If the cold chain breaks, frozen product warms, may partly thaw and then refreezes. Quality suffers, through clumping, frost, drip and texture loss, and in serious cases the product may no longer be safe to sell.
What you can recover depends on how warm the product got, for how long, and what your contract and insurance say. Act fast and collect evidence before anything is moved.
Common causes
- Product loaded warm, above the set point.
- Wrong set point entered on the unit or the booking.
- Power off for too long during road haulage, at a terminal or during transhipment.
- Refrigeration unit failure at sea.
- Blocked airflow from poor loading or collapsed cartons.
- Delays at the destination port without power connected.
- Doors left open during loading or unloading in hot weather.
What it does to the product
A small, short rise may cause little visible harm. Longer or larger rises cause ice crystals to grow, IQF pieces to stick together and frost to form inside bags. Fries may lose crispness and darken unevenly. Snacks can turn soggy or crack.
If product has thawed, the safety question changes. Bacteria can grow in thawed food, and refreezing does not undo that. Your own food safety team, or the authority in your market, must decide whether the lot can be sold, downgraded or must be destroyed. Do not decide on looks alone.
What to do on arrival
- Do not unload fully. Photograph the unit display, seal and doors first.
- Download the reefer log and any data loggers.
- Probe the core temperature of cartons from several positions.
- Notify your insurer and the shipping line in writing, quickly and within their time limits.
- Ask for a joint survey with an independent surveyor.
- Keep the product segregated and frozen while the claim is assessed.
- Inform the supplier and share the evidence.
Who pays
Responsibility depends on where the failure happened and on your Incoterm. Warm loading points to the supplier. A unit failure or long power-off at sea points to the carrier, within the limits of its terms. Marine cargo insurance that covers reefer breakdown and temperature loss often gives the fastest route to recovery. Check that your policy includes it, as covered in whether marine cargo insurance is worth it.
Good records at loading make all the difference. If you can prove the product left the plant frozen to the core, the supplier is in the clear and the claim moves to the carrier or insurer. How to handle a quality claim covers the supplier side.
How we help
At loading we record core temperatures, set points, logger serial numbers and seal numbers with time-stamped photos. If a break happens, we help you assemble the evidence and talk to the supplier. Ask for a free sourcing review.