New program helps owner-operators meet new food hauling standards

A new program is available to help owner-operators meet the new standards for hauling food under the Food Safety Modernization Act.A new program is available to help owner-operators meet the new standards for hauling food under the Food Safety Modernization Act.

A new program available to food hauling owner-operators is aimed at helping drivers meet the Food and Drug Administration’s new Food Safety Modernization Act requirements.

Iron Apple created the FSMA Express program, which provides owner-operators with FSMA compliance forms and documents, as well as a 30-minute FSMA training program that includes a certificate of completion.

Owner-operators who subscribe to the service receive a yearly audit and certification, training materials, digital record-keeping and more.

“We’ve been hearing from several of our newest customers, the big shippers are really putting the pressure on them to be FSMA compliant,” says Iron Apple COO High Latimer. “Not only training, but to have the proper documents and digital record-keeping in place. There’s plenty of transportation folks out there who still have no idea how to meet this challenge, so we are doing our very best to help as many as we can so they won’t lose these shipper contracts.”

While the new law, which went into effect April 6, exempts carriers that make less than $500,000 in annual revenue, many shippers still require all carriers to meet the new standards. The main requirements for carriers under the new law include having adequate equipment for food transportation, keeping the food at the correct temperature, preventing contamination of ready to eat food from touching raw food, training and record-keeping. More on requirements for carriers can be seen here.