Summer has more than arrived; it’s in full force. When moving temperature-sensitive products, it’s the most challenging time of year for managing product stability.
When seeking cold chain shipping solutions, gel packs generally outperform ice in a variety of ways. From temperature control to duration and cost-effectiveness, you may find that gel packs are the right solution for protecting your product’s integrity.
Plastilite’s gel packs are not only reusable, nontoxic and BPA-free, but they also offer a variety of advantages over ice. Here are a few areas where a comparison illustrates the benefits of using gel packs:
Temperature Stability: Ice is initially colder than gel packs, but the temperature of ice tends to rise quickly. Gel packs retain a more stable temperature, cooling better over time and designed to maintain a specific temperature range.
Cooling Duration: Ice is an effective short-term solution for cooling items, but its cooling capacity quickly degrades as it melts. Meanwhile, gel packs are longer-lasting than the equivalent weight of ice, particularly when used in insulated packaging.
Water Management: This is a clear downside to using ice. It produces meltwater that ends up damaging your packaging, labels and sometimes even your product. A gel pack produces no meltwater leakage as long as the packaging is intact.
Product Integrity: Ice may sometimes create pockets of frozen product, also known as localized freezing, while gel packs do not have the same level of risk if the gel pack is properly selected for the product.
Shipping and Handling: While ice always requires consideration around drainage and additional packaging protection, gel packs tend to be clean, easy to handle and reusable.
Ice may be a great choice for your cold chain transport solution if you are transporting product a short distance or do not require a precise level of temperature control. In many cases, however, gel packs are the better choice.
To learn more about whether gel packs are a good solution for your product and supply chain, contact us at Plastilite.