Food Warehousing: A Comprehensive Guide

Food warehousing isn’t just about storage; it’s about keeping food safe for consumption. Although that begins during manufacturing, food warehousing is about continuing that practice and maintaining products of the highest quality. In food warehousing, key considerations include: 

• temperature control
• prevention of contamination
• inventory control
• scheduling deliveries

Food warehousing can contain both perishable and non-perishable goods. Each of these will have different considerations that need to be taken into account.

Within food warehousing, there are four different types – dry storage, frozen storage, refrigerated storage and climate-controlled storage.  

Dry Storage

Dry storage is for non-perishable goods. These include items such as canned goods, pasta, and rice. 

Although these aren’t perishable, it’s vital that these products are kept in a controlled environment to maintain the quality. The ideal temperature is between 10.C-15.C (50.F – 59.F). Within dry storage it’s important to consider factors such as organisation (to prevent items getting damaged), ventilation (to prevent items going mouldy), allergen control (to prevent cross contamination) and much more. 

Dry storage can extend the shelf life of products, improve order distribution, enhance food safety and can offer both short term and long-term storage because of its controlled environment. 

Refrigerated Storage

Refrigerated storage involves storing foods between 0.C – 10.C (32.F to 50.F). These foods include meat, dairy, fruit, and vegetables. 

Refrigerating food can reduce the amount of waste (by extending the shelf life), helps to prevent mould and bacteria growth, and can help to prevent food shortages.

It’s important when storing refrigerated foods that the temperature is correct for different products. Not all products can be stored at the same temperature and the wrong temperature can have a big effect on the quality of food. 

Frozen Storage

Frozen storage involves storing food at temperatures -18.C (0.F) and below. These foods include meat, vegetables, and seafood. 

By freezing products, it extends food shelf life and keeps it at the same quality for longer. Frozen food storage can reduce the amount of waste, reduce costs, and enhance the management of the supply chain. 

Like refrigerating storage, it’s crucial when freezing food that you’re avoiding risks such as freezer burn. Freezing food at the wrong temperature can alter the quality of the food, texture, taste, nutritional value and reduce the shelf life. 

Climate Controlled Storage

Climate controlled storage is exactly how it sounds. Products such as wine and chocolate needs to be stored at an extremely specific temperature and humidity to maintain the quality of the product. This is done to extend the shelf life, reduce spoilage and cost.

A warehouse can be split into different sections according to requirements, usually either by temperature, category or picking & packing - this is called zoning.

There are many key functions in food warehousing. From storage to order fulfilment, there are a wide range of jobs that a food warehouse is responsible for.

Storage

Using food grade materials and equipment ensures that the food is kept in a safe and high-quality condition. Key features of storage in food warehousing includes temperature control, sanitation, inventory management and rotation, packaging and shipping products. 

Inventory Management

Inventory management plays an important role in food warehousing by optimising stock levels, reducing waste and ensuring all food is safe for consumption. With perishable goods, inventory management helps to make sure that products with a shorter or close ‘best before date’ leaves the warehouse first, known as FIFO (first-in, first-out) or FEFO (First-expired, first-out) . Because of these methods, inventory management software in food warehousing can help to reduce costs and increase customer satisfaction by maintaining the quality of the food as well as having sufficient stock levels.

Food Distribution

Ensuring food is picked, packaged and sent properly is a key component in food warehousing. This involves managing the stock levels to what has been promised, that’s all products have a long ‘best before date’ and have been properly packaged ready for shipping.

While products are in transit it’s important to keep in mind key considerations to ensure that the food isn’t broken and customer expectations are met. Ensure that the food is stacked properly during transit, making sure that products don’t move significantly or fall. If goods are perishable, ensure that that they are kept at the right temperature during transport in a refrigerated van or lorry. 

It's also important that customer expectations are met. This means ensuring that the correct products, at the right quantities, arrive on time and are not damaged. If shipments are delayed, this can result in customer dissatisfaction, increase costs and possible damage to a company’s reputation.

