The law on cold transport does not sit in one book. Preparing for an inspection, or for a customer audit, most of the time goes on finding which answer lives in which text. The map below is meant to shorten that search.
Four questions, four addresses
| Question | Text |
|---|---|
| Which class must the equipment hold, and how is it certified | the Turkish regulation on special equipment for the carriage of perishable foodstuffs, and ATP |
| What must a vehicle or container satisfy on hygiene | Food Hygiene Regulation, Articles 13 and 14 |
| At what temperature must the product travel | the product's own communiqué or the animal hygiene regulation |
| What must the measuring device and the record be | the communiqué on temperature monitoring of quick-frozen foods; for medicines, the good distribution practice guideline |
What to remember on the equipment side
The regulation lists special transport equipment as vehicle bodies, containers and insulated transport containers. Holding an ATP certificate or a domestic perishable-goods carriage document is compulsory. For new equipment the first periodic inspection falls within six years of manufacture, with renewals of three years each. After fifteen years, heavily insulated equipment is treated as normally insulated.
What to remember on the hygiene side
Vehicles and containers are kept clean and designed to be cleanable; receptacles carry nothing but food; different foods carried together are adequately separated; effective cleaning takes place between loads; and vehicles and containers must be able to hold the appropriate temperature and to allow it to be monitored.
The map separates what each text says in the debate about cold transport without a reefer.
What to remember on the product side
The figure changes with the product: meat of domestic ungulates 7 °C, offal 3 °C, poultry meat 4 °C, minced meat 2 °C, raw milk 6 °C, fresh fishery products close to the melting point of ice, quick-frozen foods -18 °C with a short-term three-degree tolerance, and ice cream at most -18 °C with the same tolerance.
What to remember on the measurement side. Measuring and recording devices used with frozen food must conform to TS EN 12830, TS EN 13485 and TS EN 13486, and the business must hold the documents showing that conformity. Records are kept with date and time for at least a year. Recorders on ATP-certified equipment are verified annually. On the pharmaceutical side, monitoring equipment is calibrated at least once a year.
How to use the map
When a shipment file is assembled, the four headings become four annexes: the equipment certificate, hygiene and cleaning records, the product temperature limit with the acceptance record, and device conformity and verification documents. With all four in place, an inspection can close in a single sitting.
