Transportation of anything is carried on with proper care as there are lots of stop points and pick up points involved in the transportation of a single delivery but there are some particular items which require extra care during transportation and food is one such thing.
Transportation of food is completely different from the transportation of any other material and that’s why food grade trucking companies need to take extra care. There are various protocols which these companies need to follow in order to ensure food is safely transported from one point to another. Along with the protocols, there are also many special precautions which these companies need to take care of in their business.
It doesn’t matter which type of food is being transported from one point to another, whether it is meat, fruit or vegetable, safety remains the prime concern of food-grade trucking companies. Even the slightest of carelessness can lead to degradation in the quality of food and if such a situation arises, all the efforts of transporting the food product from one point to another will mean nothing.
So, in this blog post, we will be looking at some of the major points of concerns for food-grade trucking companies and understand how they ensure safe and sound delivery of food products while maintaining its original quality.
Distance
During the transportation process, the food has to go through multiple locations and that’s why the distance which the food needs to cover matters a lot. In order to ensure the safety of the food, it needs to go through multiple steps over a very long distance which may involve different modes of travel from the point the start of its journey till its consumption. It is not necessary that every food transport will involve long-distance travel as in many cases the food is transported through short distance by plane or truck but when the delivery of the food requires cross-country travel then the extra concern becomes paramount.
In most of the cross-country travel, the food can stay in containers of the train for more than a week and in some cases, for months. That’s why before releasing the food for transportation, precautions are taken by food transporting companies depending upon the distance which it needs to travel.
Temperature
The food-grade trucking companies might not be able to control the distance which a food package needs to travel but it can surely control the temperature of the container (of truck or train) in which the food is being transported. Temperature control plays a very important role in ensuring the safety of the food, especially when it is being transported over a very long distance. There are many food products which can be easily transported over long distances without any temperature control but that is not the case with all the food deliveries.
In most of the cases, the food is frozen or at least refrigerated in order to make sure that it can survive even in harsh conditions like deserts. Refrigeration stops the growth of various microorganisms which can harm your food like E.coli and salmonella. So if you are going to choose a food transportation company then you should always check whether they have temperature-controlled transportation or not.
Cross-contamination
Temperature and distance are not the only concern for food-grade trucking companies as cross-contamination are also one of their biggest enemies. Imagine a situation where raw meat is being transported along with fresh supermarket products in the same container. Things can turn out to be very ugly if such transportation suffers cross-contamination. But if you are thinking that cross-contamination can only occur in the case of two food items then you are completely wrong as a single food product can also cross-contaminate due to some chemical or any other danger product which is being transported along with the food.
So, along with controlling the temperature and taking the aspect of distance in mind, food transportation companies also have to keep cross-contamination in mind as it can spoil the food and become a major reason for the growth of microorganisms in the food.
Training
In addition to all these factors, training plays one of the most important factors in food transportation as it affects all the points mentioned in this blog post. All the people who are involved in the food transportation should be very much familiar with the type of food they are transporting and along with this, they also need a basic understanding of FDA, USDA, and DOT regulations and without obliging to these regulations, transportation of any type of food products is not possible.
There are various acts which are involved in these regulations which the person transporting the food should be aware about. For example, the Hazardous Materials Transportation Uniform Safety Act prevents anyone from transporting any type of poisonous material along with food products.
So, these are the four main factors which most of the food grade trucking companies keep in mind in order to ensure the safety of the food product they are transporting. If a food transportation company misses any of these points then it can turn to be a big disaster as without considering distance, temperature control, training and cross-contamination, the safe delivery of food products is almost near to impossible.