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Technical questions go straight to the graders.
The mark is the claim. The batch record is the evidence.
If wood packaging crosses an international border it has to prove it is not carrying pests, and the standard governing that is ISPM-15. In practice it means heat: 56 °C at the core of the wood, held for thirty continuous minutes, in a chamber with probes driven into the thickest member. Methyl bromide fumigation is technically still an option and is being phased out almost everywhere for ozone reasons.
The mark that goes on afterwards — the IPPC wheat symbol, a country code, a registered facility number and the treatment code HT — is a compact document. It must be legible, permanent and on at least two opposite faces. What it does not tell you is whether the unit is still compliant, which is where almost all real-world failures live: a treated platform repaired on a dock with an untreated board carries a perfectly genuine mark that now misrepresents it.
Food-safety audits ask a different set of questions, mostly about prior use, segregation of chemically treated wood, moisture control and traceability. The answers are documents rather than assurances, which is why we stamp a passport number into every remanufactured platform and keep the pack ready.
- Debarked wood is a precondition, not an extra. Bark insulates, so the layer under it may never reach core temperature.
- The mark goes on two opposite faces, legibly and permanently. One face is not compliant.
- Loose dunnage and blocking fall under ISPM-15 independently. This is the most-missed item.
- Treat after repair, never before. A post-treatment repair with untreated wood voids the mark silently.
- HT is not KD. Heat treatment kills pests; kiln drying controls moisture. Different objectives, different documents.
- Assuming a heat-treated platform is dry enough not to mould
- Repairing a marked platform on a dock with whatever board was to hand
- Treating the pallets and forgetting the loose bracing inside the container
- Accepting a 'heat treated' claim with no batch record behind it
- Leaving a marked platform in a wet yard until the mark weathers illegible
3 on compliance, newest first.
Food-contact pallets: what the auditors actually ask
Nine questions from real food-safety audits, and the documentation that answers each one in under a minute.4 min · 837 words · Marcus, yard supervisor
October 29, 2024Reading an ISPM-15 stamp like an inspector
Four elements, two placements, one common forgery. What the wheat mark tells you and what it deliberately does not.4 min · 857 words · Marcus, yard supervisor
April 2, 2024Bark: the one-millimetre reason your container got held
ISPM-15 requires debarked wood. Not mostly debarked. A strip of bark on one bottom board can void a compliant-looking shipment.4 min · 824 words · Marcus, yard supervisor
The tables behind these posts.
The same data we work from in the yard, so you can check the arguments above against the numbers.
| State | Moisture content | Mould risk | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green, off the saw | 60–120%+ | Very high | Heavy, moves as it dries, blooms readily. Rarely what you want. |
| Air dried, yard stored | 15–22% | Moderate | Typical of outdoor recycled stock in a humid month. |
| Kiln dried | ≤19% | Low | Below the biological threshold for mould. The usual specification. |
| Kiln dried, millwork grade | 8–12% | Very low | For cladding and interior work, matched to heated-interior equilibrium. |
| Reclaimed, long service | 10–16% | Low | Years of cycling beat any kiln schedule for stability. An under-appreciated advantage. |
Moisture content is water weight divided by oven-dry weight, which is why green softwood can exceed 100%. Heat treatment is not kiln drying — see moisture explained.
| Document | When | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Certified weigh ticket | Every inbound and outbound movement | The evidentiary basis of any diversion claim |
| Count sheet by grade | Every purchase of your surplus | You get the sheet, not a summary |
| ISPM-15 batch record | Any heat-treated consignment | Turns a port query into an email |
| Pallet Passport record | Any remanufactured platform | Origin, repair history, treatment batch, running ledger |
| Quarterly diversion report | Programme customers | Measured tonnage for ESG reporting, not an industry average |
| Feedstock segregation attestation | Mulch and bedding buyers | Written statement of what the wood was |
| Certificate of insurance | On request | Named-insured endorsements for on-site crews |
| Grading criteria statement | On request | The written standard our graders work to |
Ask for any of these before an audit rather than during one. Assembling the pack takes us an afternoon and converts verbal questions into documents.
- Every component debarked — a single strip on one bottom board voids the unit
- Core temperature 56 °C held for 30 continuous minutes, probed in the thickest member
- IPPC wheat mark with country code, registered facility number and HT treatment code
- Mark applied on at least two opposite faces, legibly and permanently
- Loose dunnage, blocking and bracing treated and marked independently
- Any post-treatment repair made with treated material, and the unit re-marked
- Batch record retained, tied to your shipment reference, issued with the packing list
- Methyl bromide (MB) avoided — phased out in most destinations and refused by several
The terms these posts assume you know.
Vocabulary is the cheapest performance upgrade in this industry — almost every argument we have with a new customer comes down to two people using the same word for different objects.
- Core
- An unsorted, un-repaired used pallet — raw material for a recycler. Sold by the load.
- Dunnage
- Loose wood used inside a load for blocking and bracing. Needs its own ISPM-15 treatment for export.
- HT
- Heat treated: wood core held at 56 °C for 30 continuous minutes to satisfy ISPM-15.
- ISPM-15
- The international phytosanitary standard governing wood packaging in cross-border trade.
- KD
- Kiln dried — moisture reduced, usually to ≤19%, to prevent mould and dimensional movement.
Where compliance meets what we actually sell.
Compliance questions we get.
Can a recycled pallet be ISPM-15 compliant?
Yes, and most of what we treat is recycled. Every component must be debarked and any repair boards must be treated too — which is why treatment happens after repair here, never before. The platform's history is irrelevant to the standard; its current condition and treatment are what matter.
Does the ISPM-15 mark ever expire?
No. Treatment is permanent for as long as the unit is not subsequently modified with untreated material. That single caveat voids more marks than anything else, and it usually happens on a dock, with good intentions, by somebody fixing a pallet.
What do food-safety auditors actually ask about pallets?
Prior use, exclusion of chemically treated wood, mould and moisture control, protruding fasteners, pest management in storage, traceability to a batch, your non-conforming product procedure, and whether the people grading are trained. All of those have documentary answers and we will assemble the pack before an audit rather than during it.
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NoteSubject pages are reachable from the blog index and from every post rather than the main menu. The full archive lists all forty posts by year.