Does your company require a food-grade warehouse? If so, you must adhere to the Food and Drug Administration’s safety guidelines. If you don’t respect the FDA’s food-grade warehouse requirements, you could be subject to fines or the suspension of your business license. In this blog, we’ll cover a few best practices so you can better understand food safety warehouse requirements.
6 Good Warehouse Practices for the Food Industry
In January 2011, the FDA enacted the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). The law enhances safety best practices for food-handling facilities in two ways: it prevents contaminated food from being disseminated to the general public; it stops retaliation against workers who report food safety issues. Any warehouse that fails to meet stringent requirements will be compelled to shut down operations. These best practices are great ways to stay in compliance:
Consider Health and Sanitation Matters
If you operate a food storage warehouse but don’t maintain cleanliness, you could face many issues ranging from rodents to fungi and bacterial growth to other pests. It’s also essential to always be on the alert so that you can spot problems immediately and take corrective measures as soon as possible.
Beware of Cross-Contamination
Cross-contamination can happen easier than you might think. For example, it can come from a product absorbing the odors of its packing, or even from another product. You’ll need to be strategic about what you store in your food storage warehouse.
Here’s What You Need to Know
Ensure You’re Registered
All food packing, storage, processing, and manufacturing facilities are required to register with the FDA. If you registered prior to October 1, 2012, you need to register again because the FDA updated its registration process that year. You also must renew a current registration between the last three months of every even-numbered year. The registration information must include contact details for the facility in question, and stipulate that the FDA has the right to enter the facility for inspections.
Put Prevention Plan in Place
You must create a written plan detailing issues that could potentially jeopardize food safety, the remedy for each of them, and the steps your company takes to prevent them from arising. Furthermore, you must train workers to follow the written plan’s safety procedures, and keep it available to FDA for review upon request.
Inspections Are Part of the Process
Any food warehouse in the country has to submit for inspection within five years of the FSMA’s effective date, with reinspections every 36 months. The FDA was mandated to inspect no fewer than 600 facilities in the first year after the FSMA enactment and double that amount in following years. In the event that a foreign warehouse doesn’t not allow its facility to be inspected, the FDA has the right to block the non-complying entity from exporting food products into the U.S.
Recall Stipulations Need to Be Taken Seriously
The FDA has the right to initiate a recall order on any food that might be contaminated or labeled improperly. Before that occurs, the warehouse deemed in violation must be told of the infraction and provided the chance to issue a voluntary recall. But if the offending party fails to do so within a reasonable time frame, the FDA will order that its processing and distribution activities be immediately shut down. Moreover, the warehouse is required to accept the return of existing products and provide complete refunds to customers.
FW Warehousing Has the Food-Grade Warehousing Space You Need
Are you looking for food-grade storage options from a reputable company? At FW Warehousing, we offer food-grade warehousing solutions that align with FDA guidelines. We offer our clients cost-effective solutions for all of their food and beverage warehousing needs, including cold storage and temperature-controlled options.
When you work with FW Logistics, you can rest assured knowing that your products will remain safe during the storage phase of your supply chain operations. Manufacturers from across the country directly ship their products to our food-grade warehouse for storage and distribution. We have also earned critical certifications like Superior Rating from AIB International, GMP Certification, and ISO 9001.
Are you ready to explore how our food-grade warehousing solutions can help your business? Do you perhaps need help determining how much space you need? Get in touch to get the information you need to make an informed decision.
