Maintaining Quality in Frozen Bakery Products
Frozen bakery products, such as breads, pastries, and doughs, rely on the cold chain to preserve their quality throughout transportation and storage. The cold chain ensures that the texture, flavor, and structure of these items remain consistent and any break in the cold chain can lead to ice crystallization, which negatively affects the product’s texture and freshness.
By Bogdan Angheluță
The frozen bakery market is highly competitive, and that requires an accurate understanding of the dynamics involved in the preservation process. Amongst all, frozen bakery products are the most sensitive in the quality factor if exposed to temperatures above 0°F -18°C, according to the World Food Logistics Organization (WFLO) as quoted by the Global Cold Chain Alliance (GCCA). Due to its composition, being mostly a low moisture and high sugar content product, these products have extremely low freezing points, e.g., layer cakes freeze at approximately 5°F -15°C and fruit pies solidify between 14 to 18°F -10 to -8°C.
When these products are exposed to temperatures above 10°F (-12°C), thawing results in an increased rate of deterioration in quality. Consequences from this are extreme and diverse for the product kinds. Frozen bakery products need to be well protected from quality loss due to high temperatures or temperature fluctuations. There needs to be rapid handling when placing these products into or removing them from freezer storage, since they can warm up very quickly when ambient temperatures are encountered. The rates of warming up vary for the various types of frozen baked goods: pound cakes and breads, for example, tend to heat up more easily from their usual frozen state at a higher temperature and vice versa. Analysis of temperature curves and control of the temperature of frozen bakery products upon receipt will indicate the most appropriate method of handling.
The point to be taken into consideration by every stakeholder of the B2B in the frozen bakery industry is the way in which the maintenance of an effective cold chain contributes to product quality, brand reputation, and customer satisfaction. Understanding the distinctive characteristics of frozen bakery products will mean a strict approach towards temperature control. These are some of the critical factors, and their close monitoring into the future is important for any player in the frozen bakery supply chain. Emphasizing proper handling and storage techniques alone is vital to meeting the general quality and success of products in the market. That being said, let’s deep into what the actual handling of these products mean – the cold chain and the logistics behind it.
Cold Chain Accountability to Heat Up
According to Fortune Business Insights, the cold chain logistics market was valued at USD242.39bn in 2021 and is expected to reach a sum of USD647.47bn by 2028. This sector has been recording incredibly fast growth in the recent times, which in turn instigates further innovation in the sector, especially towards areas of efficiency and sustainability. These are advanced technologies still in their development stage, such as innovative warehouse automation systems for managing increased demand with a reduced workforce and new packaging solutions that could eliminate the need for refrigerated trucks and storage facilities for up to eight days. Advanced software platforms also improve visibility and compliance across various facets of cold chain operations. Industry experts believe that with finances in better shape, now might be an especially good time for cold chain players to begin thinking about new partnerships, technologies, and best practices. The pandemic underlined how important it is for supply chains to be resilient, adaptable, and diversified.
As the cold chain sector continues to develop, companies will always be open to innovative ideas and will proactively discuss their future strategies. This might place them in a better position to make informed decisions to protect and strengthen their supply chains against emerging challenges and opportunities. But in a world where supply chains continue to grow in complexity, cold chain custody will be one of the key things that brands focus on over the coming year, as a new study by Forbes shows. With growth projected to continue rising at a fast clip, the global cold chain logistics market is primed for much greater accountability measures and technological innovation. Historically, much of the cold chain compliance burden has rested with shippers and recipients. But today, experts stress that all parties involved must bear some measure of responsibility if reputational risk is to be minimized.
The study shows that the cold chain integrity will run on an advanced monitoring system in this respect, which is further increasing with its importance. In this direction, tracking product temperatures at every touch point across the transport and storage lifecycle is highly required to be done by IoT devices and sensors. This requires investment from companies in this field to make sure that compliance issues are taken care of along with preparedness for audits at any point in time. With added economic pressure, the cold chain will become even more competitive. This should provide a favorable environment to upgrade standards and expectations for a company’s various partners and providers. Shippers could have higher expectations for refrigeration guidelines while the carriers may request more compliance details from their clients. The recipients can require a full audit trail of cold chain history to validate its integrity.