Posts Tagged “cold chain”
By Cargo DataThe Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Final Rule for Sanitary Transportation for Human and Animal Food was released in late March 2016.
Industry leaders have been working with regulators to understand how enforcement will be approached. The following points will most likely characterize regulatory enforcement:
1) Enforcement for of the Sanitary Transportation requirements will begin 12 months from release of the Final Rule for large firms. This means enforcement will begin March 2017 for many large perishables handlers. Enforcement for smaller firms will begin March 2018.
2) Inspectors will not generally be interested in reviewing reams (or gigabytes!) of data related to in-transit temperatures, product accept/reject reports, or other detailed information. Instead:
3) Compliance will likely be considered satisfactory when subject firms can demonstrate they have developed and implemented systems which satisfy the requirements of FSMA.
For example: Since FSMA mandates that all authorized individuals in the supply chain (shippers, carriers, Receivers) must remove suspected adulterated or abused products from the supply chain, can each participant demonstrate its system supports such action?
Cargo Data recommends Lightning NFC as a vital element of your new FSMA compliance program. The Lightning NFC system is designed specifically to provide each participant in the cold chain with immediate temperature data review and automatically archives the data to the Cloud. Lightning NFC supports FSMA by making it easy to check cold chain integrity and to make informed decisions about product safety.
Lightning NFC temperature recorders can be ordered online.
Contact Cargo Data Corporation today to learn more about FSMA compliance and Lightning NFC at 800-338-8134 or information@cargodatacorp.com .
ATHENS, GA. — Carrier Transicold has expanded its line of Thin Film Flexible Solar Panels designed to help maintain peak performance of transport refrigeration unit (TRU) batteries in a more environmentally sustainable way. The company
is a part of UTC Climate, Controls & Security, a unit of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX).
is a part of UTC Climate, Controls & Security, a unit of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX).Carrier Transicold now offers 18.5 watt (1.2 amp) and 9.24 watt (0.6 amp) solar panels, in addition to its original 28 watt (1.8 amp) panel, accommodating a wider range of user needs and budgets. The solar panels are designed specifically to maintain TRU battery charge and can be easily installed on the roofs of trailers, truck bodies and refrigerated rail cars chilled by Carrier Transicold or other systems.
Solar panels can offset the draw from accessory electrical devices, significantly reducing callout charges related to the battery. Solar panels can also help conserve fuel by minimizing the need to run the TRU engine to charge the battery.
“Our amorphous silicon, or a-Si, solar cell technology provides high performance in real world environments where daylight may be indirect or low,” said Jason Forman, marketing manager, Performance Parts, Carrier Transicold. “Unlike some other solar technologies that require several days of sun soaking to bring the panels up to full functionality, a-Si panels deliver maximum performance without sun soaking. They also begin charging at a higher voltage at a lower angle of light than some other technologies, allowing charging over a longer portion of the day, which is especially helpful in northern regions and in the winter.”
“Fleets located farther south in warmer climates will appreciate that a-Si panels do a better job of retaining their efficiency on hot days, in contrast to some other types of solar panels that can lose considerable efficiency when their temperature increases,” he added.
When exposed to daylight, the solar panels continuously charge TRU batteries, ensuring ample power for system starts and helping to avoid issues and costs associated with a weak or dead battery. Refrigeration system batteries are often tapped to power additional trailer electronics such as telematics devices, fuel-level sensors, interior lighting and other accessories. If the TRU has not been operated for some time and these accessories continue to draw power while the unit is off, its battery might not have enough charge to start the engine.
Carrier Transicold solar panels are lightweight, highly flexible and measure less than one-eighth of an inch thick. Designed to withstand the harsh transportation environment, they are waterproof and puncture-resistant and have a five-year limited warranty on power output.
To learn more about the new Thin Film Flexible Solar Panels, turn to the experts within the Carrier Transicold dealer network or visit www.carrier.com/tru-solar.
