Food storage is an industry that a lot of warehouses will explore at some point due to the constant need for proper food shipment, logistics, and storage.

That said, the standards and expectations for food storage are vastly different than for other industries, and the safety regulations are far more strict.

If you want your warehouse to be up to food grade standards, here’s a few things you need to do to make sure everything is being stored properly:

Define your warehouse by type

One warehouse can’t store all types of food. This is both a practical consideration as well as a way to ensure proper safety measures are being taken, and if you want to enter food storage you need to define what sort of storage you’ll specialize in. A few examples include:

• Cold or frozen storage
• Dry storage
• Chilled or refrigerated storage

Identify what kind of food products you intend to store and what kind of storage requirements this brings with it, and let this help you plan the rest of your warehouse.

Plan your storage needs for your chosen type of food products

Depending on what type of food and products you’re going to store, your storage and organization needs will vary. Most food won’t require anything as heavy-duty as pallet racks, so you may need to refit your warehouse for something a little smaller and more germ-resistant. Look into options for NSF shelving for a germ-free option for dry storage, and metal shelving can be used in cold or freezer-storage applications to stand up to the temperatures and resist rust and contamination.

Inspect your warehouse – and keep inspecting it

Even more so than other types of storage, food storage warehouses need to be inspected frequently for damage. Check for leaks in the roof, cracks in the seals, failures in the ventilation system, standing water, or even something like weeds or leftover trash and continue to monitor them to make sure these issues don’t come back.

Clean up better than ever

Every warehouse needs to be regularly cleaned to prevent damage and issue, but this goes double for food storage. Keep a close eye out for things like rodent droppings and insects, use the right kind of cleaning products to prevent contamination while keeping your surfaces clean, and don’t let any products cross-contaminate if they shouldn’t come in contact with each other before shipping by using properly divided storage areas and equipment.

With these tips and some frequent upkeep, your food grade warehouse should be ready to store whatever it needs to.