Receiving Procedures for a Distribution Center

HI Everyone, 

I'm looking for some insight on receiving procedures for distribution centers. 

We currently intake about 1500 skus. It includes everything, fresh and frozen seafood, produce, herbs, specialty goods that are processed, etc. 

Im looking for some guidance on how to go about developing a receiving log for this type of facility. 

I attached what i put together but the difficult part of this is on our Full trucks, we may receive in 20 pallets of different produce. 

We are using the commodity specs from the USDA for specifications and taking the temperatures from this. 

Is it really necessary to list out each commodity that is being received in on the log, and check product temperatures of each different product? 

We are a very large operation so i need something that will work for us but will also meet regulations.

Thanks!

When I worked for a produce company, we would receive in reefer trucks based on a sample size. The sample we would take was dependent on the incoming truck temperature and the different types of produce on the truck.

For truck temperature, if the reefer was reading a moderately high temperature, we would take samples from the nose, middle and tail of the trailer. If the temperature was within a good range, we would take the temperature of the first ten pallets off the truck. This was due to the thinking that product near the door would be the warmest (not always the case due to air chutes but it was a good guideline).

For type of product, if we knew there was a product that was either more susceptible to temperature issues or there had been recent quality issues with an item, we would make it a point to check these product pallets as well. For example, carrots give off quite a bit of heat so checking the temperature of those pallets were a good baseline for the rest of the product.

To sum it up, my opinion is you do not need to list out all the items on the truck with individual temperatures. We had a receiving temperature form that we recorded our ten sample pallets' top, middle, and bottom temperatures. If there were any high temperatures in the sample (above 41 for our purposes), the employee would notify his or her supervisor and the truck would be checked more thoroughly. Also, I would have the receiving log be based off invoice number rather than item. Checking each item temperature is definitely time consuming.

Would something like that work for your operation?

Weebus90,

Who will be inspecting and or auditing your distribution center? Who will look at your receiving records and temperature documentation? Seafood is Mandatory HACCP under FDA, therefore I'm fairly confident that minimally you will have to meet the temperature record keeping requirements of a HACCP plan. Why were USDA specifications chosen; the products you reference are FDA? Will you receive, meat, poultry, eggs?

Being that it is a distribution center will absolve you from many regulatory requirements, but not critical requirements like temperature

If you are under FDA jurisdiction then you may have to meet some requirements under the new FSMA even if only indirectly, because your customers may have to meet them and will require your participation. I believe that no facility or transport company will be exempt from the Sanitary Transport rule under FSMA.

Generally you would take temperatures of high risk products from the front, center, and rear of the trailer.

You might use a surface temperature recording device for a quick read estimate, but high risk products may require the use of a calibrated probe device for a core temperature.

Will trailers come in with data loggers to show temperature history throughout the transit?

Do you have to meet any C-TPAT criteria for your receiving records?

Does your food safety plan or HACCP plan for your distribution center have any criteria you must meet?

I have performed many audits of distribution centers, but an audit is always to one or more standards e.g., regulatory, your own food safety plan, your customer's food safety plan or some 3rd party audit. Depending on what standards you are working to, I would expect receiving records to show the following checks and records:

Allergen commingling

Chemical commingling

Odor: A characteristic odor e.g. wheat flour will smell like malt, but any off odor is a possible reason for rejection

Label checks against specification, especially for allergens

Security checks e.g. locks, seals, seal number recording, driver ID, delivery appointments are met

Rejection log

Ambient trailer temperatures

Food Temperatures

Condition of trailer: broken glass light bulbs, exposed insulation, dripping refrigeration condensate

Cleanliness of trailer

Pest Indications: black light issues, droppings

Product condition: Illegible and missing labels, damage, expired products and short-coded products

Product cleanliness: Leaks and spills, especially spills of allergenic products, foot prints on bags

Training: Proof the receivers were trained to a standard, especially if they are involved in a HACCP step.

Specifications: Proof that items are check against specifications that are

Regrads

Xylough

I'm pretty sure USDA was mentioned because they have the produce standards. For example, whenever I needed produce graded I would use the USDA for guidelines and inspections.

USDA > Agricultural Marketing Service > Fruit and Vegetable Programs > Fresh Products Branch

My advice above is only regarding produce. I have never entered the gauntlet of seafood regulations.

Thanks Everyone for the insight. 

To answer some questions we have a HACCP plan and our CCP is for incoming seafood. Our seafood receiving is very sound. 

But we also receive in meat, poultry, and egg products. The meat and poultry products are fully cooked for the most part except for bacon. 

We are using the USDA commodity specifications because most of our products are fresh produce so we need guidelines and standards to go by for quality and acceptability.

We are audited by the USDA, FDA, USDC and NSF.

We receive product via air, truck, and train.

Im having a hard time developing a procedure that covers all.

Weebus90,

I did a ctrl F search on "receiving" and "shipping" of the NSF audits for both the Food Processor and Distribution Center 2014 audit criteria; the requirements are stringent for receiving. There is really no difference between the two audit criteria for receiving and shipping requirements.

When I was in your situation, with such a wide array of goods and so many different audits, I found it more manageable as a matter of practicality to:

Divide all the data collection between several separate documents, Defense of Food/Food Security, Trailers Inspection, Food Inspection, Supplier approval, Allergen Management, Lot Numbers

Delegate some of the more technical requirements to the QA/QC department

We had scan-in/scan out technology but it was not compatible for helping with most of the requirements.

Hi Weebus,

This thread may be of some interest, particularly MarkH's contribution

http://www.ifsqn.com...any/#entry82622

I presume this is an extension of yr earlier thread -

http://www.ifsqn.com...ing/#entry84963