Due to legal restrictions and temperature specifics, food shipping requires a high level of care. For you, it is important to choose the best food shipping company in order to fit your specific needs. When delivering sensitive products, like food, communication is one of the most important things, since you will want to know where your package is at all times. No matter what food you choose to ship, you want a transportation company that will ease the whole process for you.
When searching for a carrier, it is necessary to look at many food shipping companies that you can. Make sure that you compare it to one another while looking at experience, reviews, and communication styles. Of course, the price of shipping is important as well, but you might not want to go with the cheapest option. In this article, you will be able to read about how to ship perishable food. Let’s take a look.
How to ship perishable food
Food is considered to be perishable if it is likely that it will spoil, decay, or become unsafe to use if it is not frozen at or below 0ºF or if it is not refrigerated at or below 40ºF. Keeping food at a specific temperature will slow down bacterial growth and it will prevent foodborne diseases or bacteria. Food that you need to keep at a specific temperature includes poultry, meat, fish, dairy products, fruit, and eggs.
Do not forget about the food shipping packaging
Whether you choose to hire a carrier who has reefer shipping or one that does not have refrigerating options, it highly recommended that your food is packaged. In the list below are the items that you will need in order to keep your food at the right temperature:
- Insulated containers – you should invest in strong, insulated Styrofoam containers for the food you need to keep frozen or cool.
- Coolants – depending mostly on what you are shipping, you can either choose to line the containers or you can add cooling agents like dry ice or gel packs inside the containers.
- Alternative insulation – if you choose not to use the Styrofoam containers, there are alternative options that have good insulation. These choices include insulated pads, Styrofoam cut sheets, insulated liners, and air-filled insulated liners.
- Absorbents – if the food is likely to defrost, make sure that you put absorbent pads on top of the covers. If needed, double bag it or wrap it.
- Padding – once you place the food in the packaging, pack and pad will minimize movement during transportation. You can also consider wrapping the materials in bubble wrap.
- Seal food – by wrapping the food in shrink or plastic wrap, you will be able to keep it fresh.
How to ship frozen food
Shipping frozen food is quite similar to refrigerated food. However, according to linbro.com, the most important difference is that if you want to ship frozen food, you will need to use dry ice in order to ensure that the food stays frozen long enough. Keep in mind that dry ice can only be used when shipping within your state, you cannot use dry ice when shipping internationally.
Conclusion
As you can see, it is not difficult to organize a carrier to transport your food to another place, however, keep in mind that you should create a listing of the companies, do some research on them, get quotes of the estimated price of transportation, and check the websites for users’ experience and reviews.
