Meat and Meat Products:

 

 Meat and Meat Products:

These products can be fresh, frozen or chilled. A large parts of meat products are air shipped fresh or chilled.

They must be kept under cold conditions at all times during the whole distribution process. One of the major reasons is that bacteria and enzymatic activity can significantly affect both meat quality and safety as temperature increase. Results from such attacks are: initial color changes, unpleasant odor and bad taste and in the worst cases there is a possibility of food poisoning. To avoid these effects, it is necessary to keep the meat at low and constant temperatures.   

This critical temperature is usually 5  C so as product temperature range between -1  C to 3  C should be maintained at all times.

6. Seafood:

Seafood is any form of sea life regarded as food by humans. Seafood prominently includes fish and selfish.  

Fresh Seafood having soft muscle structure is makes it susceptible to physical damage and highly sensitive to temperature

fluctuation. It is essential to maintain the product temperature at or near 0  C throughout the transportation chain.

Since this environmental temperature is not consistently available throughout, pre-cooling to

within -1  C to 1  C and adequate packaging is essential.

Live Seafood must be handled as live animal's consignment. Before dispatch live seafood must be pre-conditioned to the required temperature for the respective species in water. Only strong, important and active animals without any damage should be selected for transportation. The transport duration for live seafood should not be exceed 48 hours to reduce number of death. Transport boxes should be handled with care and kept in proper temperature conditions.

Frozen Seafood the ideal temperature to preserve the products is below -23  C. Freezing is one of the best means of preservation,

but as with chilling, temperature must be kept constant and monitored throughout the cold chain.

All shipments should use plastic liners between the load and the structure of the container or the aircraft. Absorbent pads should

be placed inside the packages to absorb possible leaks as well as melting water from Wet or Dry ice.

7. Cheese and Dairy Products:

absorb water from the environment very easily. Therefor they should be packed and kept in a cool, dry and ventilated environment. It is more important to keep these products in a low humidity environment and to separate loads from potential odor contaminants such as fruits and vegetables, seafood or meat because they can easily absorb odor. Dairy products should not be in direct contact with floors or walls. 

Cheese must be kept at temperature of between +0  C and 4  C throughout the transport chain and should be packed in an

insulated packaging solution together with a Dry ice which keep the temperature low during transport, from origin to destination.

8. Eggs: Egg contain an empty part named air chamber. It is located at the widest end of egg and can be subject to stress

during air shipment. Heat is the principle source of evaporation of the eggs water content.

The shelf life at 4  C is from 4 to 5 weeks whereas when stored at -0.5  C It is about 5 to 6 months.

Eggs must be placed in their initial packing with their points placed at the bottom in order to maintain

the egg yolk in the center and the air chamber above. The container must be closed in order to limit the

loss of moisture inside the eggs.

Requirement temperature is CRT 15to 2 5  C

Code: PER 

9. Hatching Eggs (e.g. Fertile Chicken Eggs): contain living thing and as such must be handled with care and maintained

 under certain environmental conditions. When transporting fertilize chicken eggs, it is important to minimize the time in transit as

 the number of fertilize eggs that retain their fertility decreases over time. 

The optimum storage temperature for fertilize chicken is between 12 and 18  C.

this temperature range should be maintained

whenever possible.

10. Pharmaceuticals: Pharmaceutical products are defined as substances intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation,

treatment or prevention of disease. These products primary purpose use is achieved through chemical or biological action or

by being metabolized by the body. Products included in this category are drugs, biological products such as vaccines and human

 products and medical devices. Pharmaceutical products have strict storage requirements for among other aspects,

temperature and relative humidity in order to preserve their quality and safety.

CHAPTER 5 - PACKAGING

 

Packaging must be of a standard that will help maintain the condition of the contents and minimize the effects of transportation time and environmental change (temperature, humidity, etc.) in addition packaging methods must prevent contamination, contain any spillage or leakage and withstand the stresses of handling throughout the entire transportation.

Temperature and handling are leading aspects in the transport chain of perishable products and staff should always involve in the cold chain.

The IATA Perishable Cargo Label and "THIS WAY UP" label should be affixed or imprinted on the side of the box. Example:

Methods of packaging depend largely on the nature of the product and its "perishability" Some frozen meat and carcasses may be shipped in a virtually unpackaged state in specialized ULD's.

Single and combination packaging

More unaffected against physical damage may be packed directly into a transport package (e.g. Fiberboard box) holding the package is referred to as single packaging.

