Power Outages - An Unforseen Hazard

Transportation of products beyond the control of internal cold chain management are often subject to abuses. Hence, reliable refrigeration equipment, accurate monitoring devices and temperature logging systems are considered vital in any cold chain management.

BUT in a major power outage that is expected to last say 3 days, what are the INTERNAL measures that we could take to avoid financial disaster and do we address this issue in our HACCP PLAN. Should we have a crisis plan included in our pre-requisite for product storages and handling procedures?

What are OR are there any diferences between an "External Reefer and an "Internal Refrigeration System" when such a situation occurs?

During a power outage, how do we deal wth potentially implicated ingredients/ products that are in the midst of a preparation process, cooking in progress or filling in progress - do we have to discard them (which also means significant financial losses)

I am hoping for input to facilitate a food safety crisis simulation program.

Regards
Charles Chew

Dear Charles,

If it is forseeable that there will be long power outages which could affect the food safety status of the product then it should be included in your HACCP / Crisis management.

The company should look at the cost of disposal of products / ingredients vs the cost of a backup generator.

In our factory we do not have such food safety risks but if there is a significant power outage (30 mins plus) it could cause lengthy downtime, i.e. our base recipe sets when cold. The trace heating stops the ingredients setting but doesn't work during a power cut. We have therefore installed an emergency supply which will not run the factory but will enable us to run the trace heating long enough to empty the pipes.

The BRC standard has a clause aimed at this in the supply chain, 3.12.2 Are procedures, where appropriate, in place in the case of vehicle breakdown? Do these procedures ensure product safety, legality and quality?

The company should look at the cost of disposal of products / ingredients vs the cost of a backup generator.

We have a good compensation plan from the power provider whenever an outage occurs BUT I agree I cannot put this in the HACCP Plan and tell the auditor its ok - we will just bloody throw them "affected products" all away cos its been taken care off.

Agree - A back-up generator is one option that should be seriously considered.

TQ
Charles Chew

The process of making vinegar is reliant on having power 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. If we are without power for 5 seconds it can kill all of our bugs, and there would be doubt as to whether we could continue as a company.

We have 3 standby generators.

These were put to the test a couple of years ago when a fire at the local substation meant that the whole town was without power for around a week. There were generators on every street corner.
It took the electricity company around two days to provide us with a generator, so ours managed to keep the site going for those 48 hours.

If your electricity is critical to your business, I strongly recommend looking at back-up systems, and check and service them regularly.

Nadine

the whole town was without power for around a week.

TQ Sam,

You really know how to emphasize the seriousness of a major outage. Again, we are on the same page and it appears that a back up generator is indispensable if the likelihood of occurrence is significant, severe and highly risky (a hazard analysis acid test)

I wonder if there could be other options available other then a back-up generator

Cheers
CHalres CHew

Now that we have more or less decided on the fact that preventative measure in the form of a back-up generator is a good thing - WHAT HAPPENS when we DO NOT have a back-up generator AND A POWER OUTAGE that will last for 3 DAYS is imminent.

What measures of food safety concerns are we going to take in order to deal with this unforseen hazard. Has anyone experienced this predicament before and like to share with us your experience?

Charles Chew

Solar panels and batteries?

Yorky,

You amaze me........next thing you are going tell me is probably "nuclear power"

Charles Chew

Good idea Charles.

You can irradiate the product at the same time

Yorkshire

We'd better get this back on a serious track.

I'm not sure that you can do anything with your process plant if you are going to have an outage of 3 days.

Do you have prewarning of this outage?

How long do you think the refrigerators / freezers will keep within your critical limits without power?

As an unforseen hazard - no warning is expected but the critical limit for safeholding of food / raw materials as confirmed and validated by Red Cross is 24 hours for half-loaded capacity freezer / chiller and 48 hours for a fully loaded ones barring the fact that the freezers/chillers doors remained shut at all times.


I think the point here is really, how and what do we need to do to protect our food - "ingredients, semi processed, processed etc" against loss of safety integrity / non-compliance etc. In short, how do we determine that the food remain safe for further processing, distribution, issues of cross contaminations etc.

The business would certainly be heading for operating losses but that has no relevance to food safety so we can ignore that.

What else, I wonder?

Charles Chew