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TABLE 4. Preventive controls for food transportation safety hazards, as identified by the expert panel Preventive Controls for Food Transportation Safety Hazards (1) Appropriate packaging/packing of food products and transportation units (i.e., good quality pallets, correct use of packing materials) (2) Proper use of refrigeration equipment (3) Thermal insulated blankets over refrigerated/frozen items (4) Temperature monitoring/recording devices (5) Appropriate loading procedures for transportation units (6) Appropriate unloading procedures for transportation units (7) Use of appropriate transportation vehicles (i.e., dedicated vehicles when necessary) (8) Physical security measures for facilities and transportation units (cargo locks, seals, etc.) (9) Security checks and records of transporters (10) Use of tracking technologies (i.e., satellite (GPS) or radio frequency identification) (11) Appropriate documentation accompanying each load (i.e., tanker wash record, seal numbers, temperature readings, time in transit and time on docks, etc.) (12) Vendor or food transporter certification programs (13) Sanitation/Maintenance of transportation units, storage facilities, and/or containers (14) Sanitation/Maintenance of loading/unloading equipment (15) Proper disposal of wastewater (16) Employee awareness and training (17) Pest control programs (18) Good communication between shipper, transporter and receiver (19) HACCP or other management systems (20) Third party audits of systems/policies/procedures (21) Availability of handwashing/hygienic devices (22) Proper labeling and/or signage and/or transporter instructions (23) Management review of records Note: Preventive controls are listed in random order (as compiled by the expert panel).

packaging/packing of food products and transportation units (i.e., good quality pallets, correct use of packing materials).

Factor analysis
Given the degree of overlap among various food safety hazards, we expect that some underlying factors (root causes), which are smaller in number than the number of variables (i.e., number of food safety hazards), are mainly responsible for the covariance among our variables. For example, improper loading procedures may be a result of lack of employee training, improper holding practices for

food products awaiting shipment or inspection may result in improper refrigeration or temperature control of food products, and inadequate policies for the safe transport of food products may be responsible for the lack of security during transportation. Therefore, we performed a factor analysis to determine the number of underlying dimensions in the risk score data collected and how the information contained in the fifteen hazards could be combined to provide summary information. The factor analysis technique allowed us to generate an overall risk score that combines the information for all of

the 15 food safety problems. That is, we calculated the relationship among all of the variables and one underlying factor that we call “overall risk.” An index of overall risk for each food product sector is presented in Table 5 by mode of transportation. Each index (read by the column only) has a mean of 100 and standard deviation of 10. This provides an indication of the relative risk of the food product sectors for each mode of transportation. A value that exceeds 100 indicates that overall risk in the relevant sector is greater than average risk. Index values are rounded to the nearest tenth to highlight subtle differences in relative risk between food product sectors.

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Food Protection Trends - April 2010

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