5 Best Ways to Transport Pet Food
Manufacturers transporting pet food need to ensure their product arrives at vet offices, stores and pet owners’ homes in great condition. Here are the five best ways to ensure you effectively deliver your product.
1. Prepare Your Products for Transportation
Before you transport your pet food, it pays to invest in quality consumer packaging. Quality packaging not only attracts buyers, but it protects your pet food during transit.
If you’re manufacturing large bags of pet food, they should be double-lined or made from a material that’s hard to puncture or tear. If you’ll be transporting canned pet food, make sure any pop-top lids can’t come loose easily.
2. Stay Compliant
The United States Postal Service has requirements for shipping perishable foods, including pet food. Your state may also have its own requirements, as can any destination where your products are headed. The National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) has its own set of rules about transporting food and pet food. It’s important to be aware of any changes to the laws or regulations and ensure your labels, packaging, food and transportation system are compliant.
3. Package Food Correctly
Layers of packaging materials protect your pet food and ensure customers get blemish-free packaging at the point of sale. Heavy corrugated cardboard boxes are ideal for shipping cans of food or heavy volumes of pet food. Infill — the material that fills the spaces between your products — prevents shifting and protects your pet food. You may also want to shrink-wrap your packages for additional protection and to keep food fresh.
For refrigerated or frozen pet food, use water-resistant packaging to prevent water damage to the food. Use dry ice and frozen gel packs to keep the product fresh.
4. Choose the Right Transportation Option
If you’re shipping refrigerated or frozen pet food, temperature-controlled trucks or planes can get your food to its destination quickly without spoilage. There may be disruptions in the supply chain and delays with ground and air transport, so research your options carefully to make sure your pet food arrives in a timely way.
5. Consider Plastic Pallets From Polymer Solutions International Inc.
Wood pallets can absorb moisture and can get covered in mold. For NSF-compliant pallets, Polymer Solutions International (PSI) has developed industry-leading one-piece ProGenic® hygienic plastic pallets. Our pallets are ideal for shipping pet food because they keep products off the ground and away from surfaces while reducing the risk of water damage, mold damage and other dangers that can be common with traditional wood pallets.
PSI is a global leader in reusable material handling products for a variety of industries. We keep your product safe, so it gets into customers’ hands in good condition. Contact us today for a quote or to learn more.
