Frozen and Refrigerated Foods for Shipping

Hi All:

We produce bakery goods ie. cookies, donuts, waffles, bread etc

The finished product that gets frozen before shipping are breads, waffles, pizza crusts. My query is when shipping these is there a set time limit that frozen product such as this can be left out at room temperature for prior to loading on the truck.

Currently we work with ensuring frozen is the last product taken out of the freezer to be loaded or when being recieved it is the first taken off and instantly put into the freezer. However I wanted to be more specific and give actual times but was struggling to find this through the CFIA or online.

So for refrigerator (eggs) and frozen palletised product how long can they be left at room temperature at before causing issues.

Thanks

I think the FDA used ot say -

from 140-70 F 2 hours max, 140-41 4 hours total (so two of those hours could be in temp above 70)

I want to say they have updated their "danger zone" temperatures, but I'm not sure

AIB 3rd party Food Safety audits generally state 15 minutes. That being said, I don't know very many places that can count, tag, and load in that amount of time.

Our orders take about 2 hours to build (frozen products of various types). We start with items that are least likely to thaw out and go to the more delicate items that. We take the temperature (between the cases) of the first products pulled from the freezer prior to loading onto the trailer. This proves that the products are below the crucial 41 degrees F as stated by FDA.

Someday I will encourage the owners to invest in a controlled temperature area to build these pallets...That conversation might go like: :whoosh:

AIB 3rd party Food Safety audits generally state 15 minutes. That being said, I don't know very many places that can count, tag, and load in that amount of time.

 

Our orders take about 2 hours to build (frozen products of various types). We start with items that are least likely to thaw out and go to the more delicate items that. We take the temperature (between the cases) of the first products pulled from the freezer prior to loading onto the trailer. This proves that the products are below the crucial 41 degrees F as stated by FDA.

 

Someday I will encourage the owners to invest in a controlled temperature area to build these pallets...That conversation might go like: :whoosh:

Sounds like so many owners and upper management. 

We also try and move our frozen cookie and bread dough straight to the truck from the freezer. The area in between them is temperature controlled at around 14°F/-10°C but is not often used for staging. Before it enters the freezer and is being palletized it can't stay out for more than 30 min or warm more than 40°F/4.4°C. If it does stay out then it gets remixed immediatly or scraped. We currently do not have a policy for how long it can sit on the dock but I will make one to avoid clutter.  

Dear HACCPCOR,

As per previous US posts, the requirements usually/ultimately depend on yr local legislatory product  temperature limits.

Are yr limits same as USA and does yr product comply using current loading times ?

Or perhaps it is the local limits which you are trying to determine ? :smile:

Rgds / Charles.C