DISTRUST IN THE COLD CHAIN
We all know the distrust surrounding cold chain logistics.
The cold chain represents a global problem. Transportation and storage companies and producers themselves deal with increasingly demanding processes, both to differentiate themselves and to have tracking information. In many companies, there is a need to inform the consumer that the cold chain was maintained in integrity. In our region, the need to reduce costs and the low number of controls increase distrust. In all these cases, we see the opportunity to contribute knowledge to improve processes and habits.
THE SOLUTION
Witmo develops “non-reversible” labels that change color when the cold chain is cut. If you cool them down again they don't change color again. They are used for food, medicines, and human and veterinary vaccines.
In addition to achieving a non-reversible color change in active inks, we can adjust the formula according to temperature-time curves of a yogurt, a vaccine or a veterinary product in its packaging. They are designed to indicate to the consumer whether the product is suitable for consumption.
Among several innovations for the future, we are already creating our Innovation Laboratory, together with the UTN FRLP, the INS and the FAN. The generations of labels that we are developing will become new additions to the market, in order to remain at the leading edge of technologies for the care of refrigeration conditions. We have started to work on thermolabile inks based on nanoparticles and nanostructured resins, encapsulating pigments, catalysts and to work on membranes to react to critical temperatures and specific times. Specifically, we are looking for ways to activate, methods to convert existing inks into thermolabile ones and to achieve non-reversible systems from reversible inks.
THE POTENTIAL MARKET
The potential global market for cold chain products and services is enormous in volume and continues to grow. In particular, the market for nanotechnology products for thermolabile inks and coatings is starting to flourish and we are going to be part of it, both in smart packaging and in skin diagnostics, engines, cars and applications in consumer electronics.
CONTEXT
On a global level, the market is of such size that the emergence of competitors and different solutions is considered necessary to reduce inconvenient habits and customs in the distribution chain. Throughout Europe, Canada, the United States and Middle Eastern countries, the competition among companies to appear responsible and committed to consumer health suggests a need to communicate to the consumer through indicators like this. Some examples are already observed in high-value products and electronic registration and tracking systems for logistics, advertising messages and mass communication about the responsible distribution of their products.
A few companies manufacture controls that are gradually improving and reducing their costs, which is why they are incorporated into the transportation and storage processes of medicines, vaccines, raw materials, and food. Existing patents base their controls or similar products on biological materials such as enzymes, which can defeat or present fungi. Other solutions in the market are neither non-reversible nor designed to accompany primary packaging, or to reach the consumer. This context suggests that the use of labels like these is imminent in the short and medium term.
In Latin America and countries like India, the situation is rather special. Logistics costs are usually high, as are insurance, and the entire process is linked to great distrust. The consumer, in general, assumes that the great lack of controls and the need to reduce costs results in practices of carelessness, incompetence, inefficiency and even disinterest. In competitors selected among local cases, malpractice becomes an accepted part, since the responsible carrier internalizes practices common to all to be competitive. Any increase in energy consumption, investment in monitoring and control, etc., adds costs that leave it out. And, even though awareness of the search for healthy eating is growing, cheaper services continue to be chosen.
In Argentina, thanks to visits to food packaging plants and pharmaceutical laboratories, we met several people interested in differentiating their thermolabile products based on the inclusion of control. Some owners have been members of corporate social responsibility groups with proposals to reduce malpractice in cold chain distribution, with the intention of having them massively accepted, without success.
There is also an important gap in the regulatory framework in Argentina. Certain laws were created to "guarantee" the correct application of the cold chain, but they do not specify to whom. Some of the present devices serve recipients of certain links in the cold chain, but not the consumer of the product. There exists the Act 26492, regulating the cold chain in medicines, and a Bill by Dr. Antonio Lovaglio (2003-2007) that establishes that “all medicines for human or veterinary use containing thermolabile active ingredients must have the incorporation of a temperature indicator on the individual packaging, of an indelible, unalterable and non-reversible nature that allows verifying that it has not lost the cold chain at the time of reaching the consumer”. However, this has not been regulated due to the lack of an acceptable low-cost technological level.
SIGNIFICANCE
Our value proposal is to provide this differentiation to eliminate distrust, so that consumers can select those products that have been cared for throughout the distribution process, from production or packaging to their hand. In the case of vaccines, for example, each vial or syringe will have an indicator label, and will indicate who purchases them in quantity, and who applies it. In a supermarket aisle, yogurts, milks, cold cuts and doughs will be ready to show if they have arrived in complete integrity in the cold chain.
However, that is not the main purpose of our team. We want to innovate, we want to achieve a gradual transformation of the customs associated with the care of the cold chain. We want to provide disruptive solutions to improve quality in every sense. We will feel proud of ensuring that more food arrives fresh at its destination, that more veterinary vaccines provide safety in rural tasks, and that vaccine donations from governments and companies to entire towns are applied with the confidence of a responsible logistics chain.
In short, as in all our projects, we feel capable of providing contributions to improve life.
