The cold chain management is the temperature control process which is essential for maintain the quality of fresh produce from upstream to the consumer in the supply chain so that the loss is minimized. Our objectives are to monitor the temperature during transportation, analyses and identify the problem cause loss of fresh vegetables by using causal-loop diagram. We monitor the temperature during transportation of fresh vegetables from a farm in Northern Thailand to a packing house in the central Thailand around 750 kms. for 17 to 18 hours. The fresh vegetables are packed in a stereo foam box with the cool packs and pile up on the back of a truck. At the packing house, fresh vegetables are bruised and rotten and loss about 30-40 percent by weight. The temperature is monitored by the data loggers. The result showed that the temperature inside the box during transport is 20oC-30oC where the range of external temperature is 20oC-40oC. Then, we suggest how to reduce loss by using proper management such as suitable material to control the temperature during transportation, location of box in the truck and packing method.
Keywords: Cold Chain Management; Fresh Vegetable; Loss Reduction; Transportation