Help: Our cold room for frozen Nile perch fillets storage caught fire?
Hi! my dears.
Happy new year.
My fellow, we havehad a serious issue in our factory that need your help.
This week, our cold room for frozen Nile perch fillets storage got fire. This incidence happened while there were some packaged products. Not all cold store went on fire, heavy smoke was found in all the room, ashes and tar were found on top of the top cartons of products. only 20 cartons that caught fire but the rest are intact.
Could you please help me what could be the safety problem with this product if I have to still sale it for human consumption.
Dear Munda,
My first thought is that you may not be able to salvage much of what was in that room. But before I leap to that: I have a series of questions that will help me answer you.
How large of a room are we taking about? Is there visible soot and ash on the cartons? Are the cartons completely sealed? (No plastic overwrap visible from the top)
How many of the cartons have this covering them? What was used to extinguish the fire? Are any of those chemicals on the cartons? Has the smell permeated the fish at all? (test some product)
If any smells have gone through the packaging, I do not think this can be saved, but again more information is required.
Kind Regards,
Setanta
Change the label to smoked perch? :shades:
Just kidding. Happy new year to you as well.
I agree with Setanta. Also how is the perch packaged at current in your cold storage? It is in airtight plastic packaging in cases in boxes that are shrink wrapped? If there was multiple layers of packaging the smells may not have gotten into it.
Also make sure to get a root cause analysis on the fire and take measures to make sure it doesn't happen again.
Merle
Dear Munda,
Some good advice in previous posts.
I hope you have insurance. i think you are going to need it.
Must admit i did not realise frozen objects are flammable.
Rgds / Charles.C
Dear Satanta.
The cold room has a capacity of storing 200 tonnes and at the time of incidence there were 134 tonnes.
Yes there were visible soot and ash.
our cartons are just strpped. that is a fillet is individually put into plastic pouch, then arrenged on the carton and stripped. the outer carton is not wrapped.
There some smell on the products.
No fire extinguisher was applied.
Dear Munda,
My first thought is that you may not be able to salvage much of what was in that room. But before I leap to that: I have a series of questions that will help me answer you.
How large of a room are we taking about? Is there visible soot and ash on the cartons? Are the cartons completely sealed? (No plastic overwrap visible from the top)
How many of the cartons have this covering them? What was used to extinguish the fire? Are any of those chemicals on the cartons? Has the smell permeated the fish at all? (test some product)
If any smells have gone through the packaging, I do not think this can be saved, but again more information is required.
Kind Regards,
Setanta
The cold room has a capacity of storing 200 tonnes and at the time of incidence there were 134 tonnes.
Yes there were visible soot and ash.
our cartons are just strpped. that is a fillet is individually put into plastic pouch, then arrenged on the carton and stripped. the outer carton is not wrapped.
There some smell on the products.
No fire extinguisher was applied
Change the label to smoked perch? :shades:
Just kidding. Happy new year to you as well.
I agree with Setanta. Also how is the perch packaged at current in your cold storage? It is in airtight plastic packaging in cases in boxes that are shrink wrapped? If there was multiple layers of packaging the smells may not have gotten into it.
Also make sure to get a root cause analysis on the fire and take measures to make sure it doesn't happen again.
Merle
Fillets are individually put into the polyethelen pouch with on end not sealed, then arrranged onto the paper box carton with top cover and then stripped
Apart from what senior members suggested here, may I suggest to take the help of a third party laboratory to verify the product quality and safety. This can cover you with documentary evidence o sale your products.
If the packaging was not sealed, that increases (IMO) the liklihood that this cannot be salvaged.
What was used to put out the fire? I concur with Mapry2 that getting a lab involved would be wise. I would think that each question posed will need to have a satisfactory answer before moving forward.
S.
Also where are your products going? If they are to be eaten w/o further processing if they smell like a fire your are going to have a very hard time selling them just on a quality, not food safety, basis.
If they are going out to a further manufacturing step the purchaser may not accept them if they are going to taint the smell of their product.
Time for an all Employee Fish Fry!
Sorry to hear of your situation, donate it? Sell it to a cat food company? I'm afraid it has been adulterated and is unfit for sale.
Hi, Munda, and Happy New Year to you as well!
Sorry to hear of your loss and hopefully you're insured. Smoke from structural fires is extremely toxic and cares not about permission to ingress packaging. I would not recommend releasing your inventory for commerce, more so since it sounds as if the product is IQF in loose polyethylene wrap then a cardboard master.
If you are to follow the advice of 3rd party testing, then I would do the best to cull out the worst of the inventory (keep the center pallet stuff) for garbage, and quarantine the remainder.
Actually I would send samples to two labs as a comparison for micro, shelf life, heavy metals, and other environmental contaminants.
Also where are your products going? If they are to be eaten w/o further processing if they smell like a fire your are going to have a very hard time selling them just on a quality, not food safety, basis.
If they are going out to a further manufacturing step the purchaser may not accept them if they are going to taint the smell of their product.
Our product has to be cooked before eaten.