Carrier Sent Finished Good Foodstuff on Trailer with 6.1 Poisons
Hello,
My company shipped some pallets of foodstuff, all sealed finished goods, on a trailer which was later loaded with a pallet of 6.1 Hazardous material (poison). Before it could even make it to the customer, it was rejected by the carrier. They are now looking to return to us. There is a high dollar associated with the shipment so it's of some concern on should it be accepted, should some type of claim be filed, ect. The CFR states its not acceptable to ship and we are SQF certified, so we much follow all applicable regulatory guidelines.
My main question is, what would others do? Are there proposed corrective actions from the FDA on these types of situations? I would reckon its easy to say the material should be considered contaminated, but I am curious if there is another way?
The carrier is also saying there are new DOT regulations within the past week that made it not okay to ship 6.1 poison with foodstuff. The CFR looks to date back to 1999 so I am not buying what they are saying. Was there a DOT change anyone knows of?
I feel like scenario will spawn a new company policy.
Thanks for any help or insight!
Oh the joys of LTL... My view might be unique, but I have the shipping guys inspect the LTL's for obvious leakage or pest issues, but I never prohibited them from loading a pallet onto a mixed trailer. Reason being is that LTL's are going to unload/reload that pallet countless times between their DC's, and I can't even control what the driver's next stop will be from my plant. We addressed this with poly covers over the pallets, full shrink wrap, tamper tape on all sides, and placards indicating the pallet contains food. I've successfully defended these points and practices in multiple audits.
If the carrier is the one that loaded these things next to each other, it's on them. We rejected customer complaints in the past when the customer was the one who paid/scheduled the LTL and then tried to blame us when the LTL truck showed at their dock with mixed goods. Told them if they want a dedicated trailer, they need to pay for it. You could modify your program to prohibit loading next to incompatible materials at your site on LTLs, but once it's gone is 100% the responsibility of the carrier.