What this is
What is a cold chain excursion record?
What is a cold chain excursion record?
It is a record used in KnowFleet that captures a temperature deviation outside the acceptable range for the product being carried, including its duration and the product affected. It is raised the moment the deviation is detected, and it is completed by the driver with quality.
What counts as an excursion, rather than normal fluctuation?
An excursion is any reading outside the range required for that product, however brief. The tolerance band itself — how far outside, and for how long, before it counts — is a policy decision made once for a product category and applied consistently, not a judgement call made per shipment.
What triggers this record instead of a Temperature Log entry?
A Temperature Log entry runs continuously through a journey and shows the product stayed in range. This record only exists because the product went outside that range — it starts at the deviation, not at loading, and it ends in a disposition decision the Temperature Log never makes.
Scope
When is a cold chain excursion record required?
This record is one step in a larger programme. Using it for work that belongs to a neighbouring template produces records that are hard to report on later.
Use this template when
- A temperature reading has been found outside the agreed range for the product being carried, however brief
- The record needs its own case ID so it can be traced from detection through cause, disposition and any resulting hold
- This shipment sits inside the Cold Chain and Transport programme, and the excursion needs to link back to the Temperature Log and forward to a Hold if one is raised
- Quality needs a defensible chain from the deviation itself to the disposition decision, with the person who approved release named
- A pattern is starting to show — the same vehicle, the same route, the same cause — and the record needs to carry that history forward rather than bury it in a one-off note
Do not use it for
- Temperature Log, which records product temperature through a journey, from loading to delivery.
- Trailer Sanitation Record, which records cleaning and inspection of a trailer before food loading.
- Refrigeration Unit Service Record, which records maintenance on the reefer unit itself, not the temperature event it might have caused.
- Journey Risk Assessment, which assesses a planned journey before it runs, not a deviation that has already happened.
- Anything outside KnowFleet, which belongs in the workspace that owns that process.
Compliance mapping
Which FSMA requirements does this satisfy?
The record is built against a food safety transport rule and a hazard-control method, not a single checklist — each maps to a different part of the form.
| Clause | Requirement | Where it lands |
|---|---|---|
| HACCP Principle 7 — Record-keeping | Records must identify the event and link it to the asset, driver and site involved, so it can be traced later. | Header |
| FSMA Sanitary Transportation Rule, 21 CFR Part 1 Subpart O | Temperature must be controlled and documented throughout carriage so the food does not become unsafe in transit. | The excursion |
| HACCP Principle 4 — Monitoring | A deviation from the critical limit must be captured with its start, end, duration and peak, not just confirmed as having occurred. | The excursion |
| HACCP Principle 1 — Hazard analysis | The underlying cause must be classified against known hazard categories, not left as narrative alone. | Cause |
| HACCP Principle 5 — Corrective action | The action taken at the time the deviation was found must be recorded, distinct from the disposition decided later. | Cause |
| HACCP Principle 6 — Verification | The disposition decision must be verified against shelf-life impact and any required microbiological test before product is released. | Product decision |
| HACCP Principle 2 — Critical control points | A recurring cause or a repeat vehicle triggers review of the control point itself, not just closure of the individual event. | Prevention |
What it does not cover
- A record raised only when the reefer alarm fires, which misses excursions found on a manual spot-check where the alarm never activated.
- Maximum Temperature Reached completed on its own, which leaves the disposition decision resting on a single reading instead of the excursion's duration and cumulative time above range.
- Cause Category set without operational detail, which hides whether the fault was mechanical, procedural or a one-off, and points the corrective action at the wrong thing.
- Disposition entered before the quality assessment concludes, which makes the release decision unverified at the moment it's made.
- Recurring Cause or Vehicle Involved Previously answered No by default, which lets a pattern build across several excursions before anyone treats it as one.
Global
Cold Chain Excursion Record requirements by country
Cold chain trucking rarely stays inside one regime for long, and the instrument that actually governs the excursion depends on where the load is and where it's going.
FSMA Sanitary Transportation Rule, 21 CFR Part 1 Subpart O
Shippers and carriers must specify and maintain the temperature controls a shipment needs, and keep records that demonstrate it.
This record is the evidence trail an FDA inspector would ask for after a complaint or a routine audit — it needs to stand on its own, not depend on someone remembering the trip.
