Any food manufacturer knows that one widespread case of contaminated food products can damage their company name, placing a hefty financial burden on them, sometimes resulting in a shut down.
As was the case in 2009 when salmonella was found in peanut butter manufactured by the Peanut Corporation of America. With nine people dying and nearly 22,500 getting sick from eating the product, the corporation was forced to shut its plants in Georgia, Virginia, and Texas.
Along with a manufacturer’s reputation being ruined, comes a financial loss from suits filed by those who ingested the contaminated product, along with the loss of your freight. Look at last year when over 500 million eggs were recalled due to salmonella. Now that’s a lot of freight.
Most recently, a case of contaminated cantaloupe has struck a widespread alert, already killing 17 people and causing more than 80 to become sick. These cases have spread nationwide, found in 19 states including Colorado, Texas, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Alabama, Arkansas, California, Illinois, Indiana, Montana, North Dakota, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and New Mexico.
The Food and Drug Administration, however, explains how hard it is to track down the source of contamination due to multistops and traceability problems.
As Forbes notes, these cantaloupes alone could have made five stops, between packaging, distribution, processing, retailer, etc, before consumers even purchase it, and who knows how many more times the food has been handled by carriers. Road Scholar Transport, on the other hand, cuts back on the handling of your products, which could lead to contamination, by offering 24-hour expedited service, dock-to-dock with NO transfers.
The FDA explains that “the more steps there are the harder it can be to link up each step to identify the source of an outbreak” (http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/10/02/general-us-listeria-farm-to-fork_8712631.html). With that being said, food associations are placing an emphasis on traceability throughout the supply chain.
One thing you can be assured of is that your food products did not get contaminated during transport when shipping with Road Scholar Transport.
Road Scholar can provide the exact route that the truck took with a time log noting every door opening/closing, temperature conditions within the trailer at any given time, and its exact location (right down to the breadcrumbs).
Do you know what was being transported before your products? Was there garbage in the trailer previous to your food? Or how about a chemical spill where your food is now placed? Road Scholar can provide a history of what was inside our trailer prior to your shipment, prior to that shipment, and so on. Talk about safety measures.
Over 48 million people develop illnesses from food contamination every year with nearly 3,000 dying from it (http://www.foodborneillness.com/).
Why risk your good name and the health of your customers by choosing the cheapest, most ill-equipped carrier to transport your freight? Visit www.roadscholar.com to learn more about Road Scholar’s services and security features.
On a scale of 1 (“not at all”) and 10 (“very”), how important is it for you to choose a knowledgeable, safe carrier to deliver your food products?
Although these prices are the highest they have been in two years, compare that with diesel rates back in October of 2008 when they reached almost $5-per-gallon.
