When packaging food-grade or other temperature sensitive products, you are dealing with a special kind of shipping challenge. These items can be fragile and vulnerable to contamination and spoilage. Commercial-grade cold chain packaging including insulated shipping boxes, insulated box liners, and EPS coolers for shipping this type of merchandise is extremely important. However, just choosing any type of temperature-controlled packaging will not guarantee that your valuable product will arrive safely, whether frozen, refrigerated or within the required range. To ensure that you optimize the benefits of your insulated packaging selection, you have to include the use of refrigerants as part of your packaging strategy. Ice gel packs, commonly used to preserve the ideal temperature of shipments in conjunction with these types of cold chain packaging is imperative for the maintenance of product safety standards.
Choosing the Correct Cold Chain Packaging for Your Product
Maintaining product integrity and safety during transportation of temperature sensitive goods is a critical step in the cold chain process. Some of these are pharmaceuticals, frozen foods and most recently due to the COVID-19 crisis, home delivered food and meal kits. These include freshly prepared meals, meal kits, baby and pet food, which are hand delivered on the same day or two days in some cases. When transporting highly perishable food from the manufacturer to customers’ homes, maintaining the correct temperature and avoiding harmful temperature fluctuations during transit is key.
Optimizing the effectiveness of temperature controlled packaging solutions with the use of ice gel packs to maintain peak quality of product is necessary and extremely important during transit.
How Gel Packs Work
Gel packs are a safe and economical choice when transporting temperature-sensitive shipments. These are sealed heavy duty pouches that contain a non-toxic gel that cools more uniformly and colder than ice. They can also be easily cleaned for reuse. They are available in multiple sizes and temperature sensitivities. When a gel pack melts or freezes, it absorbs or releases heat while maintaining a constant temperature.
The role of the insulated shipping container is to slow down the flow of heat thereby decreasing the amount of heat that the gel pack needs to absorb or release during transit. The difference between the external temperature and temperature of the product also needs to be taken into consideration. The warmer it is outside; the more gel packs are needed to maintain the designated temperature range. Adding additional gel packs increases the time that it takes to melt because more heat can be absorbed or release.
Choose the Right Supplier of Ice Packs for Cold Chain Packaging
When it comes to choosing the right ice packs for shipping and packaging, you need to work with a reputable supplier. Distinctive Solutions, Inc. offers an assortment of superior packaging products to our customers. Our assortment includes multiple sizes of ice gel packs. Our primary goal is to ensure and protect the integrity of your products during transit. Feel free to contact us today if you would like to find out more about our packaging solutions.