Product that is placed into a plastic bag (inner packaging) to contain humidity and prevent drying out placed inside a fiberboard box (outer packaging) to provide physical protection. If both are used for transportation is referred to as combination packaging.

Additional Protective Systems:

•        Pest Netting in the form of fine plastic net fitting tightly over the outside of the pallet to prevent the passage of insects and pests. It is required by regulatory authorities in some countries.

2. Polymer films (Shrink Wrap) wrapped around the pallet to protect from rain and

 help to contain any leakage from the load. 

3. Insulating sheeting which is wrapped around the pallet and secured with tape

 or strapping to provide thermal insulation and physical protection of the load.

4. Cargo covers made form metalized laminates, bubble-wrap or white reflective material which fits the entire pallet to provide thermal protection, and which may give additionally security against rain and pests.

5. Thermal blankets are thicker and heavier versions of cargo covers, usually made from a laminate of an insulating foam. 

6. Polystyrene insulation in the form of boards or panels be used to add light weight and economical thermal protection for palletized goods. To protect from the heat rising from the ground, panel placed on the pallet before load the cargo on it.

General Packaging Types and Materials:

1. Fiberboard Packaging: Corrugated fiberboard is widely used for transportation of perishables. PE-coated corrugated or coated fiberboard can better tolerate humid conditions. Every product that has to deal with hydro-cooling, ice-cooling or high moisture conditions should be packaged in coated fiberboard boxes.

Fiberboard may have slots, openings or holes that let cooling medium enter the box and cool contain product. These holes are made on the sides of the boxes.

2. Expanded Polystyrene Packages (EPS): packages made of molded expanded polystyrene provide good thermal insulation for chilled or frozen goods against ambient temperatures. They are lightweight, shock absorbing, waterproof and suitable for pointed or sharp-edged objects. In order to increase the external strength additional support can be provided with laminated plastic sheets.

Heavily loaded EPS boxes must also be secured with bands.

3. Inflexible Plastic Packaging:

This type of packaging is often referred to as a punnet or clamshell. 

Such clamshells or punnets having typically wholes, especially the lid, to allow air to circulate and prevent moisture or steam which can damage the product inside. It is used for very fragile products such as berries, herbs, mushrooms, etc. which do not tolerate shipment in large containers well

4. Flexible Plastic Packaging: are used in many ways to protect perishable goods as primary packaging or in additional protective systems. With many advantages including light weight, flexibility to accommodate diverse shaped products, water resistance but do not provide much physical protection and chances to tearing open.

Cooling Agents, Absorbents and Packaging Securing Material:

Some shippers use and some airlines provide refrigerated ULD's or active temperature controlled ULD's. The more common method of maintaining perishables within a desired temperature range is to include a quantity of wet ice, dry ice or gel packs either in the packaging with the contents or with the packages when loaded in or on a ULD.

The cooling agent maintains a constant temperatures during this process, keeping its surrounding cool until all the cooling agent melted.

The different cooling agents are described as follows:

1. Wet Ice: is a low cost and widely available cooling agent, but it has a limited life and is not effective in extremely low temperatures. The water comes from its melting means that most perishable packed in or carried with wet ice will be classified as "Wet Cargo" and strict packaging's standards apply. Melt water can also damage the goods if it comes in contact with them.

2. Dry Ice: is more effective than wet ice but it can damage some perishables when placed in direct contact with the product. Dry Ice is classified as "dangerous goods" and documentation, labeling, marking, loading and other rules must be observed as published in the IATA DGR Regulations. It should be noted a Shipper's Declaration is not required when dry ice is shipped with perishable goods as a cooling agent but specific entries then required on air waybill.

There are restriction on the storage of dry ice with certain other types of loads. As there may be limitation on the total quantity of dry ice is allowed in any one aircraft it is recommended to check with the operator in advance in order to avoid potential delays.

Dry ice is not suitable for use with fresh fruits and vegetables and some types of pharmaceuticals and human products because of the risk of freezing or chilling damage.

3. Gel Packs: these contain water to which salts and/or gelling agents are added. Salts reduce the freezing point so that the ice formed can maintain a lower temperature than zero degrees centigrade. Gelling agents convert the liquid to a gel to reduce the risk of leakage if the package is damaged. The most common types are strong, rectangular bricks, flexible, sealed plastic bags of various sizes and sheets of connected plastic sachets.

4. Absorbents: as leakages can cause serious damage to the aircraft these must be avoided at all times. Absorbents can be used within product packaging and on ULD level and if used must be of sufficient capacity to absorb the liquid from the product and or cooling agent.