What is Cold Chain Food: Nowadays, cold chain food is very popular in various fields, but few people have a clear understanding of the various types of cold chain food. In fact, cold chain food refers to food that must be kept in a prescribed cold chain environment at all stages of production,cold chain storage, transportation and sales. This includes foods with agricultural products, livestock, fruits and vegetables as the main raw materials.

According to the different processing temperatures, cold chain foods can be categorized into chilled foods, frozen foods and quick-frozen foods.

Refrigerated foods include vegetables, fruits,cold warehouse pasteurized milk, refrigerated eggs, refrigerated egg solutions, prepared cooked meats, milk-containing cakes, cake embryos and soy products. The temperature of these foods needs to be controlled above the freezing point to between 7°C throughout their preparation, storage and distribution.

Frozen food, including aquatic products, meat and poultry, needs to be stored at temperatures less than or equal to -18℃. During transshipment and loading, the temperature must not be higher than -15℃ and needs to be cooled back to -18℃ within a short period of time. When entering the sales counter, the temperature shall not be higher than -12℃ and needs to be restored to -18℃ in a short time.

Frozen food is processed by rapid low temperature (lower than -18℃), and can preserve the water and juice intact food. Examples include frozen dumplings, cold drinks, shrimp and fish. These foods need to be maintained at a storage temperature below -18°C throughout the manufacturing, transportation and distribution processes.

In terms of the degree of processing, cold chain foods can be categorized into fresh produce and prepared and processed foods.

Fresh agricultural products include grains, cereals, potatoes, beans, vegetables, fruits, livestock and poultry meat and aquatic products.

Prepared and processed foods include enemas and canned foods.

Depending on the type of food, cold chain food can be categorized into rice and noodle products, meat products, dairy products, aquatic products, fruit and vegetable products, cold beverages, dishes and prepared foods.

From the consumers' point of view, cold chain food can be divided into catering kitchen food, group meal food and transportation and tourism food.

Nowadays, there are many kinds of cold chain food, covering almost every corner of our dining table, and thus it has become an important part of food safety management. The state has strict standards and regulations on the hygiene, storage and transportation of cold chain food. There are also strict requirements for temperature control in each link.