1. Your company needs to develop a food safety plan that
focuses on food safety during transportation processes. Most companies already have a food
safety plan, so the transportation part needs to be added to the original
company plan.
2. Your company management needs to approve the plan and
monitor plan implementation.
3. Procedures for temperature monitoring and the sanitation of trailers must be written, people trained,
and implementation monitored. How this is done depends on what foods are
transported, what food safety hazards might be involved and your customer needs.
4. There needs to be a written agreement between the company
and its customers regarding who is responsible for what (sanitation and temperature monitoring, data collection and documentation)
5. All transportation operations personnel (loaders,
un-loaders, drivers, supervisors, etc.) must go through mandatory training (3
courses are specified by the FDA). Training certificates should be kept
on file. See our training link on the Sanitary Cold Chain home page, $50 per trainee.
6. The company needs to look at two primary planning and
implementation issues:
a. In-transit issues: Acceptance
at load and unload according to written procedures and hazard control
specifications, data related to sanitation and temp monitoring during transit,
trailer pre-cool, security, reefer breakdowns, prior loads driver acceptance and
many other issues must be documented when and where they occur. (see the free CID user manual appendix, our cell phone app allows the
driver to record all events and the date/time/location that they occur).
b. What we call "ground
operations" that include the sanitation and temp control of the load and
unload environments (tools, conveyors, floor jacks, mops, brooms, etc) - Ask for a free copy of our Shipper or Carrier Documentation manual.
Assessment is the first step in our ATAC program
Assessment is designed to help you determine how well your current loading, unloading and in-transit procedures are aligned with basic customer and TransCert standards and federal laws. Take a minute to download our free checklist and call us for help with a GAP analysis. We have auditors in your region that can help determine what training is appropriate will prepare your company for the road ahead. Go to our "Contact" page to request the free "checklist" download.
1. Self Assessment: Ask for our free "Container Checklist" to provide a basic review of your current procedures 2. Auditor assisted GAP Analysis: We will send an auditor to perform a review against your customer and TransCert standards 3. Certification Audit: When you have completed training, ask us to schedule a certification audit.
If these scenes are familiar to you, your company should consider beginning with an Assessment
Birds and rats nesting in harvest bins means that food is contaminated with feces and urine. No known wash system can remove such contaminants from harvested food under such conditions.
The contaminants are eventually transferred to consumer kitchens.
Clean packaged broccoli and spinach sitting in the 90F sun on the HOT pavement (2 hours).
The company that harvested, cooled, washed, chopped, bagged and shipped by air would certainly be disappointed by this freight forwarder. Shelf life is significantly shortened and bacteria is now growing rapidly due to increased temperatures.
