If you transport or cause food to be transported, standardizing and controlling transportation processes in order to prevent food adulteration and preserve food quality is critical.  While the recent Sysco issues provide a good example of what not to do, your company must have a consistent ability to meet customer and legal food safety transportation compliance requirements.  It is clear that food container tracking, sanitation, temperature and humidity control and record keeping are becoming supply chain issues requiring increased attention across all company locations. 

The course includes activities to help trainees develop a general plan to standardize and control food transportation processes.  For food transporters, standardization or upgrade to current practices is critical.  For buyers, knowing how to establish standards for your food transporters sets the stage for required supply chain controls.  The journey from “Where do we start?” to “We are compliant food safety carriers.” begins here and establishes a basis for meeting newly evolving FSMA food transportation requirements.

On the average, food travels over 2000 miles from the farm to the consumer.  Customers are facing new FDA, USDA, state and even religious requirements to meet food safety controls.  New federal and state food safety laws are emerging that require food transporters to improve record keeping for interstate and international food movements.   

This 10 module online training course is designed to introduce your company food safety, quality and logistics professionals to newly evolving standards and to help them to develop a customized system that will meet today’s logistics needs, satisfy your customer’s food safety requirements and ready your food transportation processes for upcoming legal requirements. 

All training modules are self-paced and online with no time limit for completion.  Standards, forms and procedural documentation is included to support team planning efforts.

1.    Train Your Logistics Team to Standardize and Control Food Transportation Processes

This 10-module online training course is designed to prepare internal logistics teams for their roles in planning, implementing, and maintaining food safety standards for quality control over food transportation processes.  The modules cover container temperature and traceability monitoring, management, training, sanitation, and record keeping standards.  New and evolving technologies are reviewed.  Basic policies, procedures and documentation are also presented to help reduce team preparation times.  Internal and external audit data systems allow you to establish and maintain a paperless approach to record keeping if you desire.  An implementation scheme is presented to provide step-by-step guidance for your management and team members.

 2.    Keep Your Team Informed with Our Newsletter

The free Transportation Certification (TransCert) newsletter will deliver monthly updates to your food transportation management and food safety teams.  The newsletter will provide updates to standards and legal issues as they evolve and are interpreted by the FDA.  Trainees will receive all new and updated transportation food safety standards and this $199/year subscription newsletter at no additional cost. 

Who Should Attend:

•    Company Food Logistics Personnel   
•    Food Safety Team Members
•    Internal Food Safety Auditors
•    Internal Audit Team Members
•    Food Safety Professionals
•    Food Plant Managers
•    Quality Assurance and Quality Control Professionals
•    Food Supply Chain Professionals
•    Regulatory and Compliance Personnel
•    Research & Development Personnel
•    Others involved with food in-transit

Why You Should Attend:     

•    Establish standardized company-wide food safety and quality in transportation    
•    Meet newly evolving Section 211 FSMA FDA food safety rules
•    Gain a competitive advantage
•    Standardizes processes across multiple plant locations
•    Reduce liability
•    Meet buyer and customer food transportation safety and quality requirements
• Ensure retailers that transportation suppliers comply with food safety standards and quality  and regulatory requirements          
•    Lay out specific guidelines to impact basic business processes
•    Improve customer relationships
•    Help meet FDA FSMA and international transportation food safety regulations
•    Satisfy food producer requirements for sanitation, temperature controls, and traceability
•    Increase exporting opportunities
•    Provide risk-based and preventive applications
•    Gain efficiencies through cost-effective solutions
•    Lead to cost reductions including waste/scrap/and other hard $ measures
•    Create other continuous improvement opportunities

Impacted Food Supply Chain Companies:

•     Grower-Shippers
•     Carriers (Air, truck, rail, ship)
•     Retailers
•     Packers
•     Food Shippers
•     Distributors
•     Restaurant Chains
•     Processors
•     Freight Forwarders
•     Trailer and truck washout operations
•     Container maintenance stations

Training Content Provided is by Transportation Certifiers (TransCert)

Background: Transportation Delivery Controls

This is an introductory module intended to provide an introduction to a number of important transporter food safety standards and technologies.  Trainees are asked to begin defining a plan to improve food transportation processes that will meet newly evolving food safety laws and customer requirements. 

Module 1 – Technology and Data Used to Measure and Control Transportation Processes

Module 1 covers general information required to understand how measurement of food transportation processes can provide important management information intended to help control potential causes of shelf life loss, food recalls, human illness and death.  Case, pallet and container technologies and system designs are covered.  Return on Investment (ROI) techniques are covered as well as actual data from a variety of shipments showing how a lack of management and control can cost more than the sanitation and traceability technologies would cost.  The module also covers simple to very complex system approaches currently available for local and international food shipments.  Company planning continues through Module 1.

