large-scale restrictions of the country also impact on the movement of the food products

along the chains. Food transportation and food safety issues would be also the challenges rise

during the COVID-19 outbreaks.

The global pandemic COVID-19 has created a catastrophic state for humanity and has

abruptly disrupted the healthcare and food sectors. It has not only interrupted routine immu-

nization programs but has also increased health inequality among people throughout the

world. Due to this, many people have struggled to survive. In order to diminish the spread of

coronavirus, lockdowns, social distancing, mass quarantine and restriction of unnecessary

transport and travel have been taken as relief measures throughout the whole world. The

COVID-19 pandemic has not only deteriorated the status of human beings' health, causing

the loss of millions of lives, but has also disrupted basic operations involving public transport

and human interaction. The severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has also been ob-

served on the global CSC market. The pandemic has disrupted the global CSC structure of

perishable and other temperature-sensitive products. Its severe impacts have been observed

on pharmaceutical and food product cold supply chains. Analysis reveals a massive amount
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Effects of COVID 19 on Cold Supply Chain of Industry
of food waste, unavailability of pharmaceutical products, interrupted immunization programs

and loss of demand for some chilled and frozen products. This has resulted in a substantial

global economic loss.

As a leader I would suggest the following :

1. Identify critical business processes or systems for each organization that will continue to

carry out operational activities through WFH (work from home).

2. identification of business processes that are difficult / excluded to be carried out in a WFH

that requires physical access directly to the system.

3. Assign the person in charge of each critical business process or system, and then assign the

team and their duties and responsibilities, such as the person responsible for the informa-

tion security of a company's services.

4. Making rules related to the operational mechanism of the service. This includes employee

work hours, defining the role of access, and information security policies.

5. Train workers to carry out formal rules set.

6. Identification of essential functions and suppliers that support the business process or ser-

vice. This identification is carried out by monitoring the safety of essential functions and

ensuring that the continuity of the supply chain of those essential functions is viable.

7. Conduct ongoing assessment of service readiness in dealing with changes in business pro-

cesses and the impact of environmental changes.

8. Designing work scenarios for remote workers. Work scenario development needs to be

done to sort out and anticipate the worst conditions of lockdown.

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Effects of COVID 19 on Cold Supply Chain of Industry
9. Always monitor all policies, both from the central and regional governments, to the

COVID-19 handling efforts, so that companies can make adaptations and anticipatory

steps to business processes quickly and accurately

Reference Page

1) Li-Che Lu , Irwin Quintela, Cheng-Han Lin, Tzu-Ching Lin, Chao-Hsu Lin, Vivian C.

H. Wu and Chih-Sheng Lin. A review of epidemic investigation on cold-chain food-medi-

ated SARS-CoV-2 transmission and food safety consideration during COVID-19 pandemic

2) Jianping Qian, Qiangyi Yu , Li Jiang , Han Yang , Wenbin Wu. Food cold chain manage-

ment improvement: A conjoint analysis on COVID-19 and food cold chain systems

3) Neeraj Kumar, Mohit Tyagi , Anish Sachdeva, Yigit Kazancoglu , Mangey Ram. Impact

analysis of COVID-19 outbreak on cold supply chains of perishable products using

a SWARA based MULTIMOORA approach.

4) Amin Ullah Khan and Yousaf Ali. Enhancement of resilience and quality of cold supply

chain under the disruptions caused by COVID-19: A case of a developing country

5) Ilyas Masudin , Nika Tampi Safitri. Food Cold Chain in Indonesia during the Covid-19

Pandemic: A Current Situation and Mitigation

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Effects of COVID 19 on Cold Supply Chain of Industry