The three asks
- Clean: no spills, oil or residue on the decks.
- Dry: wood with moisture content below 20 percent will not support mold, mildew, decay or fungus, per Pallet Enterprise.
- Sound: no loose nails, no splintered boards that could shed into a line.
Why storage matters here
Salt Lake City averages about 60 inches of snow a season, from about November 6 to April 18. A pallet left in a yard through that picks up moisture that a heated room does not drive out quickly. Moisture is what mold needs. Even slight air movement of a few feet per second helps keep stored pallets from growing it. A buyer for a food line should ask how a stack was kept, not just what grade it is.
Heat treatment is not a hygiene stamp
Heat treatment is for pests in export wood. A pallet that was loaded hot into a van can still mold. So do not read the IPPC mark as a promise of cleanliness; see the stamp guide.
What to write in a request
| Detail | Example |
|---|---|
| Where it goes | Dry storage, then a packing line |
| Grade | A, or new |
| Size | 48 x 40 |
| Frequency | Weekly, 200 a time |
The plants most likely to ask are listed on the food and beverage, including Spanish Fork meat processors and Ogden and Business Depot food makers. For the grade difference, read Grade A.
What a food audit tends to look at
Plant audits often look at the receiving dock first. Inspectors note pallets with visible mould, oil stains, broken boards, or contamination from outdoor storage. Your supplier cannot control your audit, but you can tell them what yours checks.
- Bring the audit requirement into the request in one sentence.
- Say whether pallets enter a clean room or stay on the dock.
- Say whether plastic pallets are an alternative at your plant.
- Ask how long the stock has been under cover.
A pallet that is clean and dry on arrival but sits outside your door for a week can fail by the time it is used. Store inbound stock inside and rotate it.