Fresh Produce & Frozen Produce dispatch areas

We are in the design phase of a new building project  which will store fresh and frozen produce. At the moment we different storage rooms for Fresh Produce and for Frozen Produce, but only one dispatch area, which will be run between 4 and 8 degrees.

Is it Ok, from a food safety point dispatch frozen product in an area which temperature will be between 4 and 8 degrees?

Any feedback it's appreciate.

Hi Barbara, I would risk assess it, evaluate the building lay out, how long will product be out of freeze? type of product, are the lorries frozen or chilled.If there is any risk of defrost to product and/or then re-freeze surely there will be a quality issue and / or (depending on product) a risk to the public. Im sure there could be H&S issues also and using the correct PPE around the correct scenario?

Cheers

DW

Hi Barbara,

The previous post more or less spelled out the type of questions to consider.

I would add that many companies, out of necessity, successfully operate in much higher environmental temperatures than you mention. Time is one of the critical parameters.

IQF product is invariably more sensitive than block frozen but both are feasible IMEX.

Hi Barbara, at my place of work the only frozen products we supply are low risk (fruits, vegetables, breads) and we apply a 15 minute rule, as we also only have chilled dispatch areas that run at the temperatures you have described. So if the product has been out of the freezer for 15 minutes (the generally accepted 'lag phase') or less at a temperature <8°C, we would put it back into frozen storage or onto our vehicles. Otherwise it doesn't get dispatched. Any time we are unsure about the length of time outside frozen storage the surface temperature is probed and if >-15°C then we assume it has been out for over 15 minutes and the product is discarded.

Hope this helps.

Andy

Thanks to all your input.

I thought that this would be the case but I just needed reassurance.