Food Quality Control

Food quality control ensures that all food is stored correctly, the right temperature is maintained in the warehouse & proper sanitation and cleaning protocols are in place to ensure that the quality and safety of the food is consistent.  

Record keeping is also important for food quality control. By documenting everything from ingredients, and where they’re sourced from, to when products were manufactured ensures that everything is traceable, compliant with regulations, and helps with annual audits and inspections. 

Food Warehousing Standards and Regulations

Standards and regulations, such as Food Safety Act 1990 and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP), in food warehousing are required to ensure safe practices. These include regulations in cleanliness & staff hygiene, temperature control and pest management. It’s critical that these standards and regulations are all put into place. 

Temperature Control

Temperature control is required to keep all products safe for consumption. For example, if meat is kept at the wrong temperature, this can cause bacteria to grow making the meat inedible and would need to be disposed of. This would have an impact on the supply chain and order fulfilment as distribution may have to be paused until a new shipment comes in. 

Order Fulfilment 

Order fulfilment is the last step in food warehousing. When shipping out products, it’s important that these are package securely and avoids cross contamination. Think of it in the same way when you’re storing products, the same considerations apply when picking and packing orders. 

You can’t plan for every eventuality but having a plan in place for the common challenges that could go wrong is helpful. These are some of the most likely food warehousing challenges you could face.  

Stock Levels 

It’s important that stock levels are maintained in food warehousing to match supply and demand. However, it’s important not to overstock on a specific product that could eventually lead to food waste, causing an organisation to lose money. This can be a very fine line.

Demand forecasting is a good option to ensure your stock levels are where you need them to be. By using historical data, businesses can see what selling the best and worst. This allows them to ensure that products are selling the best are constantly stocked in the warehouse, meeting supply and demand. 

Temperature Monitoring 

If certain foods need to be stored at a specific temperature, it’s vital that temperature is monitored to ensure food safety and quality. Reliable equipment is essential. Even a small drop or rise in temperature can have an impact on the food’s quality. 

Wireless temperature sensors are a good option to ensure that the temperature stays consistent within the warehouse. These sensors send real-time temperature monitoring allowing businesses to see the accurate temperature in the warehouse and can be adjusted if needed. 

Supply Chain Disruptions

The supply chain can be easy to disrupt. From job strikes to the weather, there are a lot of factors that could have an impact on getting supplies in and out and could stop warehouse operations. It’s important to have a plan for any event that could disrupt the supply chain. 

A way to avoid supply chain disruptions is diversification of suppliers. Multiple suppliers for both raw materials and finished goods, helps avoid supply chain issues by not having ‘all your eggs in one basket’. Building relationships with both local and international suppliers give businesses a more robust and adaptable supply chain while allowing you to find reliable suppliers. 

Pest Infestations

When dealing with food, there is a possibility of pest infestation. It’s important that all food products are stored away properly, and the facility is secure to help avoid any bugs, birds or animals contaminating the food.

To prevent pest infestation in a food warehouse, make sure that proper hygiene and sanitation routines are carried out daily. It’s vital that surfaces, shelves, floors and any places in a warehouse where food has come into contact are cleaned regularly. Ensure that all spills and crumbs, which attracts animals, are cleaned up as soon as they are spilled. Proper storage is also important. Products, such as grains and flour, should be kept in airtight packaging, ensuring that pests are unable to get into products, keeping the food safe for consumption.

Good warehousing practices are vital in the food industry. These practices ensure that products are not broken and stay in their best condition. This happens by keeping products both safe and secure. There are many good warehousing practices that all warehouses should follow. 

Warehouse Layout

Strategic layout of food is important. They need to be configured in a way that means they do not get broken, and no cross contamination happens. Considerations such as allergens, weight of the products and shelf life need to be kept in mind when configuring a warehouse.

Food Storage

Once products come into the warehouse, it’s essential that these get stocked and stored immediately. Depending on the type of food that comes in, depends on how it gets stored. However, standard practice should be, all food is kept away from dust, smoke or a contaminated area. 

