From wikiMHEDA

Material Handling Headlines

Alexandria, VA – The National Wooden Pallet and Container Association (NWPCA) supports the suggestion by the Intelligent Global Pooling Systems (iGPS) plastic pallet company that the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) test pallets for food safety. To aid this process, NWPCA is submitting several studies already conducted by the European food industry to meet the European Commission (EC) Hygiene Directive introduced in 2000.

"The goal of the European Commission directive was to make a single hygiene policy effective from the farm to the table," says NWPCA President Bruce Scholnick. "The European food industry conducted a number of field and laboratory tests on wood and plastic pallets and found wood to be equal to plastic."

The German Institute for Food Technology carried out field tests comparing wood and plastic pallets used in the meat, dairy, vegetable and bakery sectors. They found "the overall bacterial count on commercial wooden pallets made from different types of wood was on average 15% lower than on plastic pallets."

A Nordic food industry study conducted field tests on the survival of bacteria commonly found in the meat industry. That study was compared against those in German laboratory tests. The overall conclusions were the same: "Bacteria didn't survive within the wood."

The Nordic project also did laboratory testing on the efficacy of cleaning wood and plastic pallets after contamination using normal detergent without antibacterial additives. The conclusion of that testing was that "bacterial survival is lowest on wood." A Swiss study on the hygienic aspects of wood cutting boards compared with polyethylene (PE) boards similarly demonstrated that "wood is just as easy to clean and is an acceptable hygienic material."

Read the full story at prnewswire.com.

RSS Feed  

Comment(s) Post a Comment   Be the first to comment on this News Item.  Comment on this News Item: Name: Company: Email: Comment: Security Code: Reload Image Enter the text shown in the box above. Comments that include profanity, personal attacks or antisocial behavior such as "spamming," "trolling," or any other inappropriate material will not be posted to the site and/or will be removed from the site. You are fully responsible for the content you post. Neither the Association nor the publisher of this website, Data Key Communications, Inc, are responsible for the contents thereof or the opinions of the contributors. Contact and company information entered must be true and accurate. By submitting a comment, you agree to these terms and conditions.

More Headlines Showing Page 1 of 200 1 2 3 4 5 Next›   Last›› 12/20/2011 Manufacturers To Double Internships ...more | Comments Industry leaders commit to double engineering internships. 12/20/2011 New Orders Grow In 2011 ...more | Comments Equipment orders grow 17.1 percent in first half. 12/20/2011 Coca-Cola Moves To Fuel Cells ...more | Comments Crown Equipment to provide trucks. 12/19/2011 Robotics Event Held In Indiana ...more | Comments Indiana Robotics Invitational inspires young people. 12/19/2011 BMW Seeks Methane-to-Hydrogen Conversion ...more | Comments Automaker launches $1 million project to convert landfill gas. 12/19/2011 CEMA Reports Growth ...more | Comments Booked Orders Index up 7 percent over 2010. 12/16/2011 Small Business Contracting Increases ...more | Comments Federal government shows increase in contracting dollars to small firms. 12/16/2011 U.S. Leads World In Hydrogen Forklifts ...more | Comments More than 1,500 forklifts deployed or ordered in 2010. 12/16/2011 Supply Chain Impacted By Social Media ...more | Comments Social media are having an effect on supply chains and procurement. 12/15/2011 NMHG Receives Top Plant Award ...more | Comments Berea, KY manufacturing facility receives 2011 Top Plant Award.