Summary of the UK 2021 food report
FSA has released their annual food standards report reviewing food industry trends and changes after the pandemic and the Brexit, here are the impacts on your business:
Since the beginning of COVID-19, in conjunction with the departure from the EU, the UK’s food system was greatly affected in many aspects, including food and feed safety, restaurant compliance and imported food monitoring.
Every country possesses it’s own food safety standards, and has potential food dangers when imported or exported. The summary of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) Report 2021 contains:
The Nation’s Plate
Data shows that over the past ten years, the nation’s nutrient intake stayed consistent, but although the sugar intake decreased overall, consumers eat more than the recommended dosage with about 28% of England adults living with obesity as of 2019. The average weight of adult-age Brits increased with the lack of physical activity and the change in the way adults ate throughout the pandemic – showing an overindulgence in sugar-filled and fatty foods and not enough portions of fibers, fruits, vegetables and fish. But who is responsible for this?
Average consumption of free sugars as a proportion of daily total energy (2020)
Source: Public Health England NDNS: Diet and physical activity – a follow-up study during COVID-19
Average daily saturated fat consumption as a proportion of daily total energy (2020)
Source: Public Health England NDNS: Diet and physical activity – a follow-up study during COVID-19
According to research from the FSA and FSS’s (The UK Public’s Interests, Needs and Concerns Around Food research), 22% of people in the UK order from takeout and 23% order delivery services at least once a week – mostly coming from young adults or those from higher income households.
The factors found to influence our food choices in recent years according to this data include:
- The price of food: Healthy foods are “priced out” for most people and difficult to keep both wallet and body healthy
- Health concerns: After education over the years, 49% of people interviewed alerted to avoid food with trans fats, palm oil, preservatives, or E numbers
- Eating trends: More people are turning to a “flexitarian” diet to reduce their meat intake
- Ethical concerns: the treatment of animals in the food chain would be a factor of not eating meats; the plastic waste would be another key factor in environmental concern
Impacts from the pandemic on food consumption choices:
- Having healthy eating is tougher to the consumers due to their financial situations
- The pandemic allows more people to cook at home and have healthier options
- Consumers tended to eat more snacks during the lockdown
- More online grocery shopping
Public priorities for the future (research from The FSA and FSS’s The UK Public’s Interests, Needs and Concerns Around Food research) include:
Priority 1: Ensure equitable access to healthy, safe, and affordable foods
- More people intend to purchase healthier foods with an affordable price
Priority 2: Maintain & strengthen food safety and hygiene standards:
- 43% of consumers enforce clearer labelling of food ingredients and allergens is the key priority
Priority 3: Act on additives and processed foods
- People are aware that unhealthy foods contain trans fats, palm oil, preservatives, or E numbers
(Download the full report from the FSA for more priorities, or request demo here for enhancing your business)
Going global:
% of total UK imports sourced from the EU and from other regions, 2017-21
- Around 40 million tons of food are imported from abroad every year; the EU remains by far the biggest supplier, accounting for over 90% of all beef, dairy, eggs, and pork products imported into the UK and nearly two-thirds (65%) of all food and feed not of animal origin
- Despite recent volatility in import patterns, there are no signs of any immediate or wholesale shift in trading flows following the UK’s departure from the EU, though EU imports of fish, lamb and mutton, and pork have all fallen between 2019 and 2021.
- Although there is no evidence that the standards of EU imports have fallen, the FSA and FSS believe the current situation does reduce our ability to prevent foods that do not meet the UK’s high standards from being placed on our market. The lack of import controls means we are not receiving official assurance from the exporting country that imports meet the UK’s high food and feed safety standards; the absence of border checks could also affect how we identify and respond to safety risks in future, with additional resource required by the UK to maintain levels of food safety assurance for these imports
The impact of EU departure on import controls:
- The protocols on Ireland/Northern Ireland took effect on 1 January 2021 and requires Northern Ireland to apply EU import requirements on any products entering the EU regulatory zone from outside the EU
- Not receiving official assurance from the exporting countries that those imports meet the UK’s high food and feed safety standards
To keep rapid alerts available from the latest news from the world, Safefood 360° RISK provides alert system to monitor. Safefood 360° RISK combines both RASFF and World Bank data for the most up to date news and risk alerts and monitor safety alerts worldwide.