Sanitation

Both personal hygiene and the hygiene of the facility needs to be in top order. It’s important that all surfaces and equipment are cleaned regularly, especially if products such as raw meat have come into contact. Keeping on top of cleaning helps to reduce the risk of contaminants and bacteria. 

Technology can be used to help move stock, track inventory, and management systems, replacing tasks that were previously done by hands-on workers. Whether it’s robots or software, automation can reduce the number of errors and can also extend the shelf life of food. 

Robotic Packing

A robotic packing system is a great option if a business is looking to speed up the pick and packing process. By using AI and advance machinery, robotic arms can locate each product and place it accordingly. Robotic packing systems can handle a wider range of goods and gives businesses the option to extend their operation time up to 24/7. 

Automated Temperature Control 

Automation can also be added for temperature control. This can be done through sensors and real-time monitoring. Sensors detect the exact temperature in the warehouse, compares it to the desired temperatures and adjusts it accordingly. This is done continuously, ensuring that all products are kept at the right temperature. 

Using automation in a food warehouse can help with error reduction, increase efficiency, and improve safety.

Increased Accuracy & Efficiency

By adding automation, businesses will see an increase in accuracy and efficiency. On average, productivity is increased by 30% when automating processes. Automation, such as robotic packing, can also increase accuracy to 99.9%, leading to a reduction in errors. 

Better Data Insights 

Warehouse automation can come with data analytics capabilities. This gives businesses better real-time insights to data compared to going through reports manually by extracting key figures. This allows businesses to make decisions backed by data for a range of aspects such as warehouse layouts, marketing, and sales. 

Increased Safety 

Dangerous tasks, such as operating heavy machinery, which were conducted manually can now be automated through high-tech equipment such as robotic arms, reducing the risk of injuries in the workplace. 

Trends in food warehousing are constantly changing. Trends such as automation, sustainability and integration of technology have been a constant. Here’s how trends are having an impact on food warehousing practices.

• Automation – As mentioned earlier, automations are having a big impact on multiple areas around the warehouse. Because of this, businesses are increasing their accuracy and efficiency by removing the possibility of human error. Automation can take control of data analysis, picking & packing and much more. This can also be coupled up with Artificial Intelligence (AI), allowing warehouses to become even smarter. 
• Sustainability – Sustainability is important in food warehousing. It allows businesses to reduce waste, their carbon footprint and make the warehouse more energy efficient. This can be done using LED lighting, HVAC systems and inventory management systems.  
• Integration of Technology – Integration of technology, such as barcode scanning, is being added to warehousing to improve accuracy, efficiency and time. Integration of technology can also be linked with AI and automation, ensuring that nothing gets missed and allows you to make decisions backed by real-time data and get enhanced visibility on stock levels. 

Now, with the introduction of AI, warehouse operations can change again to allow for more efficiency. 

Artificial Intelligence (AI ) is impacting how food warehouses are operating. From safety of food products to making the supply chain even smarter, AI is streamlining operations to reduce costs, waste, and the possibility of accidents.

AI inventory management can make managing stock easier. By analysing data and real-time tracking, AI can predict when a product will run out, if a product is being overstocked and analyse market trends, making tasks - which were originally done manually - easier and saving personnel time, allowing staff to focus on more pressing tasks in a day-to-day role whether that’s reporting or rotating stock.  

Aiming to minimise the environmental impact of food storage and distribution, sustainable practices are being used to reduce waste and make warehouses more energy efficient and reduce their carbon footprint. These sustainable practices include:

• Switching to renewable energy & LED lighting: Solar panels & wind power are just two options of renewable energy. Switching to LED lighting can lower the consumption of energy
• HVAC Systems: The use of smart thermostats can reduce the amount of energy uses as well as regulating the temperature. 
• Recycling and composting: Putting recycling and composting practices in place for food waste is more sustainable rather than simply binning the products. 
• Inventory management: Putting inventory management in place will help to reduce product spoilage and waste. 
   

Learn how Unleashed’s food manufacturing software can work alongside food warehousing practices, helping to cut costs, waste and streamline production planning