Cold chain becomes a vital "control point" for exported seafood

For many years, the EU has consistently ranked among Vietnam's largest seafood import markets. At the same time, it is a region that applies highly stringent requirements regarding food safety, traceability, and cold chain control for imported frozen goods.

According to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP), seafood export turnover to the EU in recent years has maintained around billions of USD annually. The flagship commodities include shrimp, pangasius, tuna, and processed mollusks. However, along with safe consumption trends and increasingly tight food control regulations in Europe, requirements for cold storage and operational systems have been raised significantly.

In reality, quite a few shipments facing warnings or commercial risks do not stem from the initial raw material quality but are related to maintaining the cold chain during warehousing and transit. For frozen seafood, even a brief temperature fluctuation can affect product structure, sensory quality, cause microbial risks, and shorten shelf life.

Particularly for maritime export orders to Europe spanning many weeks, the cold chain is no longer merely an operational support factor but has become an essential part of the export enterprise's quality assurance system.

How does the EU control the seafood cold chain?

Unlike many markets that focus solely on inspecting the final finished product, the EU applies a continuous control mechanism across the entire food supply chain, including pre-export storage, preservation, and transportation processes.

For frozen seafood, the contents frequently inspected and evaluated comprise:

• Sanitary conditions of the cold storage facility
• Capability to maintain stable preservation temperatures
• Temperature monitoring and data logging systems
• Internal operational processes and risk control
• Traceability capabilities
• Food safety control during storage

In accordance with international practice, frozen seafood is typically preserved at a temperature of -18°C or lower to maintain product quality throughout warehousing and international transit. Therefore, thermal stability across the entire logistics chain has become a particularly critical factor for enterprises exporting to the EU.

Amidst increasingly tight import standards, many export enterprises are shifting their priorities toward choosing cold storage providers that feature clear data management systems, operational processes, and cold chain control capabilities, rather than focusing solely on warehousing costs.

Modern cold storage is no longer just a place to hold goods

Previously, cold storage primarily played the role of gathering and preserving goods prior to export. However, within today's seafood industry, cold storage is becoming a vital link in the post-processing quality assurance system.

A cold storage system serving export activities needs to simultaneously satisfy multiple requirements regarding infrastructure, operation, and food safety, such as:

• Continuous 24/7 temperature control
• Temperature data logging and storage systems
• Clear sanitation and pest control procedures
• Mitigation of cross-contamination risks between product groups
• Support for traceability during warehousing
• Ensuring inbound and outbound processes minimize thermal loss

According to cold logistics enterprises, investing systematically in warehousing and operational systems not only reduces quality risks for goods but also assists enterprises in meeting evaluation requirements from importing partners, international clients, and food safety inspection programs.

EU Code and requirements for export-oriented seafood preservation facilities

In seafood export activities to Europe, qualified processing, preservation, and cold storage facilities will be evaluated and granted an EU Approval Number (EU Code) by the competent authority to participate in the export chain into this market.

Being granted an EU Code indicates that the facility satisfies requirements related to:

• Infrastructure conditions
• Hygiene and food safety
• Preservation temperature control
• Operational and management processes
• Traceability systems

This also serves as an important basis for importing partners to evaluate an enterprise's standard compliance within the cold supply chain.

In the context of the EU strengthening food safety controls and supply chain transparency, standardizing cold storage systems is becoming a virtually mandatory requirement for enterprises wishing to penetrate deeper into high-standard markets.

TPL and the orientation to standardize the cold logistics chain for export

Toan Phat Cold Storage (TPL) is currently one of the units granted EU Code: KL 1299 for frozen seafood preservation activities serving exports to the European market.

According to the enterprise representative, TPL's investment orientation focuses not only on expanding storage capacity but also aims at comprehensively standardizing the cold operational system to meet the increasingly high requirements from seafood export clients.

The system is operated toward enhancing temperature control, data logging, hygiene management, and mitigating cold chain disruption risks during warehousing.

For export enterprises, selecting cold storage facilities that qualify to serve exports to the EU not only increases stability in cargo preservation but also helps elevate reliability with importing partners.

In the long term, professionals evaluate that standardizing the cold chain will become one of the critical factors determining the competitive capacity of Vietnam's seafood industry in high-standard markets such as the EU, Japan, and North America.

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