Did you know that insulin and seasonal flu vaccines have to be shipped and stored between 35˚F and 46˚F, so they don’t get contaminated or spoil? Refrigerated trucks are important to delivering many goods, from medicine to art and antiques to lipstick or perfume.
Refrigerated transportation is especially important for all different kinds of food. Keep reading, and we will guide you through the best practices for refrigerated food transportation.
Prevent Food from Spoiling
The food shipping industry for refrigerated transport is projected to reach 3.25 billion tons by 2022. This is a necessary industry to get food from one place to another without spoilage.
Many types of foods need refrigeration—that includes meat from beef to lamb, chicken and turkey, eggs, fish, fruits, and vegetables. Reliability is important in the refrigerated transport industry. If a refrigerated compartment stops working and the food spoils, you will lose money on the spoiled food, and the smell may be hard to clean.
Extra caution is needed when delivering perishable foods. Spoiled goods that get delivered to grocery stores and consumed by customers can cause sickness and even death in some cases.
Best Practices for Refrigerated Transportation
When you’re moving food that needs to be at a cold temperature, you want to make sure that you follow food safety rules and regulations.
Temperature consistency is critical to prevent food from spoiling and to maintain the food’s ideal shelf life.
First, having the right vehicle is important. There are many different types of trucks and refrigerator units built to suit particular industries.
Create a pre-trip inspection checklist. One thing this should include is checking the truck and refrigeration system to make sure there is no physical damage or malfunctioning parts.
Pre-cool the compartment to ensure that the food is always at the right temperature. This way your goods won’t warm up while the compartment gets down to the recommended range. Also, air can escape when food is being—some distributors tend to set the temperature below required levels when loading food to make up for this.
The key is to make sure that the temperature is in range, so your food items stay good. Certain goods may need to sit at -10˚F, but you may choose to load them in at -20˚F just to be safe.
Don’t forget to continue monitoring the temperature of your refrigerated compartment throughout the trip.
Transport Refrigerated Food Today
Now that you know the food safety tips, rules, and regulations, you are ready for refrigerated transportation.
Make sure you know what you’re transporting so you can set your unit to the right temperature. This is key from loading to when you take the food off the truck.
Get your refrigerated truck ready to go or contact us today for our refrigerated transport vehicles!