Food safety

Food safety is a pressing issue due to increasing concerns for threats to our country's food supply, ranging from e-coli contamination to domestic terrorism. Protecting the nation's food distribution network is essential to homeland security.

To be sure, there will be a continuation of ideas, regulations, and monitoring to insure the integrity of our food in the US and abroad.

For the transportation industry, food safety is paramount, because truckers and shippers carry the responsibility of transporting and delivering much of the food from the field, across the nation, and to local grocers and other retailers.

To get a feel for what the trucking industry is doing to help safeguard food products before they reach the supermarket, Refrigerated Transporter's editor-in-chief David A Kolman spoke with Doug Clark, president of Greatwide Freight Brokerage, a full-service freight brokerage operation with 18 offices throughout the US. It is a division of Dallas, Texas-based Greatwide Logistics Services, one of the nation's leading non-asset-based third-party logistics services company.

Clark currently serves as chairman of the Transportation Intermediaries Association, an organization that represents transportation intermediaries of all disciplines doing business in domestic and international commerce.

Question: Several years ago, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), through its Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), issued Security Guidelines for Food Processors. These were intended to assist businesses engaged in the production and distribution of USDA-regulated foods in identifying ways to strengthen their food security protection.

The FSIS also issued Food Safety and Security Guidelines for the Transportation and Distribution of Meat, Poultry, and Egg Products, designed to assist small facilities and shippers handling these products. These guidelines provide a list of safety and security measures that may be taken to prevent contamination of meat, poultry, and egg products during loading and unloading, transportation, and in-transit storage.

Both of these guidelines are voluntary. Do you have a feel for acceptance by the trucking industry?

Answer: While the guidelines are voluntary, most shippers are acutely aware of maintaining food safety. With the recalls and loss of sales that come with any suggestion of compromise on the shipping end, shippers want to make certain their product is arriving at its destination in the same condition in which it was received by the carrier.

In most every manufacturing location, before any product loading, there is the requirement to “wash out” the trailer, plus checks of the cleanliness of trailers are being conducted.

Seals must remain intact, and it is common for a load to be rejected if the seals are broken. We have seen canned soda, still shrink wrapped, that had to be destroyed - at the carrier's expense - for a broken seal.

With the recent e-coli outbreak in California, food safety has become even more strenuous and a top priority.

Dole was affected last year when it was determined its spinach in its mixed salads was responsible for a few deaths and hundreds of illnesses. The cause was traced back to some runoff from some nearby dairy fields.

Since then, Dole now voluntarily barcodes all of its product from the shipping point. This allows the company to trace bad product immediately and pull it from the shelves.

The Grocery Manufacturing Association, the industry's largest trade group, has asked for more federal oversight of imported food and ingredients. It is lobbying Congress to provide more funds for the FDA toward a model regulation for farms and packing houses around the country.

As more buyers of ingredients, such as Coke and Kraft, begin to instill food safety requirements, growers, shippers, and manufacturers are looking to the US FDA to establish some model regulations so they don't have to comply with individual buyers requirements. They don't want to adhere to 50 standards, but that is what is happening.

Question: The Bioterrorism Act (Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002) is a compilation of rules requiring those who transport, distribute, receive, and hold food to establish and maintain records. These rules are mandatory - correct?

Answer: This rule is mandatory but does not include carriers.

In the original introduction of the Bioterrorism Act of 2002, it included carriers. When the proposed regulation was posted for comments, the Transportation Intermediaries Association was the first to say it would be impossible to adhere to this. Later, other transportation organizations joined in, and the requirement for carriers to register was deleted.

The ones that do have to register are those that sell their products to others.

For example, Sam's Club sells to a lot of small stores. They have to register. If there were some frozen pies that were bad, the FDA, which oversees the Bio Act, would have the contact information of every distributor that had purchased those pies and could get them off the shelves more quickly.

Question: While there are hazards at any point during food transportation and distribution, aren't the most likely hazards at changes between transportation modes, and during loading and unloading?

Answer: The loading of the product at shipping point is probably the most sophisticated it has ever been. From a point-to-point shipment by truck, the chances of the product being compromised is minimal if the seal remains intact.

The vulnerability is with multiple pick-ups and multiple drops. These types of loads are going or picking up from smaller shippers and manufacturers and delivering to smaller receivers who cannot buy particular commodities in truckload.

Question: Can you offer any advice or guidance on how transportation companies can decrease their vulnerability to food safety hazards during these operations?

Answer: On temperature-controlled commodities, there is normally a “loaded temperature” on the bills of lading that the driver signs after verifying that this temperature is accurate.

It is imperative that the driver confirm this temperature and the required transit temperature. The susceptibility of a claim or rejection increases significantly if the arrival temperature is not as stated on the BOL (bill of lading).

Also, ask for a temperature recorder (self-contained devices that provide a permanent record of temperatures).

With any carrying of food product, check for leaks in the trailer. Any damage from outside can guarantee a rejection of the entire load.

Many shippers are not allowing the driver on the dock to verify load count. If this occurs, make certain that the shipper signs the bills “shipper load and count” before the trailer is sealed.

Question: Aren't some food products more prone to contamination than others?

Answer: Fish and dairy products are affected with fluctuations in temperature. Produce comes with the threat of e-coli, anthrax, and salmonella.

Question: Some food products frequently are transported multiple times on their way to the consumer. Doesn't this increase the overall risk of exposure to hazards, especially to forms of contamination due to criminal or terrorist acts? Is there anything that can be done to decrease the risks?

