New shipping app funded by USDA/AMS FoodTransport, a free new app from the University of Florida postharvest experts, provides “brief but authoritative recommendations for shipping perishable foods via truck or rail,” according to news from the USDA. The app would be helpful to the specialty crops industry and is funded through a cooperative agreement via the AMS Transportation and Marketing Program.
“The user-friendly app is the next step in a years-long project that started in 2017 when the UF/IFAS scientists began working to revise and digitize a USDA handbook last updated in 1995,” the USDA said. “That work resulted in an extensive smart document for food transportation industry professionals, ‘Protecting Perishable Foods During Transport by Truck and Rail,’ and was completed in 2019. It serves as the source material for the new app.” FoodTransport is categorized by commodity type: fruits and vegetables, canned foods, dairy products, meat and seafood, and poultry and eggs. Food safety considerations are also featured. The FoodTransport app is available on Google Play and the Apple App Store. (When searching, note that the name is one word.) It also works from a web browser at foodtransport.ifas.ufl.edu.
