Glossary · Safety & compliance
Cold chain
Definition
The cold chain is the unbroken chain of temperature control that keeps frozen and chilled food safe from the manufacturer to the customer.
Frozen food has to stay frozen at every stage: production, delivery, storage and service. That sequence is the cold chain. Frozen goods are normally stored at around minus 18°C or colder, and chilled items such as soft serve mix are kept in a fridge until used. Each handover is a point where things can slip.
If the chain breaks, for example if lollies partly melt in a warm van and refreeze, the product loses quality and may become unsafe. Ice cream that has thawed should not be refrozen and sold. On our vans the freezers and soft serve machine run from the battery, so they keep their temperature without an engine running. Temperature control is one of the things a food hygiene inspection looks at.
Related terms
- ConservatorA conservator is the trade name for an ice cream freezer used to store and display frozen products such as lollies, tubs and scooping ice cream.
- Food hygiene ratingA food hygiene rating is the score from 0 to 5 that a council gives a food business after inspection. 5 means hygiene standards are very good.
- Soft serve machineA soft serve machine freezes and whips liquid ice cream mix in a chilled barrel, then dispenses it through a nozzle when the handle is pulled.
- Electric ice cream vanAn electric ice cream van powers its freezers and soft serve machine from batteries, so it serves without an engine or generator running.
- The full glossary54 terms, from soft serve to street trading licences.
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