With all of the claims and counter-claims being made about plastic and wooden pallets, I thought it might be useful to journey to the dreaded flashpoint of my old job where the flak hit the fan, the feared 3rd party food inspection auditor. I still get goosebumps thinking about those calls from security at the front gate of the distribution center, announcing that the Steritech auditor had arrived for his surprise inspection.
With this in mind, I asked some 3rd party food safety auditing providers to weigh in about pallet material and their work. After having spent a career in food distribution, I can tell you that from my experience, these folks powerfully shape the food safety attitude of the front line managers of their grocery industry clients.
My question to them was to whether the raging debate has had an impact on what they are seeing in the supply chain, and more generally, what are they looking for with respect to pallets when they conduct food safety audits.
Gary Smith, vice president of supply chain at The Steritech Group, Inc. said that he has not noticed any increased concern around pallets than has previously been the case. Steritech describes itself as the market leader in food safety and quality assurance, with over 50,000 clients.
“You don’t want to have direct contact (of food products) with a wood pallet in a food production plant,” Gary commented. “But if wood pallets are managed properly you are not going to have a problem. In a well-managed pallet program, wood pallets are going to pose extremely low risk.”
This point of view paralleled the opinion voiced by Louis Stratford, western regional director, AIB (American Institute of Bakers) Audit Services. “Reuse of pallets should not be an issue as long as they are in good condition,” he commented.
Best practices in pallet management, Gary continued, include such routines as not storing pallets outside, or if done so, to wash them before putting them back in use. “In a high risk, ready-to-eat environment, plastic or non-porous pallets are usually preferred in processing,” he added. Again, this has been practice for years, and doesn’t present a shift in pallet usage, other than with respect to the growth in the ready-to-eat segment over the last decade.
“Certainly, in high risk environments such as ready–to-eat, pallet management is at the top of the list in terms of risk management,” Gary reiterated. As part of the Steritech inspection process, auditors are prompted to inspect pallets to look for signs of spills and pallet damage. “Observing if pallets are clean and well maintained is part of their process,” he added.
Louis noted that AIB requires that a risk assessment be completed for wood pallets. This would cover issues such as dry storage, as well as inspection for damage and cleanliness. He noted that they do not have a requirement for a risk assessment on plastic pallets, so the auditor would not score them negatively in his audit, unless he noted a problem.
Gary cautioned that plastic pallets can also be damaged, and if observed, must be repaired or taken out of service.
Looking at the science behind the wood versus plastic debate, I talked with Dr. Dean Cliver, professor emeritus from University of California – Davis, who conducted cutting board studies several years ago to compare the hygienic properties of wood and plastic cutting boards using in commercial cooking operations. Cliver commented that his findings have been largely upheld by later studies.
Cliver said, “I believe, for want of evidence to the contrary, that wooden pallets are at least as safe as plastic, if not more. I also regard this as a low-priority consideration, given that the pallets do not contact food. I have no experience with RPCs: I would be most concerned about scarring of the food contact surfaces, which might provide a harbor for bacteria.”
Commenting on the challenges to promote sound science versus rhetoric in the food safety debate as it relates to pallets and packaging, Cliver said, “I understand that this is a competitive business, so some are willing to play the motivations game rather than deal with the science. On the other hand, I have been an adviser to various government agencies concerned with the safety of food and water, and my experience is that politics trump science at every turn.”
This suggests that winning the public relations and political battle is as important as winning the fact war. It should serve as some comfort to beleaguered pallet people that food safety auditors have not been swept up, at least to this point in time, in the media circus about pallets and food safety. Common sense and sound management practices still trump the trash talking, and that’s good news for everyone who works in the pallet industry.
