Product losses during transit are so common and seemingly inevitable that retail managers generally assume that some products will be damaged during transportation. Part of management training for most grocery and consumer goods retailers involves learning how to properly record, sort, and store products that arrived damaged so the retailer can get replacements or credit…
If you’ve worked in the supply chain for any length of time, you’ve seen how product overhang on the edges of pallets can result in products and packaging being crushed or damaged. When the goal is to get as many products on a pallet as possible, it’s easy to create loads that aren’t an optimal…
Recently, the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) has expanded the responsibility of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for ensuring food safety to encompass all parts of the food supply chain, including transportation. Along with this legislation has come a raft of new FDA requirements, many of which are still being ironed out. The FSMA…
Recently, the risk of contamination in the food supply chain was underlined when Tyson Foods recalled more than 36,000 pounds of chicken nuggets due to potential rubber contamination. While no one was hurt and only a few people reported finding small pieces of blue rubber in the packages of nuggets, the recall still cost Tyson…
Most of the attention-grabbing headlines around the grocery supply chain have to do with Amazon, Whole Foods, and the future of grocery delivery to the home. It’s a tricky model to get right, and even Amazon hasn’t quite managed to make home grocery delivery safe, profitable, and attractive for the general public. Yet, in spite…
Growing up, my grandfather was famous for his sneer of disdain whenever he was presented with a chicken dinner. It resembled Elvis’ own sneer and to this day is the purest expression of distaste I’ve ever seen. The reason for it was that as the youngest son of the family, my grandfather was tasked with…