Food Safety Modernization Act

So, has there been any real increase in inconvenience for hauling food?

I'm continuing to narrow down the direction I want to go when I get my own numbers.

Trying to decide if a reefer is worth the investment over a dry van.
 
Kerry food in a drive and you will have to comply with fmsa as well. I got my TWIC card and use that as my identification when they ask.
 
So, has there been any real increase in inconvenience for hauling food?

I'm continuing to narrow down the direction I want to go when I get my own numbers.

Trying to decide if a reefer is worth the investment over a dry van.

Not really - for us. We've always been required to get a washout prior to loading - nominally. The company pays for trailer washing, so it's not that big a deal. Washing out after meat loads or hazmat is not optional. Depends on time available, and proximity of a truck wash otherwise. You'll figure out who you need to precool for, and absolutely must washout for.

OTOH, (for example) our buddies at Marten have told me that the company refuses to pay for a washout until the trailer has been rejected, even when a bloody meat load or hazmat was in the trailer previously.

:confused-96:

One wonders if they've changed their ways?
 
Washing out after meat loads or hazmat is not optional.
Are there any types of hazmat that you never haul regardless of whether it gets washed out?

I mean what if a Tyson executive is riding in his gold plated Bentley limousine his illegal immigrant chauffer passes a Prime truck and it's got "poison" or "inhalation hazard" placards on it?
 
Are there any types of hazmat that you never haul regardless of whether it gets washed out?

I mean what if a Tyson executive is riding in his gold plated Bentley limousine his illegal immigrant chauffer passes a Prime truck and it's got "poison" or "inhalation hazard" placards on it?
Well, I guess he's gonna see a trailer with that stuff plastered on the side.

We don't haul any of the really bad stuff.
 
OTOH, (for example) our buddies at Marten have told me that the company refuses to pay for a washout until the trailer has been rejected, even when a bloody meat load or hazmat was in the trailer previously.

:confused-96:

One wonders if they've changed their ways?
Wow. What a really dumb way to work things. Show up to a customer with a trailer full of blood, fat and whatever else does not project a good image for Marten.
 
The weird thing not to clean the trailer after meat or fish. And have no idea how can I move haz/mat in a food grade trailer.
 
The weird thing not to clean the trailer after meat or fish. And have no idea how can I move haz/mat in a food grade trailer.
Hazmat packaging is supposed to prevent spills - you can't load leaking packages. Mostly residual chemical odors are the problem. A good washout with hot water, soap and a sanitizer will take care of it.

Any lingering odor - spread some coffee grounds in the trailer, that will take care of it.
 
Hazmat packaging is supposed to prevent spills - you can't load leaking packages. Mostly residual chemical odors are the problem. A good washout with hot water, soap and a sanitizer will take care of it.

Any lingering odor - spread some coffee grounds in the trailer, that will take care of it.
We used to get refused plastic loads because we mostly hauled food and the garlic stank. Plastic will absorb that odor. We would lay down some coffee grounds or air out the trailer by leaving the door open overnight.
 
chocolate tends to absorb odors more readily than a lot of other foods.


My standing comments to brokers.....

"Would you put it in your refrigerator at home and then eat the food out of it?"
 
chocolate tends to absorb odors more readily than a lot of other foods.


My standing comments to brokers.....

"Would you put it in your refrigerator at home and then eat the food out of it?"
I had onions in my fridge go bad and then everything in the fridge tasted like purple. Until I cleaned it out:D
 
rarely.

I'll use what I want fresh, then what's left of the onion I dice it up, triple bag it and then toss it into the door of the freezer. It's gone most of the time before it matters.
I keep carrots exactly like this)))
And talking about my reefer - I never take Haz/Mat. I never take Chocolates. I haul meats, poultry. Frozen seafood rarely.
 
Hauled hazmat lots of times before food products. For Prime, it was usually some sort of photography stuff from New Jersey to Florida and then OJ out of Bradenton. More than a couple of times, it was air conditioner refrigerant to FL and then OJ.