Safe and Sound:
- There are 2,363 reported food incidents in the UK in 2021, down from 2019 (2,598) but remains similar number to 2020 (2,261).
- Contamination by harmful micro-organisms was the most frequently reported hazard: 584 cases (browse our technical datasheet to understand how to prevent the harm from the hazards)
- There have been increasing numbers in incidents involving poultry meat in the UK from 2019 – 2021 (83 to 238 cases); especially seen in Salmonella in breaded chicken (download our datasheet about the Salmonella to know the prevention of it)
- Dietetic food incidents have nearly doubled since the previous year (128 cases to 207)
Total number of product recall information notices issued in the UK
Source: FSA/FSS Incident Management Systems
There are 59 cases of recall in the UK in 2021.
Once the food incident has been identified, the food product may have to be withdrawn or recalled, not only costing food businesses money and reputation, but also directly affects the public’s health.
Most of the incidents can be avoided by the good management procedure (HACCP) and by managing the food process with Safety plan management solution. Request a demo to learn more about how Safefood 360° helps you to reduce the chances of food related incidents.
Informing Consumers
The UK’s departure from the EU prompted a series of actions designed to minimise disruption, including new legislation, changes to compositional standards and origin labelling. A new UK Nutrition and Health Claims Committee (UKNHCC) has also been established to provide expert advice and scrutiny on food marketing claims. Existing arrangements remain in Northern Ireland under the terms of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland.
The food labelling must contain the information below:
- Name and description
- Ingredients list
- Nutritional information
- Best before or use by date
- Warnings if the food contains additives such as caffeine
- Places of Origin
Food Labels
Source: Our Food 2021, FSA report
From a consumer’s point of view, this has had very little noticeable impact to date – the immediate focus has been on maintaining continuity with existing EU laws to minimise any disruption to the supply chain. However, for food business owners, some important foundations for a post-EU approach to food information standards have been put in place:
- Food law changes into British law
- Removing mutual recognition of food composition standards from 1 Oct 2022
- Changes to address and country of origin labelling
What if you have over 500 products in your food business? Our Food Safety Management Solution is designed to improve your business processes within the food industry, allowing you to easily pass audits and maintain compliance with GFSI recognised food safety standards. Browse our Food Safety Management Solution to learn how it helps your business and your supplier chain.
If you are ready to learn more now, request a demo with one of our food safety experts.
Keeping It Clean
The current level of legal compliance with hygiene standards across food and feed businesses in the UK:
Keeping to monitor the latest legilastion is not easy. Safefood 360° provides an integrated platform for your food safety management and supplier quality management. The software is built by a group of food experts to customise what you really need to secure the assurance and make your aduit become easy. If you have any questions about your current FSMS, SQMS or RISK Assessment systems, submit a demo request for a professional consultation to get your business into next level.
Using the Plan Do Study Act Cycle for Better Food Safety Management
in Food Safety Knowledge, blogToday’s robust compliance systems are built in response to supply chains that are sprawling in complexity and which place demands on already limited resources.
Creating this system goes beyond appointing and empowering the right personnel, equipped with the necessary resources, to manage and enhance your food safety programmes.
While all frameworks are planned with the best of intent and often to meticulous detail, any that are built in isolation of the changing realities in which they operate under is destined to fail.
Such rigidity can lead to inefficiencies like waste, downtime, and errors in resource allocation, all of which undermine the system’s optimal performance, even worse, should such failings result in tragic outcomes when consumer safety is lacking, the effects on your brand can be cataclysmic.
At the core of your culture should be a strong foundation of processes that can provide your team assurance they are operating in the correct manner and empower them to make decisions that can lead your business in times of uncertainty.
The PDSA (or sometimes PDCA) cycle, also known as the Deming Cycle, is one such invaluable tool you can have in your arsenal that will facilitate a systemic continuous improvement of your products processes and services.
To be clear, this is just one of a plethora of different techniques and principles of Six Sigma Learnings that we will discuss in future blogs but we start here as it can be quickly deployed and without much financial cost to the business.
By incorporating a feedback loop like Deming’s ‘Plan-Do-Study-Act,’ organizations can establish a mechanism for ongoing measurement and analysis that will improve quality while reducing costs.
