Conference for Food Protection

Maintaining temperature of hot meat and poultry products during transportation is critical to ensure food safety control throughout the production and distribution chain. As with food transported at refrigerated or frozen temperatures, maintenance of adequate temperature for foods transported hot is critical to ensure growth of pathogens and spoilage organisms is prohibited. While regulations are expected to be issued as part of implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA)/Sanitary Food Transportation Act (SFTA), in the interim there is a need to provide targeted guidance on best practices for the transportation of hot meat and poultry products. A CFP transportation committee should be initiated to develop this guidance, which should address temperature control, monitoring, record-keeping, and other areas.

Deficiencies in temperature control during transportation of hot meat and poultry products have been associated with at least one Staphylococcus outbreak (Huang, et. al, 2005). However, to date, specific guidance on temperature control for these products has been limited. By having subject matter experts in distribution and storage develop recommendations for best practices for the transportation of hot meat and poultry products, safety of these products can be improved.

The primary challenge during transportation and storage is to maintain proper temperatures and to maintain the temperature during steps such as staging, loading and unloading of containers, and in storage. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued "Guidance for Industry: Sanitary Transportation of Food" to address some of these issues, however this guidance does not address transportation of hot meat and poultry products. The Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) has issued the "FSIS Safety and Security Guidelines for the Transportation and Distribution of Meat, Poultry, and Egg Products," however, the FSIS guidance focuses on maintaining the "cold-chain" during transportation of refrigerated or frozen meat and poultry products. Specific guidance is needed to address the transportation of meat and poultry products that are cooked at one facility and transported hot to another facility so that they are ready-to-serve to consumers, as there are unique considerations for these products. Although FSIS or the FDA could issue revised transportation guidance documents, it is recommended that a CFP committee is formed so that experts in distribution and storage can provide practical recommendations that are most likely to be effective and implemented throughout the industry.

References:

FSIS Safety and Security Guidelines for the Transportation and Distribution of Meat, Poultry, and Egg Products, 2005. Found at: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/shared/PDF/Transportation_Security_Guidelines.pdf

FDA Guidance for Industry: Sanitary Transportation of Food, 2010. Found at: http://www.fda.gov/food/guidanceregulation/guidancedocumentsregulatoryinformation/sanitationtransportation/ucm208199.htm

Huang, A.., Ocfemia, C.B., Hunt, D.C. 2006. Staphylococcal Food Poisoning Outbreak in Southeast Kansas - December, 2005. Kansas Department of Health and Environment. Final Report.

the creation of a Transportation Committee to be composed of Conference members from all constituencies, especially subject matter experts in distribution and transportation. The Committee will be charged with:

1) Identifying best practices and existing guidance documents that relate to transportation of hot meat and poultry products;

2) Developing a guidance document that includes best practices for transportation of hot meat and poultry products to include temperature control, monitoring, record-keeping, and other relevant topics; and

3) Reporting back to the 2016 Biennial Meeting with:

a) recommended best practices and existing guidance documents in the area of transportation of hot meat and poultry products;

b) the committee developed guidance document for posting on the CFP web site;

c) recommendations for any new FDA Food Code language related to receiving of hot meat and poultry products; and

d) a recommendation that a letter be sent to the FDA requesting that Annex 2 (References, Part 3-Supporting Documents) be amended by adding a reference to the new committee developed guidance document, as well as any other existing guidance documents that the Committee recommends.