Q. Sometimes trailers or containers arrive at our facility without a seal, and the drivers indicate that the seal was removed by a regulatory authority during an inspection. What should we do?
A. Seals may be broken by regulatory agencies at some point in the process. We know that customs, state patrols at weigh stations, traffic checkpoints, etc. will remove seals to inspect the shipment. Some agencies reseal the transport, but others will not.
The supplier or transportation company responsible for those materials during transport must recognize this. A contingency plan should be in place to address seals that may be removed to ensure security of the load during transport to the customer and account for the seals that were removed.
Before we discuss the specifics, we need to understand where the industry is with transportation. There is a law in place for the safe transportation of food, but there are no regulations to define the law. The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) specifies that by July 2012 the Secretary shall publicize regulations to address the safe transport of food. It has been suggested that the Sanitary Food Transportation Act of 2005, which addresses food safety and security challenges, will be implemented.
There is a security risk during the transportation of food products. If the product is not properly secured during transport on trailers, railcars, containers, or other vehicles, it is vulnerable to tampering.
Theft is another security issue to keep in mind. As James Morton, national chairman of the American Trucking Association said, “Recently, food and drink has accounted for 20% of all cargo theft on trucks. It is the number one stolen commodity in the United States.”
Suppliers and transportation companies need to come to an agreement on how to address the issue of seals being removed by regulatory authorities. If a seal is removed, a record should be obtained from the agency indicating which seal(s) were removed and kept with the shipment. If the seal is not replaced by the agency, the transporter should have additional seals available to reseal the vehicle and record the seal numbers.
The supplier must also communicate with the customer to explain its program. The customer receiving the food product should review the seals and seal numbers on the vehicle and compare these to the bill of lading or other shipping documents. Any seals that were replaced during transport should be verified.
Customers should review their policies regarding handling and inspecting inbound shipments. A blanket policy to reject all loads without the original seal is difficult to maintain. There should be an intensified inspection of the materials when original seals are not in place. If changed seals can be accounted for, the risk of possible tampering or theft should be minimized. If a vehicle is received and seals are missing or have been changed and there is no record of these changes, there is a higher risk that tampering or theft may have occurred.
The customer must assess this material and the vehicle and make the ultimate decision of how they are going to handle the situation. Most likely, the customer receiving the product will probably choose to reject this shipment.
To minimize the concern of tampering or theft, the food industry must understand some of the challenges faced during the transport of its products. Communication between the supplier, transporter, and customer is vital to determine how shipments will be properly sealed and documented when a regulatory agency removes a seal for inspection and may or may not reseal the vehicles.
Lance Reeve, Director of Food Defense, AIB International