The carbon footprint calculation of our country’s food in the cold chain process is a prerequisite for its entry to the international market in the future. In this study

the life cycle assessment method was used to calculate the carbon footprint of various parts in the cold chain of certain fruit and vegetable. Based on the energy balance equation

the refrigerated transportation mode and carbon footprint under different duration of transportation were studied. The results showed that the carbon footprint of a 1-kg vegetable in the cold chain is0.098 kg; the transportation part accounts for 82% of the total emissions

while the precooling

storage (sales)

and consumption (disposal) parts account for 7%

6%

and 5%

respectively. When the duration of transportation is within 5 h

the precooled vegetables can be transported with heat preservation

and the carbon footprint is zero. When the duration of cold storage transportation is 60 h and the latent heat L of phase-change materialis270 kJ/kg

70kg of cold storage agent is needed per cubic meter. The 10-t refrigerated truck with a transportation duration less than 98h has a smaller carbon footprint for cold storage transportation than that for the mechanical refrigeration transportation. Therefore

to reduce the carbon footprint in the cold chain process

different refrigerated transportation methods should be selected according to the duration of transportation. Refrigerated trucks with a small shape coefficient H

cold storage agents with a large phase-change latent heat

and refrigeration units with a high COP should be the prior considerations while the thickness of the insulation layer of refrigerated trucks should be appropriately increased.