For Swift, paint products, car batteries, some sort of stuff in totes, propane bottles... swimming pool chemicals... followed by something like Kraft mac n cheese, Quaker whatever, empty pop cans, cereal... As long as the hazmat was contained and the trailer clean, no issues. Once, when I hauled swimming pool chemicals to somewhere outside Atlanta, some of the powder got on the floor. Swift paid for a washout on a dry van and then I parked tail down on a slope with the doors hitched open overnight to dry it. Took that trailer to some appliance maker after that. They said they'd never gotten such a clean trailer.

It all depends on what the hazmat is and, most important, how well contained it is. But yes, food after hazmat is perfectly safe and perfectly fine. In fact, some food products themselves are hazmat when hauled in bulk.

As for @Mike's question, I did not notice any change in operations after implementation of this rule. I was still doing WalMart groceries when that all came down. The only thing I had to do was a short food safety class and quiz. Schneider probably ran all of their drivers through something similar. It had to do with temperature control and cleanliness. I didn't actually change anything I had been doing previously because I was already using common sense to do my job.

They made this new rule because there were way too many (usually independents) who wouldn't wash a trailer out until it was absolutely necessary: you couldn't stand next to it without gagging or the trailer was refused by a shipper. Saw a lot of that when I waited in washout lines. Apparently, some of these guys have to be told that the noxious goo dripping from the drain holes in the back of the trailer could make people sick...and probably did. Since they couldn't be bothered to keep their stuff clean or mind the temperatures (why should they care, they don't shop at that store), they need a government entity to tell them they have to. Sad.
 
Only things I saw with food stuffs were people making deliveries with food that hadn't been kept to temp. Mostly because they'd turn reefers off to save the fuel or the u it was poorly maintained.


I've rejected two loads in 4 years. Both times because it had been sitting on the dock for so long it was disintegrating the packaging. One time they tried forcing me to haul it since I was on site. I honestly thought it was going to come to fists to get off the property.

We are looking to trade both reefers off and go to open decks for the absolute disrespect from shippers and receivers in the food industry and how all the requirements are putting the liabilities on motor carriers.

When it's no longer fun, it's time to do something else.
 
Hauled hazmat lots of times before food products. For Prime, it was usually some sort of photography stuff from New Jersey to Florida and then OJ out of Bradenton. More than a couple of times, it was air conditioner refrigerant to FL and then OJ.

For Swift, paint products, car batteries, some sort of stuff in totes, propane bottles... swimming pool chemicals... followed by something like Kraft mac n cheese, Quaker whatever, empty pop cans, cereal... As long as the hazmat was contained and the trailer clean, no issues. Once, when I hauled swimming pool chemicals to somewhere outside Atlanta, some of the powder got on the floor. Swift paid for a washout on a dry van and then I parked tail down on a slope with the doors hitched open overnight to dry it. Took that trailer to some appliance maker after that. They said they'd never gotten such a clean trailer.

It all depends on what the hazmat is and, most important, how well contained it is. But yes, food after hazmat is perfectly safe and perfectly fine. In fact, some food products themselves are hazmat when hauled in bulk.

As for @Mike's question, I did not notice any change in operations after implementation of this rule. I was still doing WalMart groceries when that all came down. The only thing I had to do was a short food safety class and quiz. Schneider probably ran all of their drivers through something similar. It had to do with temperature control and cleanliness. I didn't actually change anything I had been doing previously because I was already using common sense to do my job.

They made this new rule because there were way too many (usually independents) who wouldn't wash a trailer out until it was absolutely necessary: you couldn't stand next to it without gagging or the trailer was refused by a shipper. Saw a lot of that when I waited in washout lines. Apparently, some of these guys have to be told that the noxious goo dripping from the drain holes in the back of the trailer could make people sick...and probably did. Since they couldn't be bothered to keep their stuff clean or mind the temperatures (why should they care, they don't shop at that store), they need a government entity to tell them they have to. Sad.

I'm sure the refrigerated loads that Indiana was catching out of Chicago with the reefers turned off a few years ago, in the middle of summer, had something to do with it as well. That got national press coverage.
 

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