About Carrier Transicold
Carrier Transicold helps improve transport and shipping of temperature controlled cargoes with a complete line of equipment and services for refrigerated transport and cold chain visibility. For more than 45 years, Carrier Transicold has been an industry leader, providing customers around the world with advanced, energy-efficient and environmentally sustainable container refrigeration systems and generator sets, direct-drive and diesel truck units, and trailer refrigeration systems. Carrier Transicold is a part of UTC Climate, Controls & Security, a unit of United Technologies Corp., a leading provider to the aerospace and building systems industries worldwide. For more information, visit www.transicold.carrier.com. Follow Carrier on Twitter: @SmartColdChain.
Cross docking has become more popular, especially in the past 10 to 15 years, as shippers deal with shortages of drivers and equipment, and with the rising popularity of loads mixed with several different fresh produce commodities, possibly from several different growers or other entities. This increases the chances of quality problems from the heat or cold at open docks, depending upon the time of the year.
It is common for temperature recording devices to keep a record of how long that trailer door is open. It also will record the spike in temperature in the trailer due to warm weather, or the drop of temperature in colder environments.
“If you are a driver, there’s a full recording of how long that door is open and that can come back to haunt the driver at destination,” states Rich Macleod of TransFresh Corp. of Salinas, CA, whose career has been dedicated to improving in-transist issues associated with fresh produce, and how to improve upon delivering a fresh, quality product.
“If you are at an open loading dock, you need to turn your reefer unit off when the product is being loaded,” Macleod cautions.
Otherwise, a running refrigeration unit will be sucking warm air across the trailer floor and into the reefer unit. This puts exceptional demand on that reefer unit, he notes. If there is warm air coming across the unit’s coils, that results in a lot more condensation — and freezing.
“So the first thing that happens when you close the trailer doors is that unit goes into defrost So then you just further aggravate what ever break you have in the cold chain. So back up to the dock, shut off the reefer, load, and then close the trailer door and re-start the reefer unit. You will have colder loads,” Macleod relates.
One situation Macleod is noticing is when a partial load of strawberries is loaded at Watsonsville, CA and the driver proceeds to the Central San Joaquin Valley to fill out the trailer with stone fruit.
“The trucker backs up to the dock and sometimes that driver will leave the reefer unit running. then they (shipper) re-balance the load, perhaps placing the heavier commodities in the front of the trailer.. They pull the strawberries (off the truck), place them on the loading dock to move in the other product. Typically, those strawberries will start picking up temperature within 15 to 30 minutes,” Macleod says.
Of course, factors such as whether those strawberries on the dock are sitting in the shade, or sun, whether the wind is blowing, temperature, etc.
This has resulted in strawberry shippers insisting the strawberries being picked up and loaded last onto the trailer.
(This is the third in a five-part series featuring an interview with Rich Macleod, vice president, pallet division North America for TransFresh Corp., Salinas, CA. He has been with the company since 1976, and has a masters degree in post harvest science from the University of California, Davis.)
Since opening three years ago, the Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market has been touting itself as the world’s largest, fully-refrigerated wholesale produce marketplace.
With 700,000 square feet of space, this modern facility has indoor, consistently chilled facilities keeping customers and produce safe from the elements, while maximizing shelf life and ensuring freshness and crispness. It is a quarter-mile-long, multi-story, skylit, fully refrigerated fruit and vegetable warehouse.
The main benefits of being in the new produce market is not having to break the cold chain, which is very important in maintaining the quality for fresh produce. The Philly market also is ahead of the curve as far as keeping up with new standards and government sanctioned food safety regulations.
This prevents product that is being staged for orders from sitting in the 100 degree heat during the summertime in Philadelphia. This past winter was a true test of the market’s value to the merchants and to their customers. Business was conducted in a clean, safe temperature controlled environment, while some other wholesale terminal markets dealt with freezing temps and blowing snow.
The lay out of the market also makes it easier for refrigerated big rigs to maneuver, with less delays. The market now employs 1,500, up from 1,100 at the former Philadelphia Regional Produce Terminal on Galloway Street in South Philly. It is now located on Essington Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia.
