Letter to the Editor

I read this article [Pallets: Wood or Plastic?, July-August 2011] with some dismay. I would have valued the article more if you had used a more balanced approach in your reporting by talking to food distributors and/or manufacturers as well as the pallet industry. 

Every food manufacturer and distributor can give examples of wood pallets contaminating food products—pieces of pallet wood or nails lodged into bags, cases, even consumer packaging, or live pests or rodent excrement brought in on pallets. I have experienced this in my personal life as well as my professional life. When my son was about seven, he poked the roof of his mouth with a two-inch long piece of pallet wood from a frozen waffle. Your ending quote stated, "The reality is that anything can get contaminated," [Bruce] Scholnick said, "but there is no evidence that any foods have been contaminated by any pallets." I challenge Mr. Scholnick to spend time in any food distribution center or manufacturing plant and he will hear that this is simply not true.

As a food safety professional, however, my biggest concern with pallets is not pests or even foreign material. We can visually inspect for these issues. My biggest concern is microorganisms. It is a food industry best practice to not allow wood in wet processing areas, as wood is porous and has the potential to harbor microorganisms. This becomes difficult when a manufacturer uses pallet quantities of ingredients in their products that are shipped on wood pallets. As a rule, ingredient suppliers are not willing or financially able to ship only on plastic pallets. I recommend placing these wood pallets on non-porous plastic pallets (which can be cleaned and sanitized) to keep them off the wet floor and reduce the potential for microbiological contamination of the environment.

I am glad that the pallet industry is working on a certification process, but I hope they seek the advice of the food industry and take all potential risks into account as they plan their certification requirements.

Jan, Supply Chain Manager

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