Creating clean crate confidence
October 1st 2006 With well over a million items passing through its plant a year and hygiene laws more stringent than ever, for Crate rental company, PHS Teacrate, meticulous cleaning of every item is essential.
PHS Teacrate provides Returnable Transit Packaging (RTP) products for the food industry, including pallets, food trays and crates.
Operations supervisor, Sean Pinches, explains: "Hygiene rules differ depending on the product being carried. Every pallet of cleaned crates has to be swab tested and the level of contamination measured using bioluminescence technology. The maximum reading for dairy products, is 150 Relative Light Units (RLU), whereas for meat products it is 500 RLU. To put that in context, the average person's 'clean' hand would give a reading of around 30,000."
All test data is recorded and available to the customer. Only items from one type of food product are cleaned at a time to prevent cross contamination and after cleaning and checking, crates are wrapped using a protective plastic material to avoid contamination on their return journey.
Teacrate prides itself on reacting quickly to customers' needs, meeting most orders for RTP and cleaning only contracts within 24 hours. More articles from PHS Washrooms: | 