Module 2:  Food Transportation Control System Guidelines

Module 2 describes the basic system guidelines employed by TransCert to provide guidance when choosing which standards and practices apply to your specific company.  For instance, a retail or restaurant chain may require full compliance to food transportation management, HACCP, traceability, training, and sanitation requirements, while a maintenance station may only wish to meet sanitation process control standards.

Module 3:  Food Transporter Management and Training Standards

This Module covers recommended management and training standards and internal auditor checklist details, point scoring, and other information required for internal monitoring and verification and for external audit compliance. The module is designed to provide trainees with specific management and training guidance needed to develop a customized company plan that meets customer and future legal requirements.

Module 4:  Food Transporter Sanitation and Traceability Standards

This Module covers recommended container sanitation and traceability standards and auditor checklist details, scoring and other information recommended for food transporters.  The container sanitation and traceability standards provided in Module 4 are based on international requirements for cleaning, testing, and ISO requirements for traceability.

Module 5: Food Transporter HACCP Standards

Module 5 covers recommended HAACCP standards and auditor checklist details, point scoring and other information required for HACCP planning and implementation.  Trainees are helped to blend transportation container controls into their existing HACCP plans or develop new plans from scratch.  Module 5 covers the details required for both the HACCP planning and specific implementation phases.

Module 6:  Maintaining System Data Electronically

Module 6 covers training for a paperless documentation system used for remote data entry and management as well as to capture other information required for internal documentation needs and audit compliance. The electronic documentation system provides “on the fly” data updating for internal audit teams and a also provides a permanent electronic filing system that reduces internal audit review and external audit and certification time.  Reporting, corrective actions, photos, documents, procedures and notes may all be uploaded to provide a solid historical repository.

Module 7:  Preventive Planning and Causal Analysis

Module 7 is a supplemental module that teaches basic causal analysis techniques.  The module is designed for internal and external auditors and may also be used to train internal audit teams and other company personnel.  Newly evolving HACCP requirements and the direction set by the FDA in terms of “preventive planning” require that internal team members clearly understand steps and procedures that lead to prevention.

Module 8:  Step-by-Step Implementation Guidance

Module 8 provides your logistics professionals with step-by-step guidance for developing a company policy, forming a planning and implementation team, developing an implementation schedule and training program, managing new system changes, defining and complying with your direct customer requirements, record keeping, passing compliance audits, and controlling transportation food safety and process quality.  Trainees continue to work on the company plan, make decisions and begin to set company priorities.

Module 9:  The Future of Food Safety and Quality During Transportation

Module 9 provides a quick overview of new technologies and societal changes that are currently impacting and will continue to impact the food transportation industries.  Pricing for some of the technologies is covered to help attendees finalize the overall system plan begun in the “Background” module.

The Course and Trainer:

Dr. John Ryan is the trainer for this course.  He developed the course along with a team of professionals from around the world whom contributed to its development.  Dr. Ryan is the retired Administrator for the Hawaii State Department of Agriculture's Quality Assurance Division where he was responsible developing commodity, fuel and other standards and for developing food safety and traceability systems within the state of Hawaii. He piloted the USA’s first farm-to-fork award winning Internet enabled RFID food traceability system and one of America’s early high-technology sensor-based temperature control supply chain food safety systems.  He has worked with numerous international companies to establish real-time international food traceability.  He spent two years as a co-team leader for President Obama's FDA/CDC Information Technology team and also served on the FDA Performance Management and Standards Developments teams.  His upcoming book “Guide to Food Safety During Transportation:  Controls, Standards and Practices” is scheduled for publication by Elsevier Press later this year.  You may reach him at jryan@sanitarycoldchain.com

Summary:

This training is self-paced.  Each module lasts from .45 to 1.5 hours.  All standards, controls and technology are covered, including management, HACCP, carrier sanitation, traceability, and temperature and humidity monitoring that should take place during transportation cycles.  The standards and procedures included in the modules have been developed based on a survey of international guidance and compliance documents in order to assure that food importers and exporters are included.  Documents your team needs to get to work to eliminate existing gaps in standards, sample procedures, sanitation procedures, traceability procedures, forms, as well as the paperless record keeping are included. 

Individual training certificates are awarded to each attendee at the completion of the course.  All attendees receive our free TransCert newsletter.

Please note:   You may already have some type of food safety certification.  This training and these standards are intended to interface with and add to your current certification program but designed to include the food movement sectors with regards to container sanitation, traceability, and temperature control monitoring.

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Happy Training!