If you are looking for food cold chain logistics accounts, target those shippers whose freight is on your lanes, then simply show that you can actually hold their temp. Food shippers select carriers that follow documented temperature controls and maintain records, since even one failed load can lead to food waste and a broken supply chain.
PACA, FSIS MPI Directory and USDA Trucks data list build a call whenever USDA classifies Initial needs truck at some origin is lacking. If your subject line is not a company pitch but a request to reserve a lane for a particular lane.
Temperature records, training records and script-based sanitation protocols (38) as driven by the FDA Sanitary Transportation Rule — all in place long before the trial loads. There are plenty of evergreen myths that cold calling isn’t effective, but we still think it is our best outbound channel (specifically and irrespective of industry), and therefore this guide will heavily feature the phone. Winning does too, but it is a considerably different niche.
Become a frozen or chilled lane specialist, so shippers will see you as an expert, not a generalist. Carriers that understand how to protect temperature-sensitive products and how to keep food systems moving will earn shippers’ trust.
Quick Summary
- Build lists from PACA and MPI records.
- Call origins USDA rates as shortage.
- Open with a lane and a market fact.
- Send temperature, training and cleaning records before trial loads.
- Expect QA to lead carrier approval.
- Specialize in frozen or chilled lanes.
Where Do You Find Food Shippers That Need Cold Chain Service?
Free government records can be a useful source of logistics sales leads for cold chain carriers. Start with these sources, then narrow the list to your routes. This works for carriers, brokers and warehouse teams, including teams that run cold storage sites.
What the Directory Shows
Three public sources give you real leads:
- USDA PACA License Search: Interstate fresh and frozen produce traders must hold a PACA license. Search licensees for free on the USDA AMS site. No login is needed to use PACA Search.
- USDA FSIS MPI Directory: Free to search. It lists federally inspected meat, poultry and egg plants with general contact details.
- USDA Agricultural Refrigerated Truck Quarterly: The USDA data tables list shipment volumes, truck rates by route and weekly truck availability by origin and commodity.
Licenses renew yearly, so confirm status before you call.
How to Filter It for Your Lanes
Use these filters in order:
| Filter | What to Check |
| Origin | High refrigerated volume near your lane |
| Commodity | Produce, dairy, meat or seafood |
| Facility type | Packers, processors, warehouses and distribution centers |
| Capacity | Origins with tight truck availability |
| Rates | Origin and destination pairs near your budget |
Then follow these steps:
- Exclude PACA licensees whose license is inactive, terminated or revoked. Confirm each license’s status on the USDA PACA Search before you add the company to your list.
- Pair each remaining licensee to a commodity from the USDA volume tables.
- Order by weekly truck availability. In tight markets, shippers frequently require additional capacity.
- Compare USDA’s rates for your lane against your own.
- Reach out to the shipper logistics lead generation with your lane, temp range and service days.
Note:
The USDA data includes only fruit and vegetable trucking and may thus be supplemented using the FSIS MPI Directory for meat and poultry. The ideal target for you is a high-volume shipper with limited open trucks. Update your list each quarter.
This method includes produce and meat. A lot of these also have cold storage and distribution centers, so be sure to ask who manages their outbound freight.
What Food Safety Rules Shape a Shipper’s Carrier Choice?
A shipper’s carrier choice is shaped mostly by the FDA Sanitary Transportation Rule. Shippers hold primary responsibility for sanitary transport unless a carrier agrees in writing to take it on. So carriers must show they can follow written instructions. The rule covers anyone who arranges transport, including brokers.
What the Shipper Must Put in Writing
For food that needs temperature control, such as dairy, seafood and fresh produce, the shipper must:
- Tell the carrier in writing what temperature to hold. This is the required operating temperature, plus any pre-cooling the shipper wants done before loading.
- Have written procedures for temperature control. The shipper must develop and follow them so the food stays under adequate temperature control during transport.
- Give the carrier and loader written sanitary specifications for the vehicles and equipment used on the load.
What Changes When You Sign an Agreement
A written agreement can move duties to the carrier. The carrier may then:
- Pre-cool the vehicle and set and monitor temperatures based on shipper instructions.
- Show it held the specified temperature, such as with time and temperature data.
- Train its staff in sanitary transport and document that training.
Keep these agreements on file as required records. FDA explains the details in its Sanitary Transportation guidance.
How USDA and FDA Rules Split for Meat and Poultry
| Stage | Who Oversees It |
| Inside a USDA-inspected plant | USDA FSIS only |
| After product leaves the plant | FDA rule applies to shippers, carriers and receivers |
| Dual jurisdiction facilities | Covered under an FDA and USDA agreement |
FDA does not exempt meat and poultry once they leave the FSIS-inspected establishment. See the Federal Register preamble (81 FR 20091) for FDA’s reasoning.
