Managing a perishable food supply chain has challenges that require strict operational practices in order to ensure the product is safe and FSMA compliant. According to the CDC, approximately 48 million Americans affected with food borne illnesses each year. Fortunately, it’s possible to prevent most of these illnesses by properly treating and chilling the food to avoid the grown of pathogens. The Food Safety and Inspection Service recommends all shippers, receivers, and transporters of meat, poultry and egg products to ensure the safety and condition of the products through all phases of the cold chain.

Prevent Food Losses

Meat is a perishable product with a short shelf life. To prevent bacterial growth and extend shelf life, the meat must be maintained at approved temperatures. There are specific limitations for highly sensitive meat and seafood products, in which a “degree-minute” calculation is made. If it is determined that the product was over the required temperature for a certain amount of time, the entire shipment would be declared unsafe. Food spoilage in the cold chain can lead to a loss of $100,000 or more per shipment.

How to be a Safety-Conscious Company

Meat and seafood must maintain controlled temperatures throughout shipping to ensure quality and safety. To protect the meat products from farm to fork, it’s essential to have a transportation safety plan, trained personnel, and a documented system in place to identify and track your product’s temperature at any time. Safety-conscious companies utilize real-time temperature recorders for their cold chain. At Cargo Data, we offer Lightning Real Time temperature recorders to provide online access to current temperature, location, and door status while perishable shipments are in-transit. This “set it and forget it” level of automation provides all the documentation required for compliance with the FSMA Final Rule for Sanitary Transportation of human and animal food products. The cold chain should not be interrupted at all times during the meat distribution chain.

Cold Chain Monitoring Made Simple

It’s critical to monitor in-transit temperatures for virtually all perishable food products, if not for food safety issues, but also to ensure quality. If you’d like to know more about our real time temperature monitoring and how it can protect your meat shipment, give us a call. We offer free consultations and can be reached at (800) 338-8134.