Food Storage and Distribution Basics: Docks, Cold Stores and Deliveries

A pallet of chilled meals waits on the dock for a late truck. A driver opens the back at every drop. Raw chicken goes on the rack above ready meals. This online course shows receiving clerks, pickers, forklift and reach truck operators, cold store workers, drivers, driver assistants and dispatch clerks in South African warehouses, DCs and cold stores what to check, what to do and when to stop and call the supervisor.

You follow the floor team at Mzansi Fresh Meals, a training case built from real audit problems and set in a Pinetown DC, through a working day: checking a delivery in, storing and picking, loading the truck, delivering to the customer, and working safely on the dock, in the cold store and on the road. The lessons are short, in plain English, and work on any phone.

What you will be able to do

• Know the R638 core temperatures: frozen food -12 °C or colder (-18 °C for ice cream, sorbet and frozen fish, and the usual target for all frozen food), chilled food 5 °C or colder (4 °C for raw poultry, raw fish, offal and milk), hot food 60 °C or hotter
• Probe food the R638 way, between two packs for at least one minute, check your probe in ice and write the reading down
• Do your duties as a food handler under R638: clean hands, report illness, never walk or sit on food
• Stop, hold, tell and record when something is wrong, and leave the decision to your supervisor or QA
• Receive, store and pick food so it stays cold and in date, with raw food kept away from ready-to-eat food
• Load a vehicle so the cold air can move and the load cannot shift
• Work safely around forklifts, in the cold store and on the road

15 lessons of 13 to 15 minutes in 5 modules, 5 knowledge checks, 5 decision games, a practical and a final assessment of 20 questions. About 5 hours. 70% to pass every assessment, three attempts each, and every attempt gives you a different set of questions. You keep the 20-point Dock and Delivery Check, with what OK looks like for each point, to use on your own shift. Certificate on passing.

R899 per person. That is under R60 a lesson, and about half the price of the Intermediate course.

Buying for your team? R638 regulation 10(1) expects the person in charge to have staff trained and to keep training records. Every person who passes gets their own certificate. Contact us for team training and manage your group on the manager dashboard.

Questions

Is this a forklift licence or PrDP course? No. It teaches food safety and safe work around forklifts, in the cold store and on the road. It explains that you need a certificate of competence and a carry card for the machine you drive, and when a driver needs a PrDP.

Will it fit my site? Yes, if your site receives, stores, loads or delivers chilled, frozen or hot food. Routes cover the coast, the Highveld and hot inland areas, and bakkies as well as trucks. You can do the practical on your own site, at the Mzansi DC or at Ubuntu Eats, a central kitchen sending chilled and hot food to 12 outlets.

Next step for supervisors and QA

Supervisors, QA officers and managers should take Food Storage and Distribution: Cold Chain, Dry Goods and Warehousing (Intermediate) (11 hours, R1 795), which covers the full law, stacking, climate, vehicles and a written risk assessment. Certified sites can add the BRCGS Storage and Distribution or FSSC 22000 Transport and Storage course for managers.

Not sure which you need? See food storage and distribution training for a side-by-side guide.