Where the Traceability Rule Stands
The rule covers foods on FDA’s Food Traceability List, such as soft cheeses, shell eggs, leafy greens and finfish. It aims to make food systems easier to trace when something goes wrong. The original compliance date was January 20, 2026.
Congress then directed FDA not to enforce the rule before July 20, 2028, and FDA intends to comply (FDA Food Traceability Rule page). The requirements did not change. Records must be available to FDA within 24 hours of a request.
Shippers may ask you now whether you can pass along lot-level shipping data. Track updates on the FDA traceability page.
The People Who Sign Off on a New Cold Chain Provider
Approving a new cold chain carrier is a shipper team decision. Quality Assurance (QA) leads the review, and several people sign before your first load moves.
Who Leads the Review
Ask for the shipper’s QA lead. QA owns the carrier audit and the written agreement. Then bring in these people:
- Supply chain manager: manages the daily relationship and shipping lanes.
- Regulatory affairs: confirms the rules for your product type.
- Legal and procurement: review the contract and liability terms.
For food, the shipper must write and use procedures to keep temperature-controlled food under adequate temperature control. The carrier’s duties depend on what the written shipper and carrier agreement assigns to it. Get that agreement signed early.
Who Checks Your Equipment
A quality or validation engineer checks the equipment, usually with QA. They confirm that each cold room and truck was tested and holds the right range. This includes temperature-controlled storage at cold storage sites and distribution centers. They also check that temperature loggers are calibrated.
| Item | What they check | Who signs |
| Cold rooms and freezers | Temperature mapping report | QA or validation lead |
| Trucks and trailers | Pre-cooling and temperature records | Logistics and QA |
| Data loggers | Calibration certificates | QA |
QA approves the carrier. An executive signs the contract last.
Proof Food Shippers Ask For Before a Trial Load
A new cold chain carrier is asked for 3 types of proof by food shippers prior to a trial load: temperature records, training records and written cleaning procedures. These correspond to the FDAs Sanitary Transportation Rule and they are key for all temperature-controlled products. Carriers are only responsible for training and procedure records when the written agreement assigns them this responsibility.
Food carriers first ask three different types of proof from a cold chain carrier prior to arranging any trial shipment: temperature logs; training logs; and written sanitation procedures.
They correspond directly to the FDA Sanitary Transportation Rule, and they affect virtually every temperature-controlled product. If these duties are provided to the carrier in a written contract, then carriers only owe records of training and procedures.
Temperature Records
Ever since COVID-19 vaccines brought temperature-controlled shipping into sharp focus, food and other shippers are demanding tougher answers on temperature-proofing. The right range also offers protection for the load and helps cut food waste. A carrier shall demonstrate that the shipper’s intended temperature was maintained when requested by the shipper or receiver
Acceptable proof includes:
- Ambient temperature readings at loading and unloading
- Time and temperature data recorded during the trip
- Proof of pre-cooling, if the shipper required it
Ask for sample records from past loads and agree on the monitoring method in advance.
Training Records
If the agreement makes the carrier responsible for sanitary conditions, it must train its staff on food safety problems, basic sanitary practices and carrier duties. Training happens at hiring and as needed afterward. Each record must show:
- The date of the training
- The type of training
- The people trained
The carrier keeps these records for 12 months after the person stops doing the covered work.
Written Cleaning and Sanitation Procedures
The shipper writes the sanitary specifications for vehicles and equipment. A carrier that takes on these duties then needs written procedures covering cleaning, sanitizing and inspecting its trailers. Ask to see them before the trial load.
| Record | Who Keeps It | Retention |
| Written agreements | Shipper and carrier | 12 months after use ends |
| Shipper procedures | Shipper | 12 months after use ends |
| Carrier procedures | Carrier | 12 months after use ends |
| Training records | Carrier | 12 months after the person stops the duties |
When Should You Pitch Produce Shippers?
Pitch produce shippers when USDA’s weekly truck availability rating signals tight capacity for their origin and commodity. Shippers answer calls fastest when trucks are hard to find, and produce spoils quickly, so a missed truck can mean food waste. The data is free from the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS). This works best for produce lanes. USDA does not publish the same ratings for meat or dairy.
