A crate of Alphonso mangoes was picked from Ratnagiri, perfectly ripe. By the time it reaches a Mumbai shelf a few hundred kilometres away, a large share of that harvest may never be sold. The culprit usually isn’t the fruit, it’s the cold chain that slips somewhere between farm and fork. India loses a remarkable amount of what it grows.
Post-harvest losses for some crops run above 40%, and only around 4% of the country’s food moves through a cold chain, against roughly 70% in the United Kingdom. Globally, the FAO estimates that 526 million tonnes of food which is about 12% of the world’s total is lost each year simply because it isn’t kept cold enough.
The Journey Is The Problem
Packaging acts as the first and final defense for the cold chain, being the layer that silently works to maintain the temperature constant between two refrigeration nodes.
- Farm:
Picked ripe and warm, the timer starts the moment it leaves the plant.
- Cold Store:
The first chill. Pre-cooling and the right packaging here set the shelf-life ceiling.
- Transit:
The riskiest leg including the vibration, door openings and temperature spikes and route.
- Retail:
The last mile and the shelf, where a single warm hour can undo the whole chain.
Protecting that journey has become serious business. The global cold chain packaging market was valued at roughly USD 27-34 billion in 2024-25 and is projected to more than double by the early 2030s. Fish, seafood and meat which are the most perishable categories make up the single largest share of demand.
Packaging Solutions
- Active Packaging:
Scavengers & films: Oxygen and ethylene scavengers slow ripening, while antimicrobial coatings fight spoilage right at the food’s surface.
- Intelligent Packaging:
NFC and RFID labels plus colour-changing thermochromic inks let anyone in the chain see if a package warmed up in transit.
- Thermal Packaging:
Slimmer barriers: Vacuum insulated panels are the fastest-growing product segment and bio-based phase-change materials hold temperature for hours without power.
- Reusable Packaging:
Smart shippers: Sensor-enabled boxes like Ember’s self-refrigerated Cube hold precise temperatures for over 72 hours while streaming live data.
Even today, much of such protection still involves fossil-based plastics and foams which outlive their food contents by centuries. The sector for reusable cold chain packaging is estimated to almost double to $9 billion by 2034 which is an indicator that the industry realizes that single use isn’t sustainable. The long-term solution lies in packaging materials which provide adequate protection and then disappear.
How TerraPHA helps
TerraPHA Biotech, India’s first commercial biopolymer company, produces polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) which are biodegradable polyesters made by naturally occurring, non-GMO microbes from renewable carbon sources. For cold-chain packaging, PHA matters on three fronts.
It performs like conventional plastic in being hydrophobic, with useful barrier properties yet fully biodegrades in soil, marine and composting environments, leaving no microplastics behind. Research shows PHA-based active films, combined with antimicrobial agents and essential oils, can extend shelf life by around 25% and improve barrier performance by up to 35% with coatings.
Frequently asked questions
What is cold chain packaging?
Customized packing materials include insulated containers, film wraps, gel packs, and phase change materials that maintain the safety temperature for storing and transporting such items as foods, seafoods, vaccines, and biologicals.
Why is so much food lost in the cold chain?
Mostly due to lack of cooling and temperature management systems. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), around 526 million tons of food go to waste annually because of inadequate cooling. Where infrastructure is not sufficient, a very small portion of perishable foods passes through cold chains.
Are biodegradable materials strong enough for cold-chain packaging?
Yes, more often. It is possible to blend, coat, or copolymerize biopolymers such as PHA to achieve packaging properties that provide adequate barriers and mechanical strength while being fully biodegradable and thus solving the problem of waste resulting from using plastics for cold chain packaging.
