Wood in the food industry - guidelines for handling wooden pallets and packaging

Wood used to be the most common material for packaging, workbenches, shelves, tools, buildings, interiors etc., in the food industry in the Nordic countries. The use of wood has however decreased, and other materials like plastic, concrete, stainless steel and aluminium have taken its place. The reason for this negative development seems to be declining market demands, partly caused by legislation in Europe and elsewhere.Despite this, nearly 1,5 million cubic meter of timber per year is used for pallets and packaging in the Nordic countries. These products are hence of great importance for the wood industry as the alternative production of packaging materials may be chips for pulp production. Based on that background, a Nordic research project was initiated to find out more about the behaviour of wood in contact with foodstuff.This report is one in a series of reports where the results from the Nordic Wood 2 project no. P98141 "Wood in the Food Industry" are presented. This part report gives information about Hazard Analysis and Critical control Points and Good manufacturing practice, guidelines for handling, cleaning and sanitation of wooden pallets and packaging