Regulation (EC) No 37/2005
Vehicles carrying quick-frozen foodstuffs must carry continuous temperature-recording equipment, with the data retained for inspection.
The excursion record has to reconcile against the vehicle's own datalogger trace, not replace it — a disposition that contradicts the logger is the first thing an auditor will flag.
ATP Agreement (UNECE, carriage of perishable foodstuffs)
Sets minimum equipment and temperature-maintenance standards, with certification of the vehicle's insulated or refrigerated body.
An excursion on an international leg may need to be reconciled against the vehicle's ATP certification, since a pattern of failures can put that certification itself in question.
How to complete it
How to complete a cold chain excursion record, step by step
None of these are fields to fill in. They are the judgement calls that decide whether the disposition this record reaches would survive being questioned later.
Whether the disposition was actually driven by the full profile — duration above range, cumulative time, number of separate excursions — rather than by the single highest reading logged. A brief two-degree spike and four hours at ten degrees are not the same event, even if the peak recorded looks similar.
Whether Cause Category records the underlying failure — a unit fault, a setpoint error, a loading practice — rather than a restatement of the symptom. "Temperature high" is not a cause; it's the reason the record exists in the first place.
Whether the hold was applied before the quality assessment concluded, not after. A hold applied only once testing has already confirmed a problem has protected nothing in between.
Whether Recurring Cause and Vehicle Involved Previously reflect an actual look-back at that vehicle's and route's prior excursion records, rather than a default No ticked out of habit because nobody thought to check.
What auditors find
Most common cold chain excursion record findings
These are the patterns that show up when this record is run for a while without anyone auditing how it's actually being completed.
| Finding | Clause | What fixes it |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum Temperature Reached is completed but Minimum, Duration Minutes and Cumulative Time Above Range are left blank. | HACCP Principle 4 — Monitoring | Require the full excursion profile before the record can move to Complete; a peak reading alone cannot support a disposition decision. |
| Cause Category is set to a category but Cause Detail repeats the option text instead of describing what actually happened. | HACCP Principle 1 — Hazard analysis | Give Cause Detail a minimum length and prompt for the mechanism — what failed and why — rather than accepting a restated label. |
| Disposition is set to Release before Quality Assessment Completed is marked Yes. | HACCP Principle 6 — Verification | Sequence the fields so Disposition cannot be entered until the quality assessment, and any required microbiological test result, are recorded. |
| Hold Applied is marked Not required on records where product sat above range for over an hour. | FSMA Sanitary Transportation Rule, 21 CFR Part 1 Subpart O | Set a duration threshold below which Not required is not a valid answer, and route anything above it to quality automatically. |
| Investigation Required is answered No on records that also show a recurring cause or a repeat vehicle. | HACCP Principle 2 — Critical control points | Force Investigation Required to Yes whenever Recurring Cause or Vehicle Involved Previously is Yes, regardless of what the assessor first enters. |
| Temperature Data Attached is left empty on records where a datalogger or telematics trace exists. | HACCP Principle 7 — Record-keeping | Make the file upload mandatory whenever Remote Monitoring Alerted Base is answered Yes, or Not fitted is not the selected answer. |
Case in point
Case in point: the two-degree rise nobody closed out
A reefer alarm never activated because the drift was slow — a partial door seal losing ground over an hour rather than a sudden failure. The driver noticed the readout at a fuel stop, forty minutes after the product had already crossed the line, and logged it then. By the time the load reached the delivery point, there had been two separate excursions totalling fifty-five minutes above range, and the maximum reading was only two degrees over.
Because the peak looked minor, the record was closed as Release with Quality Assessment Completed marked Yes and no shelf-life note attached. Number Of Separate Excursions was left blank. The same vehicle had carried a near-identical excursion the previous month, also closed as Release, also with a slow door seal never traced to a work order — the pattern was there in two records nobody had read side by side.
The template
The template, field by field
The form exactly as it installs. Every field, option, score and conditional rule is editable, and the links to other templates come with it.
5 sections
- Reference
- FLT-027
- Archetype
- Record
- Record ID
- CASE-2026-000
- Scoring
- Severity band
- Direction
- High is bad
- Singleton
- No
- Basis
- FSMA, HACCP
- Links
- Links Temperature Log; feeds Hold
- Tags
- Fleet, Cold chain, Food
- Sections
- 5
- Fields
- 70
- Follow up fields
- 5
- Repeating sections
- 0
- Links out
- 7
Header
24 fieldsRecord ID*
Auto sequence. Format CCE-2026-000.
