Battle with Bacteria

Plastic pallets mean business in battle with bacteria and bugs

Recent safety scares have shaken up the biggest names in food manufacturing and retail, forcing them into costly product recalls and undermining customer confidence. Despite increased legislation, events over the last months reveal that there can be no let up in the battle to ensure food production is safe. MD of goplasticpallets, Jim Hardisty, believes hygienic pallets are starting to play an important part.

“Health and safety has never been so high on the commercial agenda. Although the EU are regularly introducing new hygiene laws which affect all food businesses including caterers, primary producers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers, problems still occur even though standards have never been higher.

“The big names have played an important role in exerting pressure on everyone to improve hygiene and their influence has helped to drive standards up. Some businesses started to switch to plastic pallets more than ten years ago, having recognised that wooden pallets were inherently dusty, created the right environment for mould, could be easily contaminated and provided a habitat for pests. In ultra hygienic environments the new super smooth plastic pallets presented none of these problems. There were added safety features too, because they didn’t splinter or break in the same way as wood and carried specified loading capacities. Crucially, steam cleaning could be performed quickly and easily.

“Today, the big food producers and drinks companies have whole departments dedicated to hygiene issues. They are usually the first to comply with new legislation and invest in state of the art facilities, but as recent events show even they don’t get it 100% right all of the time.”

“If suppliers want to do business with the big boys also have to demonstrate the highest level of professionalism. Hygienic pallets have become the accepted standard in ultra clean environments but the use of plastic pallets at any point in the process in the manufacture and distribution of food is fast becoming the norm.

“Smaller companies maybe nervous about the cost, but they shouldn’t be. Although hygienic pallets do cost more on paper they are highly economic over time. Don’t forget, a plastic pallet has a life expectancy of ten to fifteen years – more than five times that of a wooden one. In a closed loop operations an ultra hygienic pallet offers significant return on investment.”

“We are continuously expanding and enhancing our range including super smooth hygienic products and highly durable plastic pallets for repeated long term use in pools. Let’s face it, with this type of pallet customers and suppliers are in no doubt that you are a serious operator and really do mean business.”

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