Food Safety Focus | Product Weight Limits

News | 08-10-2022

Hello All!

I hope this message finds all of you and your families safe and well.

Last week we spoke about product awareness, so this week I want to expand this awareness a little and talk about product weight limits and product packaging.

Knowing how much a product weighs and how resilient its packaging is, is an important part of product awareness. All too often product damage, equipment damage and even building damage occurs while team members are learning what products can be safely stacked on top of other products, when selecting cases or by full pallets, and also when learning the safest distribution of weight for pallets of products placed in the racking for storage.

For storage racking, a weight limit sign is attached to the racking in all storage areas to let you know the maximum amount of weight those racking beams can handle safely. It is very important that we are aware of the weight of the products we handle and that the weight of the pallets in storage does not exceed this weight limit posted on the racking.

When it comes to some pallets of frozen vegetables or frozen shrimp, the pallet weights can be as high as ½ a ton or more in weight for each pallet of product. Some of these products may even have their pallets of product double stacked together to save space because some frozen product cases are strong enough to support a tremendous amount of weight. Railcars of frozen vegetables are stacked from the floor on sheets of cardboard to the high ceiling of the railcar and the product cases support this heavy weight over long distances of bumpy travel. This does not mean that the racking, pallets or the lifts are rated to handle this kind of weight per pallet though, so be careful and aware of what the product weights are for each pallet of product we handle. If the system is telling you to do something unsafe, like double stack an item that is obviously too heavy and place it in the top racking, for instance, bring it to the attention of a supervisor so it can be addressed immediately. The weight limits of a forklift will change the higher up you raise and extend the forks of your lift, so be careful and aware of what these limits are.

When stacking products together by the case or by full pallet, we must make sure we do not crush anything. Thankfully, the pickline is designed to help make sure we stack products together properly, with a strong base and lighter products placed on top. If products are not put in the proper place on the pickline, product damage can occur. Let a supervisor know if a product is too heavy or light for the area on the pickline it’s located, so it can be addressed before any damage occurs when stacking, please.

As always, thank you so much for all that you do each and every Day to provide safe food for our families!

Justin Straka

Corporate Food Safety Manager

Food Safety Focus | Product Weight Limits

Valued Team Member Nominees

Valued Team Member
Nominees