This cyclical process promotes continuous improvement, enabling systematic critique and enhancement of programs based on both their successes and shortcomings.
The history of PDSA Cycle and what does it mean?
The PDSA cycle has origins in a proposal by Walter A. Shewhart who created a three-step process involving Specification, Production and Inspection, which evolved into a more dynamic, cyclical model.
Building on Shewhart’s foundation, Deming transformed it into a cycle that emphasized continuous interaction among the design, production, sales and research phases. This enhanced model, which became known as the ‘Deming Wheel’ or ‘Deming Cycle’, was first presented during a seminal seminar in Japan in 1950.
It provided a continuous means for assessing and improving processes across a business that reduce waste, rework, investigations, litigation, and improve customer loyalty.
However, it became apparent that although widely popular as one of the facets of business improvements that became rampant in the latter half of the 20th century, the cycle was not flawless.
In the spirit of continuous improvement, Deming himself enhanced the framework and in the 1980’s changed ‘Check’ to ‘Study’.
Although you might find the words closely coupled in some thesaurus’ the change was not one motivated by vanity or irrelevance and an attempt to create new hype.
The newly enhanced PDSA is similar in that it is a four step module for process change, however, now the emphasis was to consider attention on the reflection of the metrics that are being analysed, and not just the impact of the actions.
The PDSA cycle comprises of four essential stages that when applied will form a continuous loop that following each cycle will bring you closer to your desired goal:
It is important to remember that this is very much a live process and its value is in repetition.
What benefits does the PDSA have for Food Safety Management?
Repeating the steps of the PDSA ad infinitum will accelerate continuous improvement by promoting a culture of data-driven decision-making.
With regular performance organizations can adapt to changing conditions both internally and externally, innovate, and maintain high standards of quality.
The PDSA cycle is not just a tool for operational excellence but also a strategic approach that encourages proactive problem-solving and long-term sustainability.
Hazards can emerge at any point in your supply chain or your manufacturing process so ongoing vigilance that seeks to eliminate any variance that may introduce them is proactive step that you can take to ensuring your compliance practices exceed the standard.
The benefits of the Deming Cycle is that it can be deployed in any environment regardless of digital maturity, however, should you be considering a digital transformation project, our Business Process module is a perfect complement to it.
When up and running with a robust PDSA cycle, your business can expect the following benefits:
By systematically addressing potential food safety issues, the PAD cycle helps organisations mitigate the presence of risk.
For example, identifying contamination risks during the Plan stage and implementing sanitation processes against those risks during the Do stage can significantly improve your food safety outcomes.
Both checking and studying for their impact will allow you to monitor effectiveness, identify how to reduce variations and refine the controls implemented, creating a more robust and sustainable process.
Like other Six Sigma initiatives, continuous improvement is at the heart of the PAD cycle.
By regularly reviewing processes and implementing incremental changes, food safety practitioners can ensure their methods remain effective and up-to-date with industry standards.
This will mean that rather than waiting for a change in a standard or technical requirement, your team will often by excelling beyond the requirements, making any asks or demands a much easier request to facilitate.
The Check stage emphasises the importance of using data to evaluate the effectiveness of changes.
Using empirical evidence ensures that decisions are based on measurable outcomes rather than assumptions.
We are obviously biased on this specific topic, but ensuring your Quality Management System is a living entity at the heart of your operations which uses smart solutions which foster and enable collaboration is a key step to achieving this goal.
Successful changes are standardised during the Act stage, ensuring that improvements are consistently applied across the organisation.
This standardisation is crucial for maintaining high levels of quality and safety.
Once something is standardised it is not just accepted, but immediately more accessible.
With this accessibility will come scale and additional dividends as more stakeholders engage in its application and offer additional insights and areas for improvement which may go far beyond the initial hypothesis in your scope.
When to use the PDSA? Real-World Examples in Food Safety Management
It is important remember that this cycle is designed for small quick incremental improvements.
It can be used across products, services and processes, and should be deployed whenever your organization is considering organizational change or as part of wider Six Sigma methodologies.
Once you have identified your problem and opportunity you want to investigate, you will need to appraise the situation to understand that the root causes are, and clarifying what your desired end state will look like, i.e., defining what success looks like.