The record's own ID. Other templates point at this value.
Status*
Drives who this goes to next.
- Planned2 pts
- In progress2 pts
- Complete3 pts
- Deferred0 pts
- Open0 pts
- Closed3 pts
- Overdue0 pts
Date and Time*
Completed By*
Site*
Site ID*
Format SITE-000.
Links to FDN-001 Site ID
Exact Location
Drop a pin. Roadside events rarely have a useful address.
Vehicle*
Asset ID*
Format AST-0000.
Links to FDN-002 Asset ID
Unit Number
The number painted on the door, which is what drivers actually use.
Driver*
Person ID*
Links to FDN-003 Person ID
Licence Class
Case ID
Copy from the record that triggered this work.
Thread key. Every record in this chain carries this value
Parent Type
What kind of record this follows.
Parent ID
The reference of that record.
Immediate predecessor record
Raised Date*
Time And Temperature Together
A brief rise to two degrees above range is not the same as four hours at ten. Capture the whole excursion profile, because the disposition decision depends on the area under the curve.
Trip Or Route Reference
Origin
Destination
Odometer Reading
Load Carried
Chilled, frozen, ambient, mixed temperature, dangerous goods or empty.
Customer Or Site
The excursion
12 fieldsProduct Affected*
- No3 pts
- Yes0 pts
Batch Or Lot
Links to External system reference
Quantity Affected*
Required Range*
Maximum Temperature Reached*
Minimum Temperature Reached
Excursion Start*
Excursion End*
Duration Minutes*
Cumulative Time Above Range
Number Of Separate Excursions
Temperature Data Attached
Cause
8 fieldsCause Category*
Unit failure, fuel exhaustion, door opening, loading practice, setpoint error, blocked airflow, delay, or product loaded warm.
Cause Detail*
Unit Alarm Activated*
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Driver Aware At The Time*
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Action Taken At The Time
Remote Monitoring Alerted Base
Remote alerts turn a discovered excursion into a preventable one.
- Yes3 pts
- Not fitted1 pt
- No0 pts
Time To Response
Recovery Achieved In Transit*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Product decision
12 fieldsHold Applied*
- Yes3 pts
- Not required3 pts
- No0 pts
Hold ID
Links to QUA-003 Hold ID
Quality Assessment Completed*
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Shelf Life Impact Assessed*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Microbiological Testing Required*
- No3 pts
- Yes1 pt
Test Result
- Pass3 pts
- Pass with note2 pts
- Fail0 pts
Disposition*
- Release3 pts
- Release under concession1 pt
- Rework1 pt
- Downgrade1 pt
- Concession1 pt
- Return to supplier1 pt
- Scrap0 pts
- Destroy0 pts
Disposition Approved By*
Concession ID
Links to QUA-006 Concession ID
Value Of Product Affected
Customer Notified*
- Yes3 pts
- Not required3 pts
- No0 pts
Customer Decision
- Approved3 pts
- Interim approval2 pts
- Rejected0 pts
- Awaiting1 pt
Prevention
14 fieldsRecurring Cause*
- No3 pts
- Yes0 pts
Vehicle Involved Previously*
- No3 pts
- Yes0 pts
Reefer Check Process Reviewed*
- Yes3 pts
- Not needed3 pts
- No0 pts
Investigation Required*
Set by potential outcome, not by what actually happened.
- No3 pts
- Yes0 pts
Investigation Level
RCA ID
Format RCA-2026-00000.
Links to FDN-013 RCA ID
Action Required*
Raise the action record, then enter its reference here.
- No2 pts
- Yes0 pts
Priority
- High0 pts
- Medium1 pt
- Low3 pts
CAPA ID
Format CAPA-2026-00000.
Links to FDN-014 CAPA ID
Action Owner
Quality*
Signature*
Fleet Manager*
Second Signature*
FLT-027 · record IDs look like CASE-2026-000 · Links Temperature Log; feeds Hold
Open in KnowellaRun it with agents
From a document you fill in to a programme that runs itself
The form is the easy part. Keeping it current, routing it to the right owner and holding the evidence together is the work that actually slips.
