Cold chain

[1] Common goods, sometimes called cool cargo,[2] distributed in cold chains include fresh agricultural produce,[3] seafood, frozen food, photographic film, chemicals, and pharmaceutical products.

[9] Mobile mechanical refrigeration was invented by Frederick McKinley Jones, who co-founded Thermo King with entrepreneur Joseph A.

Jones designed a portable air-cooling unit for trucks carrying perishable food,[10] for which they obtained a patent on 12 July 1940,[11] subsequent to a challenge to invent a refrigerated truck over a 1937 golf game by associates of Numero's, Werner Transportation Co. president Harry Werner, and United States Air Conditioning Co. president Al Fineberg,[12][10][11][13] This technology has been frequently in use since the 1950s, when it was most often used for preserving animal-based cells or tissue.

[citation needed] Unique to fresh produce cargoes, the cold chain requires to additionally maintain product specific environment parameters[3] which include air quality levels (carbon dioxide, oxygen, humidity and others).

[citation needed] The cold chain is used in the supply of vaccines to distant clinics in hot climates served by poorly developed transport networks.

[17] In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccines being developed may need ultracold storage and transportation temperatures as cold as −70 °C (−94 °F), requiring what has been referred to as a "colder chain" infrastructure.

[17] The cold chain distribution process is an extension of the good manufacturing practice (GMP) environment that all drugs and biological products are required to follow, and are enforced by the various health regulatory bodies.

[20] Also, temperature sensors may need to be National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) traceable depending on the body monitoring the cold chain.