Do we need to remove food from brown carton boxes?

Hello.

Would like some comments from experts on receiving of food products and storage of food items in BROWN CARTON BOXES.

Currently, it's a norm practice in our kitchen by receival staff to remove brown carton boxes for frozen storage in the freezer. 

My question is:

1. Is it necessary to remove brown carton boxes for all items e.g. frozen chickens, frozen fish and transferred into a bucket.   

2. Other examples include corn flakes.  Cornflakes has its own carton boxes, is this necessary to be removed in a kitchen storage rack?           

P.S. Compliant to HACCP.

Thanks in advance!                       

Hello.

 

Would like some comments from experts on receiving of food products and storage of food items in BROWN CARTON BOXES.

 

Currently, it's a norm practice in our kitchen by receival staff to remove brown carton boxes for frozen storage in the freezer. 

 

My question is:

1. Is it necessary to remove brown carton boxes for all items e.g. frozen chickens, frozen fish and transferred into a bucket.   

2. Other examples include corn flakes.  Cornflakes has its own carton boxes, is this necessary to be removed in a kitchen storage rack?           

 

P.S. Compliant to HACCP.

Thanks in advance!                       

Hi Sparkle,

I assume the boxed cargo was received frozen ?

So ^^^red my initial query is "Why?".

+ Why store in buckets ?

I suspect the reason this started is not safety/quality.  Probably a preference for speed or inventory. 

Frozen foods are generally more protected from freezer burn in corrugated.

I would leave them in the box for protection unless you suspect the corrugated has been somehow compromised.  In that case review your shipping requirements.

Removal from secondary packaging is not a norm when the raw ingredients are still in storage. The removal of the carton boxes needs to be done prior to issuance of the ingredients to processing areas or to thawing rooms.

Have you asked anyone what is the rationale of this practice? Maybe there's more that you do not know from your processes that the others might be able to explain and then you discuss with them the risk of this practice (e.g. quality issue, more prone to contamination, loss of label/date marked etc.)

So your 2nd example is a little bit more trickier and needs more context. Does this corn flakes comes in a master case or the box is the shipping box? How big is this corn flakes box? do they use this at once or there is left over once used? etc.

Hi Sparkle -

Any more feedback ?

I think paper boxes are not harmful. Warning plastic!

Of course, reusing your boxes is always a wise choice, to save the time and resources required for the round of recycling. Use them for economical home storage, or save them the next time you need to ship something.

Off the top of my head, some things to consider are- 

PROS to removing:

• Saves space
• Minimizes risk of introducing pests or foreign material that may be within or found on the outside of the box
• Helps with continuous improvement principles  (efficient, visually appealing, etc.) 

CONS to removing:

• Loss of lot code or other information used for traceability 
• Loss of protective barrier (ie, more product damage if it were dropped)
• Potential to disrupt FIFO process