Development and application of the european cold chain database as a tool for cold chain management

Storage and distribution are the weakest links in the food management. Their effective control is important for their commercial viability, since they often deviate from specifications. FRISBEE (http://frisbee-project.eu) is a Food Refrigeration Innovation for Cold Chain research IP European project. Within FRISBEE a web-based platform (hosted in the link http://www.frisbeeproject.eu/coldchaindb.html/) has been built for data collection, maximizing information retrieval with user friendliness. At all stages of the cold chain, the needs of consumer and European industry were considered, gaining a greater insight into deviations between real cold chain data and targeted specifications. A systematic data collection for identification and evaluation of the weak links of the cold chain for different types of chilled and frozen products took place. Data from industry, cold chain parties (distributors, retailers) and consumer surveys, including all stages of the cold chain (from production to consumption) were collected. More than 5500 actual t-T profiles have been contributed. Significant differences in t-T profiles of same products along the European cold chain were observed. A comprehensive and extensive database that serves as a valuable tool to Cold Chain Management was developed. In this database, the user can build a specific sequence of cold chain stages for specific food product. The FRISBEE Cold Chain Predictor (FRISBEE_CCP), software developed within FRISBEE objectives, allows the calculation of the remaining shelf-life of a specific food product at different stages of the cold chain corresponding to a specific t-T profile, if deterioration factor kinetic data are known. The developed FRISBEE cold chain web based platform offers the potential to effectively manage and improve cold chain weak links. The contributed data of the cold chain will allow one to run simulations and distribution scenarios based on real cold chain data.