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Reducing post-harvest losses, preserving food quality
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Friday, 12 December, 2025, 15 : 00 PM [IST]
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P Mythili
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Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) was launched to strengthen agricultural infrastructure across India. It is a medium-long term debt financing facility through interest subvention and credit guarantee support on loans for investment in viable projects for post-harvest management infrastructure and viable farming assets. The scheme focuses on the creation of farm-gate storage and logistics facilities to help farmers store their produce effectively and sell it at better prices by minimising post-harvest losses and reducing dependence on intermediaries. Infrastructure such as warehouses, cold storage, sorting and grading units, and ripening chambers enhances farmers’ ability to access wider markets and improve value realisation, thereby boosting their income. Designed to benefit all stakeholders—including farmers, agri-entrepreneurs, cooperatives, and consumers—the scheme aims at the holistic development of the agriculture sector. Moreover, the development of agricultural infrastructure can mitigate the impact of natural uncertainties, bridge regional disparities, support skill development, and promote the sustainable use of limited land resources—ultimately contributing to a more resilient and productive agricultural ecosystem.
The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) implements the Integrated Cold Chain, Food Processing and Preservation Infrastructure Scheme, a key component of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY). The scheme aims to reduce post-harvest losses of both horticultural and non-horticultural produce, while ensuring remunerative prices for farmers by improving storage, transportation, and processing infrastructure.
Intelligent Cold Chain System
The intelligent cold chain systems ensure food quality and safety through the comprehensive real-time monitoring of food status in the food supply chain. The systems organically combine the sensors with Internet of Things technology. The sensors monitor the temperature, humidity, and the operating state of refrigeration equipment in the area where the food is located in real time. The data are transmitted to the data processing module in real time by using wireless communication technology. After processing and analysing the data, the data are transmitted to the server and client. The server can conduct early warning and regulations according to the data analysis results, and the client can conduct real-time queries of food logistics information, food status, and food history information. To achieve the integrity of cold chain systems, the sensors and their data transmission are indispensable (Ren et al., 2022 and Wang et al., 2018).
Food cold chain
Cold chain is one of the main tools of the food industry. It ensures the optimal conditions for food meant for human consumption. Cold chain is a system that keeps food under a controlled temperature from the moment of its production or harvest until it reaches the final consumer. However, the International Dictionary of Refrigeration describes it as “a series of actions and equipment applied to maintain a product within a specified low-temperature range, from harvest/production to consumption”
Highly perishable food products retain acceptable safety and quality throughout the whole supply chain provided that certain factors are maintained, e.g., temperature and relative humidity. Perishables may suffer an adverse variation when the storage temperature is outside the ideal temperature range. Therefore, cold chain monitoring is critical to identify any weaknesses for successful intervention. Consequently, food science develops various ways to monitor the temperature of a product in real-time and access its temperature history throughout the process. Some of the frequently employed options include radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, time and temperature integrators (TTIs), and wireless sensor networks (WSNs) (Pedro Arriaga-Lorenzo, et al., 2023).
Cold Chain for Agricultural and Seafood Products
Primarily, the cold chain for agricultural and seafood products can be categorised under the following six categories.
Harvesting: Food deterioration can occur as soon as after harvesting. For instance, fish needs ice and milk requires cooling right after milking.
Preconditioning: The obvious next step is that the produce needs to be cooled to an optimum temperature, sorted and packed. For onward transportation in a vehicle or container, some products need to be kept in refrigerated storage while others need to be cooked, processed, chilled (blast chillers) or frozen.
Storage: The bulk of products arriving at the warehouses also need proper storage conditions for maintaining the inventory and last-mile delivery. Moreover, there can be multiple products that may need varying temperatures, requiring specific storage solutions.
Retail: In retail, for both display and temporary storage before customers buy the product, items need to be kept and maintained at a low temperature.
Domestic consumption/food service: Again, products that were refrigerated or frozen during their supply chain need to be kept in the same conditions in the domestic set-up or the hospitality sector before being consumed or served to the customers. Also, depending on the type of food product or good, the temperature range varies during transportation, storage, and distribution.
Cold chain in transportation
Cold chain food transportation involves land, air, and maritime resources. Until 2005, trucks used to be the most popular land transport vehicle. Estimates suggest that more than 90% of foods are moved by land in the United Kingdom. The distance that vehicles travel to deliver a food product to the retailer is highly variable. A lot of different factors must be considered during food transportation to keep the cold chain undisturbed. Seasonal temperature can strongly affect the food supply chain, being as low as –10°C in winter or as high as 35°C in summer.
Trucks must be able to provide favourable temperature for the perishable foodstuffs they transport, considering that they travel up to 2500 km. Many studies report temperature rises during transportation of milk, strawberries, and fresh-cut leafy greens, as well as during the loading and unloading of fish. Additionally, temperature control deficiencies can be potentiated by the impact of the environment on the temperature fluctuations of the transported products.
Cold chain in warehouses
Achieving that perishable food reaches the last link of the food supply chain in optimal conditions is complex and expensive. The food industry invests millions of dollars in order to attain this goal and avoid having to recall a product due to contamination during the cold chain. A food product can remain stored in distribution centres for many days. Its shelf life depends on the right conditions, and the optimal temperature control is essential. Unfavourable temperature deviation during the storage of perishable products is related to the corresponding link in the supply chain. Derens et al., revealed that the biggest temperature problems in France were related to display cabinets, transport to the home, and domestic refrigerator storage.
Unfavourable fluctuations occur less frequently during storage at the distribution centre. Multiple studies conducted on such perishables as meat, dairy products, and vegetables confirmed temperature records below 4°C at the storage stage in distribution centres. However, these data were obtained from developed countries. Developing countries have less favourable conditions in terms of equipment, energy sources, and environment, which is often due to their geographical location.
The Agriculture Infrastructure Fund and cold chain development initiatives play a vital role in strengthening India’s agricultural ecosystem. By creating modern storage, processing, and transportation facilities including intelligent cold chain systems with real-time monitoring the sector can significantly reduce post-harvest losses, preserve food quality, and ensure better price realisation for farmers. A well-managed cold chain, from harvesting to domestic consumption, enhances the safety, shelf life, and market value of perishable products. While developed countries have established efficient systems, developing nations like India are steadily advancing through government support, technological integration, and improved logistics.
(The author is assistant professor at KSR College of Arts and Science for Women, Tiruchengode)
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