A cold-chain product is one whose temperature condition is written on its label, in its regulation or in its marketing authorisation. In practice there are three main groups: chilled food, frozen food and cold-chain medicines, with fresh fruit and vegetables standing alongside them under rules of their own. Two products from the same family can have different conditions, so the list is only a start; each product's condition is read from its own source.
The food side
Typical members of the chilled group are fresh meat and charcuterie, dairy, ready meals, fresh cakes and fish. For some products the regulation sets an explicit ceiling: under Türkiye's Regulation on Special Hygiene Rules for Food of Animal Origin, minced meat is chilled to an internal temperature of no more than 2 °C immediately after production. For fresh fish the limit is written not as a number but as a requirement to keep it near the melting point of ice.
In the frozen group, the Turkish Food Codex Communiqué on Quick-Frozen Foodstuffs (2014/47) requires -18 °C or lower at every point of the product and allows brief rises of no more than 3 °C during transport and distribution. Ice cream and edible ices fall outside that communiqué, so the word frozen in a product name does not decide which rule applies.
Fruit and vegetables breathe and give off heat. A strawberry and a banana do not ask for the same condition, and a cut product can have different instructions from the same product whole; in this group the condition follows variety, ripeness and how much air the pack lets through.
The state of the product changes the condition too. Horizon writes of its own shelf-stable milk that UHT treatment and airtight, light-blocking packaging let the unopened carton be stored at room temperature, while an opened one goes in the fridge. Opened, prepared or cut products therefore get their own line in the list.
The pharmaceutical side
TİTCK defines cold-chain products as those that must be stored and distributed between +2 and +8 °C, under the conditions set by the marketing authorisation holder, from production to the point of use. That band belongs to this class of products, not to all medicines, and each medicine's storage condition is read from its own authorisation. For transport, the WHO guide to qualifying shipping containers assesses container, coolant, dividers and logger as one arrangement.
| Product or scope | Condition | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Quick-frozen food | -18 °C or lower at every point; brief rises of at most 3 °C in transport | Turkish Food Codex 2014/47 |
| Minced meat | Internal temperature at most 2 °C | Regulation on hygiene of food of animal origin |
| Fresh fishery products | Near the melting point of ice | The same regulation |
| Cold-chain medicine | +2 to +8 °C plus authorisation conditions | TİTCK notice, 27 December 2018 |
Where a narrower category, an authorisation or the pack gives a more specific condition, that one applies. A two-column list of the cold products in your business is a good start: the product and the source of its condition. A product whose source cannot be shown is never given its neighbour's temperature; its condition is clarified first.
Choosing the container comes after this list. The volume of an Isotec or thermobox, the pack-out and the route are set once the product's condition is known; the cold-chain carrier specification and the ice-pack selection guide help carry those inputs into the quotation table.
