The Hidden Risks of Cold Chain Failures: Insights from Giampaolo Marino

Cold chain failures often go unnoticed, occurring not just at equipment failures but in the subtle moments of temperature management during the supply process. In this exclusive interview with Giampaolo Marino, Senior Vice President of Strategy and Business Development at Energous, we delve into the persistent blind spots in cold chain management and how real-time visibility can mitigate spoilage, recalls, and supply chain disruptions.

Recognizing Cold Chain Breakdowns

Supply Chain 24/7: Where do you see cold chain breakdowns happening most often today, and why are they so easy to miss?

Giampaolo Marino: Cold chain breakdowns typically do not manifest at obvious failure points, such as a refrigeration unit failing. Instead, they often happen during handoffs, overnight dwell times, or at staging areas within distribution centers. These conditions allow temperature to drift gradually just outside safe thresholds, making deviations easy to overlook without continuous monitoring.

The main challenge arises from the industry’s reliance on point-in-time checks. A temperature reading may show that a pallet is “in range,” but it provides no context for what has occurred before or after that moment. If a product is exposed to suboptimal conditions for hours, degradation can begin unnoticed.

Identifying the Signs of Trouble

SC247: What usually tips companies off that something went wrong?

GM: Companies often realize something went awry only when downstream signals appear—such as product spoilage, failed quality checks, or consumer complaints. By this point, the product may have already traveled through numerous touchpoints, making timely intervention nearly impossible.

The crux of the issue isn’t awareness but rather timely insight. Traditional monitoring methods often reveal problems only after exposure has already begun, commonly during audits or manual checks initiated well after an incident. This delay eliminates the chance to respond while conditions remain manageable, resulting in unnecessary waste and disruption.

Challenges in Temperature Visibility

SC247: Why has temperature visibility been such a hard problem for food supply chains to fully solve?

GM: Temperature visibility struggles stem from the complexities of scale, costs, and operational friction. Food supply chains are expansive and highly dynamic, with products passing through various environments rapidly, complicating continuous monitoring.

Most existing solutions were designed for verification rather than intelligence. Manual logs, periodic checks, and battery-operated sensors can lead to labor-intensive processes and maintenance issues. Fragmented data further exacerbates the problem, as even available temperature data often arrives too late or remains siloed.

Innovations like wireless power technology are beginning to change this landscape, making continuous monitoring more feasible at a larger scale.

The Impact of Real-Time Data

SC247: What changes when teams can see temperature issues in real-time instead of after the fact?

GM: Real-time visibility shifts cold chain management from a reactive to a proactive stance. When monitoring allows for immediate response to temperature drift, corrective actions can be implemented to prevent significant product quality loss—adjusting storage conditions or accelerating product movement can all happen in real time.

This continuous visibility fosters collaboration amongst various teams across distribution centers and retail locations. Shared, real-time data enables faster decision-making and uncovers patterns that traditional checks may miss, thereby enhancing operational efficiency.

Addressing the Business Impact

SC247: From your perspective, where does cold chain failure create the biggest business impact: spoilage, safety, brand trust, or all of the above?

GM: All of these elements are intertwined and critical. Spoilage is often the first indicator of issues, as even minor temperature deviations can lead to significant quality degradation and financial loss, especially at scale.

Food safety introduces another layer of risk, as temperature fluctuations may foster bacterial growth, transforming quality concerns into health risks. This invites regulatory scrutiny and potential product recalls, compounding the financial ramifications of failure.

Furthermore, brand trust can erode quickly in the face of such failures. Consumers tend to link supply chain failures to brand reliability, making a single incident potentially detrimental, particularly in sectors where quality and safety are paramount.

Shifting Perspectives on Freshness and Safety

SC247: How are food companies thinking differently about freshness and safety as expectations around traceability keep rising?

GM: Companies are increasingly viewing freshness and safety as continuous conditions rather than static thresholds. The demand for greater transparency means it is no longer sufficient merely to confirm that standards were met. Organizations now require verified, temporal data that illustrates how products have been handled throughout their journey.

Consequently, this shift alters decision-making. Continuous insights allow companies to respond to challenges with precision and reduce conservative actions that can lead to waste.

Envisioning Effective Cold Chain Visibility

SC247: Looking ahead, what does “good” cold chain visibility actually look like for a modern food supply chain?

GM: Good cold chain visibility should be continuous, automatic, and actionable. It needs to eliminate manual checks or periodic scans and must not add complexity to already stretched operations.

Effective solutions function seamlessly in the background, delivering real-time data wherever risk exists, whether at storage facilities or during transitions. Technologies like wirelessly powered sensors can make round-the-clock monitoring a reality. Ultimately, the goal is behavior change. Teams must trust the data, respond rapidly, and leverage insights to refine processes continually.

Continuous visibility diminishes failure rates, enhances accuracy, and shifts the focus of food safety efforts from detection to prevention, securing a more reliable food supply chain for all.

Giampaolo Marino is Senior Vice President of Strategy and Business Development at Energous.