How long can frozen food stay on the dock?
What is the permissible time that frozen product can remain on the dock before it is ran into the freezer after receiving? What is the time for staging outbounds?
Depends on your SOP and your hazard analysis. You don't want any product to go over 41 degrees. However you may get quality issues if you let product thaw too much then refreeze. This is the same for shipping and receiving. Your supplier may have specific criteria you may need to follow as well.
Time wise - their isn't one as long as your product stays below 41.
Hi MW1414,
This depends on the conditions of the dock that the products are sitting on: temperature on the dock, proximity to open dock doors (used at load/unload shipments), foot/associate traffic on the dock - to name a few, not to mention the condition and make-up of the product arriving. If product arrives frozen, best practice is to run it in to freezers immediately or as soon as is possible - to avoid water/ice crystals forming and affecting product. Never is it acceptable to let product remain on the dock for protracted or extended periods especially if close to open doors or access points as product may experience rapid temperature changes.
As to your question regarding staging times, this depends on the nature of your operation - are you a large warehouse with multiple freezers or a smaller warehouse, do you have outbound operations scheduled every hour on the hour or are outbounds few throughout your day, how many warehouse employees? Our warehouse stages (in freezer staging areas) orders on a staggered basis: evening shift stages the next day's morning shift orders and morning shift stages evening orders to expedite product transfer. It doesn't always work because there is always a hiccup, pending product, product delays, etc.
Having been in Customer Service (Shipping and Receiving), I know that sometimes your warehouse crew finds it easy to offload a truck to get them out of the yard and will leave it on the dock to run to the freezers. Our warehouse policy is to record temperature at arrival and notify our customers when product arrives at or above 10°F. Warehouse team will not allow product to go anywhere near 10°F.
I hope some of this was useful...
Blessings,
- Bob.
What is the permissible time that frozen product can remain on the dock before it is ran into the freezer after receiving? What is the time for staging outbounds?
Hi MW,
I can appreciate the multiple potential factors involved as nicely discussed in previous Post however I would still anticipate that there is a legal, temperature/time driven, answer to yr query albeit not yet provided. For Insurance purposes/disputes ?
IIRC FDA (or maybe USDA) do specify temperature /time limits regarding disposition of frozen goods in the event of refrigeration failures, eg (perhaps) based on the well-known 2hour/4hour interpretations.
Hi MW,
I can appreciate the multiple potential factors involved as nicely discussed in previous Post however I would still anticipate that there is a legal, temperature/time driven, answer to yr query albeit not yet provided. For Insurance purposes/disputes ?
IIRC FDA (or maybe USDA) do specify temperature /time limits regarding disposition of frozen goods in the event of refrigeration failures, eg (perhaps) based on the well-known 2hour/4hour/interpretations.
Dear Charles, would you please share specific reference / link for the statement you quoted regarding USFDA?
Dear Charles, would you please share specific reference / link for the statement you quoted regarding USFDA?
this is from USDA -
To determine the safety of foods when the power goes on, check their condition and temperature. If food is partly frozen, still has ice crystals, or is as cold as if it were in a refrigerator (40 °F), it is safe to refreeze or use. It's not necessary to cook raw foods before refreezing. Discard foods that have been warmer than 40 °F for more than 2 hours. Discard any foods that have been contaminated by raw meat juices. Dispose of soft or melted ice cream for quality's sake.
https://www.fsis.usd...safety/ct_index
there are many variations, eg -
Partial thawing and re-freezing does reduce the quality of foods, particularly fruits, vegetables and prepared foods. Red meats are affected less than many other foods.
You may safely re-freeze some foods if they still contain ice crystals or if they have been kept at 41° F or below for no more than two days. If the temperature is above 50° F, throw food away. Foods that cannot be re-frozen but are safe to use may be canned immediately.
[but]
Examine each package of thawed meat or poultry. If odor is offensive or questionable or if the freezer temperature has exceeded 41° F for two hours or longer, don’t use. It may be dangerous!
https://www.southern...-power-failure/
And, from a different scenario -
2+hour+4+hour+Rule+(poster).pdf 60.88KB 85 downloads
PS - I daresay the practical difficulty may include "sampling".
PPS - the 10degF mentioned temperature in Post 3 concerning receipt of frozen cargo is supported in this (2009) document -
frozen-food-handling-and-merchandising-.pdf 928.52KB 93 downloads
(again, sampling may be an issue)