On the other hand, just 25 produce firms now operate in the new center, down from 40 at the old terminal, though surviving firms have expanded to fill the available space.
Although the eight-day strike at ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach has ended, picking up and delivering loads to the terminals is still a mess and it could be for weeks.
It is not like the flexibility in trucking where a load can be diverted elsewhere due to a labor strike, weather factors or any number of other reasons.
Container terminals reopened Dec. 5 at both California ports as clerical workers in International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 63 reached a tentative contract with operators and shipping lines, as the union sought limits on outsourcing. In L.A. about 700 striking harbor clerks were backed by thousands of longshoremen who honored their picket line.
About $8 billion was lost in the strike to the local economy.
While the strike has ended, the congestion has not.
The cold chain was maintained, but there were concerns about arrival conditions and the possibility of an increase in orders that could challenge capacity.
It has been report the impacts of the strike will be far greater than just eight days. In 2002 there was a 10-day strike. It took months the boats could get back in the right rotation. This could adversely affect, for example, imported fruit from Chile arriving at Long Beach.
PLEASANTON, Calif. – DeltaTRAK®, a leading innovator of cold chain, environmental monitoring and food safety management solutions, announced the introduction of its DeltaTRAK TempDot Plus time-temperature indicator labels. The low-cost irreversible labels are designed to provide positive indication that the label has been activated and is in the “ON” condition. If a temperature breach occurs the product provides detailed visual information indicating the excursion length. The new labels feature unique graphics and provide the user with a green “ON” button following the IEC 5009 standard. The highly accurate labels also provide individual label serial numbers for traceability.
“The TempDot labels’ design allows them to remain completely inert prior to use so that preconditioning is not required, allowing them to be shipped or stored under most conditions and significantly reducing cost of ownership,” said Frederick Wu, president and CEO of DeltaTRAK. “Additional benefits over existing chemical labels include the easy-to-read activation and progress windows which confirm when the label is on, and the imprinted serial numbers assure traceability.”
DeltaTRAK TempDot Plus labels monitor the cumulative amount of time the label is exposed to temperature above its threshold. When a temperature excursion occurs the blue dye, which is generally recognized as safe, melts and progresses through a window with clearly indicated time markers. When temperature returns below the label’s threshold the dye solidifies and stops moving. This irreversible process allows the label to measure cumulative temperature abuse time above threshold temperature. TempDot Plus labels provide traceable temperature information on all forms of temperature sensitive products helping our customers meet the requirements of state and federal regulations such as the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI) and the FDA Fish and Fishery Products Hazards and Controls Guidance. The labels are available in multiple temperature ranges with specific thresholds and run out times for food, pharmaceutical and biologics applications.About DeltaTRAK®
DeltaTRAK® is a leading innovator of cold chain management, environmental monitoring and food safety solutions for the food, pharmaceutical, life sciences and chemical industries. The company’s cold chain management and food safety solutions include a wide range of temperature, humidity, and pH monitoring and recording devices, such as data loggers, wireless systems, and a variety of professional thermometers. DeltaTRAK also manufactures facility and mobile environment monitoring solutions that provide real-time data access to centralized web/cloud based data. Headquartered in Pleasanton, California, DeltaTRAK has an R&D facility in San Diego, California, a manufacturing and distribution facility in Modesto, California, and an electronic assembly plant in Shenzhen, China. Contact DeltaTRAK by phone at 1-800-962-6776 or by email at marketing@deltatrak.com. Additional information can be found at www.deltatrak.com.
Source: DeltaTRAK
The food and pharmaceutical industries are rapidly moving towards 
returnable transport items (RTIs) and reusable plastic containers (RPCs) for shipping goods through the supply chain. Why? They’re lighter, more durable and now can be made intelligent. By adding temperature monitoring capabilities directly into the RTIs and RPCs, growers, manufacturers, shippers and retailers can both track and monitor the quality of their products as they move through the cold chain to improve quality and operational efficiency while lowering costs.
Press Release: Intelleflex
(Editor’s Note: This also can provide protection from claims for owner operators and transporters)