Holds the cold chain excursion record against your vehicle and driver registers, routes it to the driver and quality in sequence, and keeps the excursion linked to the Temperature Log it interrupted.
Carries the disposition decision through hold, concession and customer notification, and keeps the microbiological test result attached to the record it belongs to rather than sitting in a separate thread.
Tracks the reefer unit's service history against the cause of each excursion, so a recurring unit fault shows up as a maintenance pattern, not just a repeated form entry.
Coordinates the crew, rolls completion and exceptions into one view, and holds every write for your approval before it touches a record.
This template lives in KnowFleet — fleet and transport. Drivers, vehicles, hours, cargo securement and operator licence compliance.
Meet KnowFleet→Glossary
Cold Chain Excursion Record definitions and key terms
- Cold chain
- The unbroken sequence of temperature-controlled handling and storage a product must stay within from production to delivery, so that any single break in it becomes a traceable event.
- Temperature excursion
- A period during which a product's temperature falls outside the range required for its safety or quality, regardless of how it was discovered or how long it lasted.
- Disposition
- The decision made about affected product once an excursion has been assessed — release, rework, downgrade, concession, return, or destruction.
- Concession
- A documented decision to accept product outside its specification, made by someone with the authority to accept that risk, rather than an informal judgement call.
- Critical control point (CCP)
- A step in a process where control can be applied to prevent, eliminate or reduce a food safety hazard to an acceptable level — the point HACCP monitoring exists to protect.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about cold chain excursion record
Does every temperature reading outside the setpoint need its own record?+
No — only deviations outside the defined acceptable range for that product. Brief in-range fluctuation around a setpoint is normal; the tolerance band that defines an excursion is a policy decision made once per product category, not a judgement call made per shipment.
Who can approve the disposition?+
Quality completes the assessment, but Disposition Approved By is a named role separate from whoever raised the hold, and a second signature from the Fleet Manager is required before the record can close.
What if the reefer had no alarm and the driver only found the excursion by chance?+
The record is still required, in full. Unit Alarm Activated marked No alongside Remote Monitoring Alerted Base marked No is not a reason to skip the record — it's itself a finding worth investigating.
Is a CAPA always raised from this record?+
Only when Action Required is Yes. Investigation Required is set by the potential severity of the excursion, not by what actually happened to the product, so a minor excursion with high potential consequence can still trigger investigation.
How is this different from the Temperature Log?+
The Temperature Log is the continuous record through the whole journey, showing the product stayed in range. This record exists only for the deviation itself, and carries the cause and disposition the log never captures.
Can the record close without a customer decision?+
Not defensibly. If Customer Notified is Yes, Customer Decision needs to resolve — Approved, Rejected or otherwise — before Status can move to Complete or Closed.
Keep going
Related templates and programmes
Industries this is written for
Programmes this belongs to
Used together in Cold Chain and Transport
Transport Provider Assessment
Assesses a haulier for licensing, driver management, vehicle standards, temperature capability and load security
Load Securement Check
Confirms the load is secured correctly for its type, weight and journey
Weight and Axle Check
Records gross weight and axle loading against legal limits
Dangerous Goods Shipment Record
Records the shipping documents, placarding and segregation for a dangerous goods load
Temperature Log
Records product temperature through a journey, from loading to delivery
Trailer Sanitation Record
Records cleaning and inspection of a trailer before food loading
Written and reviewed by
Siddarth Singh
Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Knowella
Certified Safety Professional and industrial and systems engineer with more than a decade inside food supply chain, freight and manufacturing operations. This page was written against the current text of the standards it cites, not against secondary summaries of them.
- Certified Safety Professional (CSP), Board of Certified Safety Professionals
- MBA, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
- MS and BS, The Ohio State University, Industrial and Systems Engineering
- Six Sigma Black Belt
Sources and last review. Reviewed 16 August 2026 against:
- FSMA Sanitary Transportation Rule — 21 CFR Part 1, Subpart O
- HACCP Seven Principles — Codex Alimentarius / NACMCF
- Regulation (EC) No 37/2005 — monitoring of temperatures in transport of quick-frozen foodstuffs
- ATP Agreement (UNECE) — international carriage of perishable foodstuffs
This page is general guidance, not legal advice. Confirm requirements with your jurisdiction’s regulator.