The food and beverage industry is one of the UK’s largest markets for production and distribution of goods. It currently employs 430,000 people in the manufacturing sector alone, as well as 4.3m people being employed in the entirety of the UK supply chain.
The importance of this industry is reflected in the turnover of over £105bn which is 20% of the total UK manufacturing making it the biggest nationwide. Internationally, in 2019, food and beverage exports reached £23bn covering 220 countries worldwide. Domestically, food and beverage is responsible for 25% of all miles covered by heavy goods traffic in the UK each year. This vast supply chain produces significant volumes of goods that need transporting safely. With such high volume, however, comes the relating security threats which are evident in many forms.
The security threats vary within the food and beverage products based on their specific transit requirements. For example, breakages during transit of alcohol bottles, or spoilage of fresh fruits and vegetables due to the lack of temperature control also have the added risk of contamination. Preparations therefore need to be made to combat such negative external and internal influences which pose a threat to the integrity of the goods and the supply chain. Mega Fortris UK has the capability to provide a wide range of security solutions including seals and load secure products that offer comprehensive protection against such a wide range of threats.
Food and Beverage Threat Awareness
Possible security breaches to goods across the food and beverage industry are diverse and have different impacts on goods. Find out about each issue and their countermeasure below.
Food and Beverage Sealing Goods and Tamper Evidence
Secure Sealing of goods is imperative since food and beverage goods are prime targets recording the most cargo theft incidents (536) of any product type across Europe in 2020 according to TAPA. Effective securing of truck/ trailer doors, containers and packaging of goods throughout transit offers a higher level of protection and eliminates potential security threats.
There are multiple options available:
Mega Fortris provide multiple high security Bolt seals for containers and ground transport that are ISO 17712 C-TPAT compliant and UK Customs Accepted to ensure high quality performance. Ideal for use on all shipping and intermodal container or larger ground transport.
This is a unique bolt seal that features a unique 2 colour high impact ABS shell which provides improved product definition, visibility and identification. It also features a one-way locking mechanism that prevents spin and friction attacks. The pin and Bush are molded with high impact ABS to provide high tamper evidence and are also etched with identical sequential numbers. Customised marking of logos text and barcodes with permanent laser marking is also available.
This seal features a high strength carbon steel pin that increases both strength and security of the seal. The barrel is made from high impact ABS for increased tamper evidence. This seal also uses permanent laser marking for barcodes, logos and sequential numbers for maximum security and identification.
Mega Fortris also offer a wide range of cable seals that provide an added level of security with excellent strength and tamper evident properties. Each seal is ISO 17712 certified and UK Customs Accepted to provide high and medium levels of security to goods. These seals offer high versatility in applications from shipping containers, heavy trucks, trailers, rail carriages, tankers and smaller commercial vehicles.
The MCLZ is available in 5mm, 3.5mm and 2.5mm cable widths providing high strength and unmatched protection against tampering attacks. No other cable seal offers such high tamper evident features and protection against tamper attacks and also has a locking mechanism that is protected against picking. Shock proof plastic is moulded over the zinc lock body providing clear signs of tampering and also enables clear laser marking on the surface.
This cable seal has a zinc body which is overmoulded in a two colour, high impact ABS material. The use of ABS increases the tamper evident properties because any attempted manipulation /attack will clearly show. The two colour design also allows increased visibility for laser markings for names, logos, sequential numbers and barcodes, and the grooved surface add increased protection of the serial numbers/ markings.
The Fast seal is a plastic pull tight seal that is FDA approved for securing food goods and is available in PP or Nylon based on the strength requirements. This seal has a metal clip locking mechanism for improved pull strength along with heat stacking technology used to fix the cap to the seal body that cannot be broken without clear signs of tampering. The flag of the Fast seal also supports permanent laser marking of the sequential numbers and names. This seal is ideal for securing Tankers, smaller vehicles and box containers.
Our tamper evident labels are used for securing and adding tamper evident solutions to boxes, packages, pallets and small commercial vehicles. We provide tamper evident seals in both non and partial residue labels dependent upon what application and security feature is required. Both versions will present a clear tamper evident message when labels are removed, and they cannot be reapplied to the application without showing a clear VOID message. These labels are also marked with sequential numbers, barcodes and can be customized to size and print requirements.
Food and Beverage Movement/ Physical Shock Protection
Food and beverage items can be highly vulnerable to stress caused by unbalanced loads or physical impacts when the goods are in transit. This can lead to breakages, packaging buckling, damage to goods, spillages that in turn can result in a high cost of losses.
Dunnage bags are an effective cargo securing method used for filling voids in containers or lorries to prevent movement or tilting that can put stress on goods. The bags are available in paper or woven materials, and a range of sizes depending on the load type or requirements. Each is fitted with a mega flow inflator for efficient inflation and tight fit.
These are an economical alternative to wooden pallets allowing 12-15% more cargo to be loaded into a container increasing the efficiency of the supply chain. As well as this, slip sheets don’t suffer from the same need for maintenance that wooden pallets do, thereby reducing the chances of unbalanced loads because of fault bases.
Food and Beverage Humidity and Temperature Protection
Approximately 10% of all containerized goods are affected by moisture or humidity related damages. Food and beverage goods are especially vulnerable to the effects of excess moisture which can potentially lead to packaging getting damaged, peeling labels, mould and mildew.
Goods Monitoring
Effective optimization of your supply chain against threats that could lead to losses requires reliable data that can be used for informed proactive actions. Effective cargo monitoring systems can track various indicators and offer the transparency of potential hazards.
The MOST device is a high-tech cargo monitoring device cable of tracking shock, light, humidity, temperature and land position via a GSM network. It provides tailored journey reports and updates whilst also offering Geo fencing technology.
Sustainability For the Food and Beverage Industry
An additional concern is the environmental impacts of the UK’s food and beverage supply chain due to the scale of it. This is seen in the 19 million tonnes of CO2 produced annually by transporting food within or to the UK, which is the equivalent of 5.5 million cars. This is an issue that needs a step-by-step plan to reduce the impacts of this supply chain. One way to achieve this is by reducing items such as packaging and plastics.
Mega Fortris has taken steps towards doing our part to help create a sustainable supply chain with our range of Biodegradable Seals. These seals will naturally degrade in a fraction of the time of a normal plastic seal. Biodegradable versions are available throughout our full range of plastic seals so please contact our team for a free quote today.
Mega Fortris group pride ourselves on being the one stop shop for all security requirements. We provide specialized solutions for a wide range of Industries including food and beverages which has a diverse number of applications and potential security threats.
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