Federal regulations require the use of food-grade trailers when transporting food products. But what actually makes a trailer “food grade”?
Let’s explore what makes a trailer food grade and why you should care about this concept.
Why Food Companies Need Food Grade Trailers
Most people simply eat their food without a second thought about whether it’s safe or not. While it’s easy to take food safety for granted, a lot of work goes into ensuring that the food we eat remains safe throughout its entire journey from the fields, to the trucks, to the grocery store, to your refrigerator at home.
Many things can go wrong during this process — leaving you with food that’s unsafe to consume. When you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. For instance, consider the food safety recalls that we constantly hear about. You can avoid a lot of these recalls with more attention to food safety measures.
Specifically, food-grade trailers are used to avoid things like cross-contamination. Cross-contamination can occur when a trailer carrying raw meat then contaminates the next load of fresh produce. Cross contamination can also occur when a trailer carrying a product with allergens like peanuts then contaminates the next load of products that are supposed to be allergen-free.
These are just a couple of examples of why food companies need food-grade trailers. So let’s continue to explore what this means in practice.
Who Needs Food Grade Trailers
According to the FDA, the Rule on Sanitary Transportation of Human and Animal Food needs to be followed by shippers, receivers, loaders, and carriers who transport food in the United States by motor or rail vehicle.
Shippers also follow the rule in other countries who ship food to the United States directly by motor or rail vehicle (from Canada or Mexico) or by ship or air and arrange for the transfer of the intact container onto a motor or rail vehicle for transportation within the United States, if that food will be consumed or distributed in the United States.
However, the rule does not need to be followed by exporters shipping food through the United States by motor or rail vehicle if the food does not enter into distribution in the United States.
Do You Need A Certificate Of Approval?
The FDA has outlined several different requirements as a part of its Rule on Sanitary Transportation of Human and Animal Food. These requirements cover different areas, including vehicles and transportation equipment, transportation operations, training, and records.
Let’s dive deeper into each of these different areas so that you can understand and meet these standards:
- Vehicles and transportation equipment: The design and materials of the vehicles and transportation equipment must be easily cleaned and able to maintain the temperatures necessary for the safe transport of food items.
- Transportation operations: The measures taken during transit must ensure that the food is handled safely. For instance, there must be adequate temperature controls and protection from contamination by raw food, cross-contact, and non-food items in the same or previous load.
- Training: The training of carrier personnel must cover things like sanitary transportation practices since they are responsible for maintaining sanitary conditions during transport.
- Records: The maintenance of records regarding written procedures, agreements, and training is required for periods exceeding 12 months.
What About Trailers Carrying Raw Materials?
Food grade trailers are particularly important when it comes to carrying raw materials. This is because raw materials may not have the same level of packaging compared to finished products.
As a result, they are more at risk of contamination from leftover particles and residue from previous shipments. And while washing things like produce and other raw materials for safety purposes is always recommended, in practice, consumers don’t always follow these recommendations.
What About Trailers Transporting Finished Products?
Food-grade trailers are still important when it comes to transporting finished goods. This is because finished products don’t go through the same safety procedures as raw materials once they reach their final destination.
For example, you aren’t able to wash or cook finished products to eliminate contaminants before consumption. Instead, you simply eat them right out of the package without a second thought about food safety.
How Foods Are Protected From Contamination
While food safety may sound complicated, there are some surefire ways that you can protect food from contaminationbefore, during, and after transport. Specifically, you can use direct sampling and rinse sampling.
When using direct sampling, you swipe or swab small, nonporous surfaces to check for bacteria, viruses, fungi, and biological toxins. You can check for these things using the Replicate Organism Detection and Counting (RODAC) method that allows you to determine the extent of contamination and the effectiveness of any decontamination measures.
When using rinse sampling, you take a fixed volume of the sampling liquid and pass it through a spray device to cover any internal trailer and equipment surfaces. From there, the rinse solution is then collected in a vessel as it drains.
There are pros and cons to both direct sampling and rinse sampling. For starters, rinse sampling allows you to sample a larger surface area than direct sampling. Additionally, rinse sampling allows you to sample inaccessible or hard to disassemble systems.
However, some types of residue or contaminants may not be soluble or physically occluded in the equipment, making rinse sampling unreliable.
The best way to ensure that the trailer is free of contamination and meets FDA food-grade guidelines is to perform direct sampling. Direct sampling provides you information regarding the level of contamination on the hardest to clean surfaces that allow you to establish a general level of contamination per given surface area.
Food Grade Trailer Transportation
When transporting food products in a food-grade trailer, you need to consider things like ELD management, point logs, 24-hour tracking, and on-site/overnight crews.
Let’s dive deeper into each of these different areas of consideration so that you can safely and effectively transport your food items every time:
ELD Management
The first thing you need to transport goods in a food grade trailer effectively is an ELD management system. An ELD is an electronic logging device required for most commercial trucks to keep the records that drivers and fleet operators are required by law to maintain.
Specifically, an ELD records driving activity and automatically updates driver logs so that dispatchers can easily track available hours and manage violation risks.
An ELD can capture the vehicle identification, motor carrier identification, date, time, geographic location, miles traveled, engine power up and shutdown, yard moves, and engine diagnostics when it comes to the vehicle.
An ELD can also capture the driver’s user identification, hours of service (HOS), duty status changes, personal use, and driver's daily record certification.
Point Logs
Now that we’ve mentioned the ever-important concept of HOS, the second thing you need to transport goods in a food-grade trailer effectively is a point log. This log ensures that drivers are meeting federal regulations.
Specifically, commercial truck operators are required by law to take off at least ten consecutive hours between shifts. Truck drivers cannot be on duty for more than 14 consecutive hours and then can spend no more than 11 of those hours driving.
24-Hour Tracking
The third thing you need to transport goods in a food grade trailer effectively is 24-hour tracking capabilities. This not only benefits your shipments but also benefits your drivers and overall operations.
This type of tracking capability is easy and accessible thanks to GPS devices.
On-Site/Overnight Crews
An on-site/overnight crew is the fourth and final thing you need to transport goods in a food-grade trailer effectively is an on-site/overnight crew.
An on-site crew ensures that your trailer is properly tested and decontaminated for food safety purposes. An overnight crew also ensures that your goods arrive at their destination promptly.
Conclusion
As you can see, there’s more to food transportation than meets the eye — which is why food grade trailers are so important. It’s up to you to ensure that you’re meeting FDA standards.
However, if you want to outsource these concerns to an experienced logistics company, you need to check out RPM. RPM offers freight services for everything from food products, beverage products, packaged goods, and agriculture. So reach out to us today for more information and a quote!
Sources:
FSMA Final Rule on Sanitary Transportation of Human and Animal Food | FDA
How to Deal With FDA's Food Hauling Rules | TruckingInfo.com
Keeping Food Product Transports Safe on Truck or Rail | Quality Assurance Mag
