Ensuring that your product arrives at its final destination in excellent condition is critically important to establish customer loyalty and repeat orders. International logistics leaves a lot of room for goods to be tampered with because of the multitude of contact points at which items travel through, en route to the end-user.
As a result, the flexible intermediate bulk container (FIBC) industry has responded to security concerns. The development of tamper-evident packaging allows bulk bag suppliers, such as Custom Bulk Bags, to give customers peace of mind. Our customers will be able to tell when their bulk goods have been tampered with during transit.
Whether it’s food items, construction materials or other bulk goods, knowing that you can identify whether your packaging has been tampered with is of vital importance. Let’s unpack the tamper-evident features that Custom Bulk Bags includes on FIBCs and how you can tell if a bulk bag has been tampered with.
Tamper-evident bulk bags
The bulk bag industry has become more focused on the security issues related to international logistics, in particular the storage and transportation of sensitive materials. Tamper-evident bulk bags are specifically designed to make interference and damage evident upon visual inspection. This has many advantages for industries, especially those transporting expensive raw materials.
By incorporating tamper-evident features into the design and manufacturing of bulk bags, customers can look out for the telltale signs that their products have been interfered with. These key features include the following:
- Material pattern – A specific woven pattern is used for all panels of the bulk bag. If a bag has been tampered with and then repaired, it will be evident in any variations of the bag’s weave pattern.
- Continuous stitching – All seams are sewn together using a continuous stitch. If a stitch has been broken, this is evidence of damage.
- Security eyelets – The filling and discharge spouts make it easy to access the goods inside the bag and could be a weak point in the bag. So, tamper evident bulk bags have security eyelets around the spouts. These are closed using special ties.
- Doubled-walled spouts – This feature includes an extra piece of material that allows the bag to be sealed once it has been filled. The end-user can easily detect if this seal has been broken during transit.
Inspecting bulk bags
Knowing what to look for is the first step when inspecting bulk bags for damage or interference. Understanding when the packaging has been compromised can help suppliers and end-users identify both major and minor defects to the packaging. This should be done before goods are shipped, as well as when they arrive at their destination.
When manually inspecting a bulk bag, look for any visual indication of damage, or whether part of the bag has been altered or missing:
- Check seams for any loose threads or repaired stitching.
- Check fabric for any tears or repairs.
- Check whether the ties have been broken or replaced.
- Check filling and emptying spouts to ensure that security eyelets haven’t been tampered with.
- Check the inner liner or any tears or repairs.
Looking for these visual signs of damage before goods are shipped can help to lower the risk of the packaging inadvertently opening during transportation or handling. This is particularly important when reusing bulk bags. Packaging with evidence of critical defects should be recycled rather than reused.
Tampered FIBCs in transit
FIBCs are widely used for the transportation and handling of dry, granular or powdered substances for a number of industries. Agricultural goods, raw materials for construction, dry food stock and mining ore are just a few examples of the uses for FIBCs. Government-regulated substances for all these industries need to be delivered to the end-user intact.
Keeping food-grade bulk substances safe during storage and transit is vital, as these items are destined for human consumption. International health concerns, particularly those related to the spread of communicable diseases such as Covid-19, have prompted a growing demand for tamper-evident packaging. The global pandemic has also resulted in a more volatile supply chain, often leaving packaged goods stranded mid-way to their final destination.
Entrusting bulk goods to third-party shipping services can leave them vulnerable to tampering and damage. Counterfeit products, contamination or damage can happen at the various points of contact along the logistics chain. Ensuring items arrive in the same condition as they were packed is essential to ensure repeat orders and customer loyalty.
Custom Bulk Bags quality assurance
At Custom Bulk Bags, we ensure that our FIBCs are produced with the highest quality and hygiene practices in place. Our food-grade bags are manufactured under strict conditions in our state-of-the-art clean rooms. We only use FDA-approved virgin polypropylene resin for food-graded FIBCs, following international guidelines for health and safety practices.
All our bags are visually inspected on light tables. Our raw materials and finished products are kept in clean facilities to avoid contamination from dust or other impurities. We use metal detectors to check for any unwanted metals that might be embedded within the fabric. All bags are washed using high-pressure cleaning machines. We also conduct a range of tests, including safe-working load tests, tear resistance, UV resistance and impact resistance.
Protect your bulk goods
Purchasing FIBCs from a reliable supplier, such as Custom Bulk Bags, will go a long way in ensuring your bulk goods reach their final destination in the best possible condition. This is because our bulk bags include a number of tamper-evident security features that are incorporated in the design and manufacturing of our FIBCs.
Our rigorous health and safety protocols assure a high-quality product. Shipping companies, vendors, as well as end-users, should be aware of the telltale signs of tampering and damage. For more information about our bulk bags or to place an order, please contact us today.
___
Custom Bulk Bags is a leading South African manufacturer of woven polypropylene bags for various industries, such as mining, chemicals and food. We are able to produce over 3.5-million bulk bags per year, keeping our customers in-stock at all times. Our bags adhere to the highest levels of quality as a result of our stringent in-house testing and quality control programmes.
Custom Bulk Bags holds ISO 9001 certification and we currently have a number of UN-certified designs. We are a Level 3 B-BBEE manufacturer and supplier and fall under the ownership structure of Deneb Investments Limited. For more information on our products, contact sales@custombulkbags.co.za. Follow us on Facebook for our latest news and industry insights.
