International shipping delivered wet and moldy
Hi all,
A company has received two containers loaded with maltodextrin, and all the palletized raw material is externally wet, on top of rotten wood pallets. They all feel damp, are covered with moldy spots and smells rancid.
On a visual inspection, this is just present in the external packaging, and some samples have been collected and sent out for testing.
My first instinct was to fail all the material on sight, but part of the management team thinks it's salvageable somehow.
Returning to sender is basically impossible at this point.
Is there any safe way to deal with the stock, that would bring it back to safe use condition, given that the test results come back clean?
How can the material be dispensed without the risk of the bag opening procedure carrying the external contaminants into the raw material?
I would have never let it through my door. Would have had to reject it at delivery.
I don't see how you can avoid contamination and/or spreading all of the spores throughout your facility in the process thus contaminating everything
Hi all,
A company has received two containers loaded with maltodextrin, and all the palletized raw material is externally wet, on top of rotten wood pallets. They all feel damp, are covered with moldy spots and smells rancid.
On a visual inspection, this is just present in the external packaging, and some samples have been collected and sent out for testing.
My first instinct was to fail all the material on sight, but part of the management team thinks it's salvageable somehow.
Returning to sender is basically impossible at this point.
Is there any safe way to deal with the stock, that would bring it back to safe use condition, given that the test results come back clean?
How can the material be dispensed without the risk of the bag opening procedure carrying the external contaminants into the raw material?
Personally, I wouldn't have accepted the shipment. Due to the presence of mold, I wouldn't chance this... there's no way for you to effectively clean or sanitize the outside of these containers (I assume?) which means you cannot say for certain while using the ingredient you didn't contaminate your product. Plus, in using this and bringing it into your production areas you risk the possibility of spreading spores into the air potentially contaminating your facility... on the other hand if you were to leave it in the warehouse (pull what you need and walk it to the production area) moldy material is still a big no no. Id bite the bullet and ask for a credit from whom you received it from and arrange a pickup date where you get new product, and they discard what was given to you. I hope this helps... I'm sorry these may not be the answers you were looking for. :(
My experience with 'containers' that are shipped to you with product, is the supplier will normally try to tell you it is not 'rejectable'. This is because it becomes a headache for them to get back and is costly for them. You can and certainly should reject containers when there is a food safety concern. It most likely got wet during the journey on the ocean if it traveled that way which can happen and is always the risk with vessels that travel on water with containers.