How to Read the Weekly Ratings
The weekly Specialty Crops National Truck Rate Report lists availability by origin, commodity and destination city. USDA datasets score them 1 to 5, and the legend below matches the AMS RTQ datasets page.
| Score | Rating | What It Means for You |
| 1 | Surplus | Trucks are plentiful, so shippers have little need |
| 2 | Slight surplus | Low urgency |
| 3 | Adequate | Steady market, so pitch on service quality |
| 4 | Slight shortage | Good time to call |
| 5 | Shortage | Highest need for new capacity |
Rates are listed per truckload next to a weekly change figure. A rising rate with a shortage rating shows a tightening lane. Check the latest report for lanes rated slight shortage or shortage.
How to Plan Calls Around Shortage Weeks
- Review the report every week and write down the origins that are a 4 or 5 in terms of rating.
- Fit your trucks and the lanes to those commodities. Volume by Origin with USDA’s quarterly truck report
- First, call shippers at those origins with open equipment and service days.
- Provide a trial load before season reaches peak
- Maintain a short list of 1 or 2 rated origins. Shippers might later prefer a second carrier.
Note: Ratings are reset every week, so make sure to refresh your call list every Wednesday after the report is published!
How to Open the First Call With a Food Shipper?
Open the first call with a specific lane and a current market fact, not a company pitch. Food shippers think in routes, temperatures and rates, so lead with those.
What to Say in the Opening Line
Name an origin, a destination and a USDA signal. For example: “I run reefer capacity from Salinas to Chicago. USDA shows a slight shortage on that lane this week. Are you covered?” Check the lane first in the USDA weekly truck rate report. Then say which transportation services you can add on that lane.
Our logistics benchmarks show operations leaders and business owners make most freight decisions, so ask for them by role.
Dillon Logistics built its prospect lists around food and beverage companies and temperature-controlled freight operators.
Questions That Qualify the Account
| Question | Why It Matters |
| Which origins, destinations and distribution centers do you run? | Matches your lanes |
| What commodity and temperature range? | Confirms equipment fit |
| Who manages your carriers today? | Finds the decision maker |
| What is your weekly volume? | Sizes the account |
| Do you send carriers written temperature instructions? | The FDA rule requires shippers to give them |
| Who covers the lane now? | Reveals service gaps |
How to Follow Up After the First Call
- Email within one day with the lane, equipment type and service days.
- Attach your temperature records, training records and written cleaning procedures. Shippers ask for these before a trial load, and FDA explains the duties in its Sanitary Transportation guidance.
- Offer a trial load on one lane.
- Call again when the USDA rating for that origin moves.
Plan for repeat contact. In our logistics campaigns, the median run was seven months and about 15 appointments per month. Phone plus email worked across every campaign.
Outbound Results for Cold Chain and Freight Carriers
Outbound works for cold chain and freight carriers when every call and email targets shippers with steady freight. Three CallingAgency logistics case studies show it. These are our own results, so treat them as benchmarks, not guarantees.
Wisdom Freight booked 144 appointments in 11 months and turned them into 34 accounts. Dillon Logistics booked 106 in 7 months.
NXRE Logistics booked 116 appointments in 7 months. It needed 26,900+ calls and 9,300+ emails to get there, and it added 27 new accounts. Plan for many touches before a booking.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do reefer carriers need FSMA training to haul food?
Only when the written shipper agreement makes the carrier responsible for sanitary conditions. Then FDA’s Sanitary Transportation rule requires training at hire covering food safety problems, basic sanitary practices and carrier duties. Records must show date, training type and people trained.
Is the USDA MPI directory free to use?
Yes. The USDA FSIS is a federal agency that provides free access to their Meat, Poultry and Egg Product Inspection (MPI) Directory. List of federally inspected plants that can be great shippers leads sorted by state, product type or establishment number. It has general contact information and not logistics decision-makers at plants, so you need to find those contacts elsewhere.
Does the FDA food traceability rule apply to carriers now?
Not yet. Congress also directed FDA not to enforce the section before July 20, 2028, and FDA plans to follow the FDA Food Traceability Rule page. So carriers that transport food only are generally not covered, although early on shippers may contact carriers for lot, temperature, and pickup data.
How long must carriers keep food transport records?
Carriers retain written procedures, shipper agreements and driver training documents for 12 months past either cessation of use or the employee’s departure under Sanitary Transportation regulations. The records shall be made available to FDA upon request. The records of traceability rule run two years where applicable.
Should I use cold calling or email to reach food shippers?
Use both. Call first with a lane-specific opener, then email within one day naming your lanes, reefer equipment, temperature monitoring and training records. Target logistics or transportation managers.
Conclusion
Before the first load, food shippers award cold chain freight to carriers that establish temperature control. That evidence keeps food systems moving and reduces waste. Shippers request your Sanitary Transportation records before a trial load, so have them ready!
1 lane, 1 trial load and 1 written agreement to start with. Then keep the written temperature range from the shipper on each and every load, so that this data can be available if needed.
