concludedthat wooden palletsare indeed less hygienicthanplasticor metal
pallets. Studieshave revealed somedifferences in microbialflorabetween
plastic and wooden pallets,^13 but as longas palletsare not storedoutdoorsor in
verymoist locationsbothtypes of pallets are safe to be used.^14 Nevertheless, the
reality is that several countries (e.g.Australia)haveforbiddenimporton wooden
pallets to reduce the chanceof spreadingplantpests. Othercountries(e.g.USA)
allowimporton wooden pallets only if theyare heat-treated or fumigated.
Furthermore, manyindividualfoodcompanieswill not allowloadson wooden
pallets to enter theirfacility.Moreover, from1 March 2005 the European Union
has forbidden importon wooden pallets(all wooden packages, including crates,
etc.) thathavenot been adequatelytreated.^15 Allowed treatmentsare heat
treatmentsand methylbromide fumigationtreatments accordingto the ISPM 15
standards.^16 The treated wooden palletsneedto be markedwiththe International
PlantProtectionConvention(IPPC)logo.Therefore, the businessof plasticand
metalpallets is flourishing.
25.7 Futuretrends
The newcontracts that transport operatorswill negotiatewithfoodcompanies
and retailers will contain financialclaims in case temperatureabuseis noticedat
the destination. In order to avoid unjust claims, transport operators are
implementingdatalogsystems. Thesesystems record the actualtemperature in
the unitof transport equipment and are usefulto refuteunjust claims.The
modern variantsof thesesystems containmanyaddedfunctionalitiessuchas
alerts to the driverwhen temperature abuseis becoming apparent. These
temperaturecontrol systems will becomemoreadvanced in the nearfutureand
are expectedto become fully fledged elements in advancedsupply chain
managementsolutions.A global positioningsystem (GPS) willcontinuously
monitor the locationof the vehicle, dataloggerswill continuously determinethe
actual temperature in the truck,radiofrequency identification(RFID)-tagson
pallets, cratesand individualpackages will describe the precisecontent of the
load. All this information will periodically be exchangedvia cell phoneswith
the centralcomputer of the transportoperatorsand of theirclients.Thisdata
avalanchewillbe processed by powerful computersthat willcontinuously
describe the real-time stocklevels,its relativequality (based on the experienced
temperaturehistory)and location.Thesesystemswill continuouslyguardthe
temperatureof the loadsand give alertsin case of temperature abuseand in case
forbiddenmixed loadsare present insideone transportunit.Theincoming
supply chaindata will be furtherprocessed to optimisethe allocation and prices
of perishablesbasedon actualmarketinformation. Currently,muchvalue of
perishables is lost in the supplychains,owingto the lack of informationof stock
levels, qualityof loadsand prices.Theshrinkage for perishablesis usually
between 5 and 10%in the developedworldand up to 40±50%in the developing
world, implying a financialloss of at least 25 billioneurosper annum. Advanced
404 Handbookof hygiene controlin the foodindustry