The first thing that comes to mind for most of us when we think about spoilage is an image of the contents of our refrigerator the last time we had an extended power outage or the compressor burned out. Ice cream in a puddle on the bottom of the freezer, wilted lettuce in the vegetable drawer, sour milk and melted butter. Now magnify this several hundred times over and you will begin to get an idea of what a typical commercial cold storage or supermarket spoilage loss looks like.
Empty Shelves, Extra Expense
Aside from the trouble and expense of cleaning up the mess, there are issues with disposal, restocking and lost sales. I once asked a supermarket manager what his biggest headache was when dealing with a spoilage loss and I was surprised at his answer — customer perception.
He was most concerned about the negative impression left by empty shelves and mop buckets next to the freezer case. A close second was the interruption of daily operations. Deliveries and restocking slowed to a crawl during the cleanup.
In commercial cold storage, it is not unusual to have to move the product into refrigerated vans or even across town to another facility during the cleanup. Disposal of spoiled product, aside from being costly, can often involve government agencies. Due to high bacterial levels, spoiled product is often deemed hazardous waste, the disposal of which may require considerable bureaucratic red tape.
While the trouble and expense of a spoilage loss goes well beyond inconvenience, there is another, even greater concern. That is the risk of spoiled or contaminated product reaching the consumer. We have all read in the newspapers about multi-million-dollar lawsuits resulting from the consumption of tainted products in the m Protecting the Product
So what can facility operators do to prevent the headaches and expense associated with spoilage?
To answer this question, we should understand the basic functional needs of commercial cold storage and supermarkets. From those needs, we can develop procedures to protect the product from the moment it is received until it goes out the door.
Beyond generating revenue, the most basic operating needs of commercial and supermarket cold storage are:
• To verify and document the condition of the product upon receipt.
• To maintain product quality.
• To control operating and inventory costs.
• To minimize losses.
Each of these needs is linked, directly or indirectly, to the need to prevent spoilage.
Confirmation of product quality at the time the product is received is a fundamental part of today’s fast paced inventory control process. The facility needs to be able to identify poor quality product so that the product can be quickly replaced and arrangements made to return or dispose of the substandard product.
Market place.
Empty Shelves, Extra Expense
Aside from the trouble and expense of cleaning up the mess, there are issues with disposal, restocking and lost sales. I once asked a supermarket manager what his biggest headache was when dealing with a spoilage loss and I was surprised at his answer — customer perception.
He was most concerned about the negative impression left by empty shelves and mop buckets next to the freezer case. A close second was the interruption of daily operations. Deliveries and restocking slowed to a crawl during the cleanup.
In commercial cold storage, it is not unusual to have to move the product into refrigerated vans or even across town to another facility during the cleanup. Disposal of spoiled product, aside from being costly, can often involve government agencies. Due to high bacterial levels, spoiled product is often deemed hazardous waste, the disposal of which may require considerable bureaucratic red tape.
While the trouble and expense of a spoilage loss goes well beyond inconvenience, there is another, even greater concern. That is the risk of spoiled or contaminated product reaching the consumer. We have all read in the newspapers about multi-million-dollar lawsuits resulting from the consumption of tainted products in the m Protecting the Product
So what can facility operators do to prevent the headaches and expense associated with spoilage?
To answer this question, we should understand the basic functional needs of commercial cold storage and supermarkets. From those needs, we can develop procedures to protect the product from the moment it is received until it goes out the door.
Beyond generating revenue, the most basic operating needs of commercial and supermarket cold storage are:
• To verify and document the condition of the product upon receipt.
• To maintain product quality.
• To control operating and inventory costs.
• To minimize losses.
Each of these needs is linked, directly or indirectly, to the need to prevent spoilage.
Confirmation of product quality at the time the product is received is a fundamental part of today’s fast paced inventory control process. The facility needs to be able to identify poor quality product so that the product can be quickly replaced and arrangements made to return or dispose of the substandard product.
Market place.