A well-organized food storage warehouse is integral in providing the community with essential sustenance. The key to a great food-grade warehouse is making sure your products remain viable for their intended shelf life with only minimal spoilage or contamination.
We've put together a blog that covers some of the best practices for organizing a food storage warehouse.
Infrastructure considerations
Inspect your food storage warehouse to ensure the facility is maintained properly with a sound infrastructure.
1. Roof and floor surfaces, foundation, walls, windows and window frames, door, and other openings are free of leaks, cracks or gaps.
2. Look for rodent tracks around the building and ensure the warehouse premises have no rodent burrows.
3. Avoid standing water, weeds, or trash from piling up near your facility's perimeter.
4. Remember to keep truck, rail, dock, and personnel doors closed when not in use.
5. Ensure the floors, walls, doors, and windows are well-kempt and free of any unprotected openings to prevent pest entry.
6. If you notice any damaged storing bins, racks, cases, or broken glass, remove and dispose of them immediately in a safe location to prevent workplace injuries.
7. Protect low ceiling light fixtures, rail, or trailer inspection lights using shields to prevent accidental breakage.
8. Avoid heavy dust, webbing, or other debris accumulating on floors, walls, overheads, and storage pallets.
Following a proper procedure can prevent and manage product spills that can damage the rest of the inventory or even injure the warehouse staff.
Hygiene and sanitation
To prevent the spread of food allergens, environmental pathogens, and food-borne illnesses among employees, food warehouses should have hygiene and sanitation regulations in place.
- You must ensure adequate hand washing and sanitizing arrangements at the workplace.
1. All the warehouse staff involved in food who handles food in the warehouse should be aware of the importance of regularly washing and sanitizing their hands. - 2. Ensure that the facility has designated areas for hand washing, with clean sinks, running water, and soap. The sinks should be quickly accessible for the staff and always kept clean and tidy.
- 3. The Handwashing sink should be equipped with a hygienic dry system.
- 4. All food handlers should wear hair nets/ beard nets, face masks, and approved hand gloves (non-scented, food-safe gloves) while working in a food handling area.
- 5. If anyone has any cuts, scrapes, or bruises, it's important to cover them up with a bandage before handling any food.
- 6. It is a good practice to maintain comprehensive records of warehouse activities, including new employee training, quality awareness, incident and crisis management, food safety, and personal hygiene and cleanliness.
Safe storage of food products
Did you know that the steps you take to store food products can impact the shelf life of your food products? The following steps can ensure safer storage at the warehouse.
1. Keep your food stored on a dry surface with good air ventilation, and make sure it's away from direct sunlight or other environmental factors that could damage them quickly. - 2. Be sure to check for water leakage in the storage area. Keep all refrigerators, freezers, coolers, and heaters closed when not in use.
- 3. When storing food products, follow the "First-to-Expire, First-Out" protocol based on the perishability of each item.
- 4. Label all your food containers- food storage cartons, cases, or packages with explicit expiration (use by/ before) dates and manufacturing dates.
- 5. Keep your food items away from chemicals, insecticides, or any other hazardous materials that could degrade the quality of food.
- 6. Spoiled or expired food? Just toss it out right away!
Choosing the right type of food storage
If you're looking for safe and effective food storage without bad experiences, you'll want to ensure you're storing it in the right place.
1. Dry storage warehouse - Canned foods, packaged snacks, dried fruits and nuts, cereals, flours, and legumes are best stored here. These warehouses will help maintain the ideal room temperature to safeguard the dry foods from spoilage from humidity or extreme temperatures. - 2. Frozen food storage – These warehouses help stock dairy products, raw meat, farm produce, prepared foods, and any other products that must be stored at a constant freezing temperature to ensure a longer shelf life.
- 3. Refrigerated or air-conditioned food storage – These warehouses are ideal for storing a wide range of fresh meat, cheese, fish, fruits, vegetables, and dairy at a cool, but not freezing, temperature.
Time and temperature control
Warehouses should set up and maintain effective temperature control systems to ensure stable shelf-life and safety of food products.
1. Place temperature monitoring devices where the food is most vulnerable to temperature excursions. - 2. Calibrate temperature monitoring devices annually or at specific intervals, if required, by the manufacturer.
- 3. When transporting, storing, and distributing food, ensure that different types of food are kept apart.
- 4. Storage temperature in the facility should meet the manufacturer's requirements as specified on the product label.
- Warehouses and food processing plants should keep high-risk foods at:
- i) 5°C or below for cold foods,
ii) 60°C or above for hot foods, and
iii) -18ºC for frozen foods - during storage, display, and transportation.
Both high-risk hot and cold food products must be clearly labelled with the expiration date so that it is possible to know when to throw them away.
Organizing a food warehouse requires proper attention and care
Managing a food warehouse can be tricky, especially when it comes to keeping track of food expiration and spoilage. Unhealthy food storage practices can affect your business reputation and even lead to legal penalties and criminal charges.- Engaging the services of a trusted food warehouse provider will make it easy for you to run a highly compliant, genuine, safe, and profitable food business.
Cargoz provides various types and grades of food storage warehouses approved by the municipality in the Freezone and mainland locations across the UAE. - Check out how to find the right food-grade warehouses for rent in Dubai.
With efficient stock management, innovative warehousing technology and facilities, and strict adherence to food safety and storage regulations and standards, we help maintain the integrity of your products as they travel through our facility.
If you are looking for an ideal warehousing partner that can protect your food-grade inventory, optimize last-mile delivery, and streamline your entire warehousing and distribution process, get in touch with our team.