Fresh Produce Customers Are Asking

Does (Name of Your Grocery Store) Clean Their Trucks?

This question popped out of my friend’s mouth when she mentioned one of her favorite stores. Like most people who shop for fresh produce, they don’t really spend time thinking about how their romaine or carrots or whatever they buy in the produce departments get from the farm to their store. At least until they hear about Healthy Trailer LLC.

Given even the smallest amount of information about how fresh produce is transported, folks start wondering about the cleanliness of the trailers that bring their goods to their favorite market.

After all, in the average consumer’s mind, cleaning a trailer makes perfect sense. Right?

The news often has the latest update about another foodborne illness outbreak. Surely everybody involved in selling food products to the public would take every precaution available to make sure the trailer is clean.

It makes perfect sense.

The government definitely thinks that this is important. That’s why the FDA wrote transportation practices and requirements into FSMA. It’s called a ‘sanitary condition’ in the operations section of the law.

So here is my answer to the question, ‘Does (Name of your favorite store) clean their trailers?'

I don’t know. Many food companies have implemented various food safety practices into their transportation programs.

I can describe four general categories of trailer sanitation that we have encountered.

1. No, the carrier nor its customer do not have cleaning protocols other than ’clean what you see/smell.’
2. No, the carrier has not received written specifications from its customers, but because they don’t want a problem, they do get a washout, but not necessarily trailer sanitation (wash and sanitize)
3. Yes, the carrier has received requests from its customers, but do not require documentation that trailer sanitation has been completed prior to loading fresh produce.
4. Yes, the carrier has received and agreed to written specifications in the form of a contract, and yes, they are doing their best to meet the terms of those contracts.

So, my best answer is that if a company is involved in selling, receiving, buying, or in anyway distributing fresh produce to the ‘average’ customer, maybe it’s time to get serious about trailer sanitation.

We do not have data or information on how many of these customers have programs requiring a carrier to prove that a trailer has had proper sanitation.

So, my best answer? 

If any company is involved in selling, receiving, buying, or in anyway distributing fresh produce to the ‘average’ customer, maybe it’s time to get serious about trailer sanitation. Ask your carrier.