Temperature Control and Cold Chain Procedure

Purpose. Describes how chilled, frozen and live product is stored, assembled, loaded, transported and delivered so that temperature is controlled and recorded from plant to customer.

1.Storage

Chilled product must be stored at or below four degrees, frozen product at or below minus eighteen degrees, and live lobster in the tank system at the temperature and salinity in the live holding plan. Cold room temperatures must be recorded every four hours by the logger and checked against the manual thermometer at the start of each shift. Product must be rotated first in, first out by pack date.

2.Order assembly

Orders must be assembled in the chilled marshalling area, with cartons checked against the order for product, batch code and date, and the assembly time kept under thirty minutes for chilled product. Every order must be recorded in the Cold Chain and Dispatch Register with the batch codes shipped.

3.Loading

Trucks must be pre-cooled to the product temperature before loading. Chilled and frozen product must be loaded in separate compartments or with the divider in place. A calibrated data logger must travel with every interstate and export consignment. The load temperature must be recorded at the time of loading.

4.Transport and delivery

Drivers must keep doors closed except during delivery, deliver chilled product first, and record the product temperature at handover on the delivery docket. Product above the limit at delivery must not be handed over and the Cold Chain and Sales Manager must be told immediately.

5.Excursions

Any temperature above the limit in storage or transport is an excursion and must be recorded in the Cold Chain and Dispatch Register with the duration and the product affected. The Quality and Food Safety Coordinator must assess the product and decide whether it is released, downgraded or destroyed, and the decision must be recorded.

• Record time, temperature and duration
• Isolate the affected product
• Assessment by the Quality and Food Safety Coordinator
• Record the release decision

6.Live product

Live lobster and oysters must be packed in the approved packaging with chilled packs and ventilation, dispatched within the time limit in the live transport plan and labelled as live. Mortality on arrival must be recorded as a complaint and investigated.