On the Road

Ready for Shipping

When you are shipping fish or fish products, you should not keep cleaners, nets and other equipment of supplies in the storage area of your truck. These items could contaminate the fish and make them unsafe to process or to eat.

Cleaning the Truck

The truck you use to deliver fish or fish products to your customers needs to be cleaned and sanitized before it is loaded. By following these five steps, you can make sure it is clean.

Whether you’re using a truck or a van, fish and fish products must be kept cold and free of contamination during the time it takes you to deliver them to your customers.

Following proper shipping procedures will help keep the quality of your product high.

Points to Remember:

• The five steps you must follow to make sure your truck is clean enough to transport fish or fish products
• The temperature fish and fish products should be kept at while they are in your truck

Five Steps to Cleaning your Truck

1. Empty and Clean Out the Truck
   Use a broom, brush or squeegee to sweep up any pieces of fish, blood, offal and any other kind of waste from the back of the truck.
   
   
2. Rinse and Disinfect the Truck
   Use a hose to remove smaller pieces of waste that were missed in the dry cleaning step. Rinsing also prepares the truck for the next step.
   
   Make sure you read the directions on the label of your disinfectant (cleaner) bottle and mix it with the right amount of warm water. Scrub the inside of the truck with the cleaner and water mixture, making sure you cover every inch of the storage area of the truck. The label will also tell you how long the cleaner should be left on before rinsing.
   
   

3. Rinsing the Truck
   It is important to rinse off the cleaner completely with warm water. Cleaning products and other chemicals may be toxic and if any is left behind it may contaminate your next load of fish products.
   

4. Sanitizing the Truck
   Once the truck has been completely rinsed, it is time to sanitize. Sanitizer helps kill all the bacteria that may be left behind after the cleaning process. Remember to read the label on the bottle of sanitizer carefully and use it as directed.
   

5. Drying the Truck
   Use a squeegee to wipe up any remaining dampness. Bacteria grows more quickly on wet surfaces, so it is important to make sure the truck is completely dry before loading it again.

Keeping the Fish Cold

Fresh fish must be kept cold at 4°C (39°F) or colder. Frozen fish must be kept frozen at -21°C (-5°F). If fish is stored at a temperature in the “danger zone” 4°C to 60°C (39°F to 140°F) harmful bacteria could grow that would make it unsafe to eat.

Whether you use a refrigerated truck or totes with ice to keep your fish or fish products cold, you need to use a thermometer. Check the thermometer often to make sure the refrigerated truck or tote is keeping the fish or fish products at the right temperature.

If You Use Ice to Keep Fish Cold

If you use ice in totes to keep fish cold, please follow these safety guidelines:

• To prevent contaminating the fish with harmful bacteria, ice should be made from water that is safe to drink. Each load should get a fresh supply of ice.
  
  
• To prevent damage to the fish flesh, use flaked ice.
  
  
• Fish should be layered properly in totes – a few inches of ice on the bottom followed by a single layer of fish, followed by a few more inches of ice, followed by another single layer of fish and so on until you reach the top. The top layer should be a few inches of ice.

Loading the Fish

Raw products should be kept in refrigerated containers and stored away from processed or ready-to-eat products.

Load the biggest containers on the bottom and stack smaller containers on top.

All products should be kept in refrigerators or totes filled with ice. Never ship fish products loose (outside of a container) on ice in your truck. All containers on your truck should have a lid or a door that closes tightly to keep the fish products inside cold or frozen, and protected from contamination.

What is Contamination?

Food that is contaminated is not safe to eat.

Food can become contaminated when harmful bacteria or chemicals move from :

• people or equipment onto food, or
• from one food to another.
  

| Top of Page |