Answer: In our current environment, the driver who is hauling the load is our protector of this product.

Question: Are there things a truck driver can be doing to assure that his load is not compromised?

Answer: Technology continues to bring new products to the industry for consideration. Embedded tracking modules in the trailers are helpful.

As carriers seek to reduce overhead, exclusions in insurance policies increase the responsibility of the driver to be vigilant while the load is in his possession to maintain coverage if the load is stolen or compromised.

Question: Isn't a starting point for improved food safety protection the use of preventive methods, such as good sanitation, proper manufacturing practices, food safety programs, and so forth?

Answer: Large chain buyers, such as McDonald's, Wal-Mart, and Walt Disney, are requiring this from their vendors. The companies we purchase food from will be the ones who set the bar for consumer's food safety.

Question: What is the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system, and how does it impact food transporters, shippers, and receivers?

Answer: HACCP in the US is mainly for the seafood and juice industries, and is further fueled by the growing trend in international trade for worldwide equivalence of food products and the Codex Alimentarius Commission's adoption of HACCP as the international standard for food safety.

(The Codex Alimentarius Commission was created in 1963 by the Food and Agriculture Commission of the United Nations and the World Health Organization to develop food standards, guidelines, and other recommendations relating to foods, food production, and food safety.)

Among other things, HACCP:

• Focuses on identifying and preventing hazards from contaminating food.

• Permits more government oversight, primarily because the record-keeping allows investigators to see how well a firm is complying with food safety laws over a period, rather than how well it is doing on any given day.

• Places responsibility for ensuring food safety appropriately on the food manufacturer or distributor.

• Helps food companies compete more effectively in the world market.

• Reduces barriers to international trade.

Question: After processing, isn't the biggest challenge with refrigerated and frozen products keeping the proper temperatures and keeping the “cold chain” from breaking?

Answer: Years ago, it used to be. The refrigeration units on trailers have become so sophisticated that they can hold and maintain just about any temperature. Most cold storage facilities also maintain proper temperatures for various food products.

However, it is extremely important that the driver check the temperature of the product he is picking up. On the bills of lading, there will be a temperature, and when the driver signs them, he is agreeing with that temperature notated on the bills. This is where problems occur. The shipper's loaded temperature is not always accurate.

Question: Obviously, food products need to be carefully monitored to prevent exposure. How will advances in technology improve such monitoring?

Answer: Technology continues to drive information. Some trailers have sensors throughout the trailer which monitor the inside of the trailer.

Refrigeration units can now be changed by satellite as they move down the road. Whereas years ago we put a “brick size yellow box” in the trailer called a Ryan, which was a battery-powered device that recorded temperature. Temperature recorders are now about the size of an iPhone and are built into the refrigeration unit or are put in the trailer by the shipper and then plugged into a scanner upon arrival.

Question: Looking ahead, what developments do you foresee for assuring load integrity of food products?

Answer: In the future, we will see more regulation of produce. It is the last thing in the stores that consumers still can pick up, touch, smell, and then put back down on the shelf.

We will see more packaged produce, even including individually wrapped potatoes, to maintain integrity and give confidence to the consumer.

The FDA recently approved a system called Sterilox. It is a sanitizer that is added to the sprayers that go off periodically over produce. The solution has proven successful in killing a variety of surface bacteria, including e-coli and salmonella.

It appears that the recent outbreak of salmonella in tomatoes was a result of internal contamination.

Question: How important is training in personal hygiene, vehicle inspection measures, and transportation procedures to ensure the safety of food products?

Answer: Certainly, it is important to maintain the highest quality possible of food and ingredients. Once again, a lot of this will be driven by the buyers of their products.

In one case, a buyer demanded that there be a monitor in the restroom to make sure the workers washed their hands before returning to work.

Whatever industry requirements come into play, it will mean a higher cost to the consumer for those products.

Question: Shouldn't companies have security plans in place to ensure the integrity of the products throughout the supply chain, along with training for those responsible for transportation and delivery?

Answer: The purpose of the Bioterrorism Act is just that. There is not a shipper, grower, or manufacturer that wants contaminated product in the food supply.

Westland/Hallmark of Chino, California, had the largest recall in the nation's history on February 17, 2008, and in the end totaled 143 million pounds of beef.

The Grocery Manufacturers of America said it was unprecedented, and included soups, sauces, burritos, and bouillon cubes. The loss will be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

The mad cow disease precipitated more awareness of beef products in the US. Food safety has become a high priority for manufacturers.

This decimation of a company provides a good example of what can happen if you are not watching and monitoring what is going out the door.

Question: Are there industry requirements or voluntary guidelines for cleaning and sanitizing transportation vehicles?

Answer: Some of our shippers go through the trailers with a black light before loading them, looking for anything that might compromise their product.

In the produce industry, it is standard procedure for trailers to be washed out and not have any kind of unusual odor to it.

One of the laws is you cannot haul food product in a vehicle if you have hauled garbage in it before.

Question: I've heard that a good rule-of-thumb when transporting a load of food is to periodically (at least every four hours) check the integrity of the load, along with monitoring the temperature and function of the refrigeration unit. Is there some type of industry best practice for this?

Answer: It is certainly common to “pulp” the temperature of a produce load while in transit. This is mainly to insure that the unit is getting a good temperature to the back of the trailer.

Sometimes in transit, a chute can fall or become unbuttoned at the front of the unit.

Most drivers do check the temperature occasionally through the rear vent door on the trailer door. However, with the newer trailers and consistency of refrigeration, some doors don't even have these anymore.