Here are some illustrative examples of how the PAD cycle can streamline and improve manufacturing operations:
Example 0: An illustrative framework for hypothetical scenarios
Identify a problem area across either production, your services or your process.
Once you have determined what you would like to improve, applying the PDSA cycle.
This will allow you to remedy the pain point, or provide information that will allow you to work towards improvement on the next cycle.
Example 1: Reducing Contamination in Food Manufacturing
A food manufacturing company applied the PDSA cycle to reduce the risk of a microbiological hazard contamination in its production line:
Example 2: Enhancing Food Handling in a Restaurant Chain
A restaurant chain utilised the PDSA cycle to improve food handling and storage practices across their delivery chain:
Example 3: Improving Cold Chain Management in Food Distribution
A food distribution company used the PDSA cycle to enhance its cold chain management:
Practical help to get started with the PDSA
The PDSA cycle is essential for continuous improvement in food safety management by providing a mechanism for planning, implementing, evaluating, and refining food safety practices.
In a dynamic market where food safety standards are continually evolving and risks are ever present, the PDSA cycle offers a great platform to adapt effectively.
By planning improvements, executing changes, evaluating outcomes, and standardizing successful processes, food manufacturers can proactively address emerging risks and stay ahead of regulatory updates.
However, we recognise that getting started with any transformation projects can be a difficult ask when your teams are preoccupied by their day to day.
Our platform supports continuous improvement by offering tools that help food businesses maintain high safety standards and achieve operational excellence.
Through features such as custom workflows, configurable risk assessments, real-time monitoring and customizable reporting with natively integrated Business Intelligence layers, Safefood 360° empowers organizations to stay proactively in control of their data.
We proudly join other our partner brands such as BRCGS across the LGC Group that have provided assurance, quality, and trust to food manufacturers, importers, and governments for over 180 years.
Talk to us today to see how we can ensure the success of the digital transformation of your food safety system and excel at deploying these Six Sigma initiatives and other management practices.
Our team of in-house food safety experts will offer full support that take the pain out of compliance and give you peace of mind, and are just a click away.
The Challenges of Digital Transformation in Food Safety: How we Guarantee Success
in Food Safety Knowledge, blog70% of digital transformation projects fail due to common pitfalls that are easily avoidable.
When the odds of achieving success are not in your favour, and not succeeding is not an option for your business goals – this can be extremely daunting when considering overhauling your Quality Management System and uncoupling it from Sharepoint, Excel, papers and binders.
Over the last 10 years my team and I in Professional Services have worked with brands of all sizes and seen every mistake that can be made.
Whether you’re a global Enterprise or a single site manufacturer who is just recently certified and overwhelmed with the burden of compliance, a digital transformation journey can be difficult.
You know what the problem is, you know what you need and want to do to solve it – and yet, you just can’t get there.
So why is it when you first demo a software, map your requirements, assemble your team, review everything comprehensively, select your vendor, and start implementing – it’s often the same story?
The simple answer is it is never just simply one reason, it’s not that you chose the wrong software, or your requirements were vague, or the team was inappropriate, or that you missed a redline in review, but it’s a myriad tapestry with many things to watch out for – and if this is your first time doing it, you don’t know what to look for because you don’t know what you don’t know.
What is the answer?
With so many densely layered problems solving it can seem impossible, but we have a tried and tested approach that cuts this gordion knot and makes it possible.
We call it Professional Services.
This is not simply a team, but an entire division of our company and is mandatory for everyone who is interested in deploying any software solution from Safefood 360°.
We know that the platform is excellent at best, and comparable to the rest of the market at worse, but if you’re in the market for a new car and someone puts you in the cockpit of a G550, Cessna or Bombardier Global 6000, you just aren’t going to know what to do – despite your very lavish investment.
So, similar to how a pilot needs a plane and a navigation system – we also provide both, with our PS team appointed to you for every step of your project and absolutely dedicated to achieving your stated business goals.
Put simply, this team exists solely to do the heavy lifting of your project, make your life easier, and provide a seamless experience as you build your Safefood platform.
How do we do it?
The Professional Services team leads and manages all project elements from the moment you sign your contract to after your leadership sign off that they are satisfied that all scoped deliverables have been achieved.
We do this through a detailed and actionable project plan which covers:
The PS team diligently ensures that all programs and documentation are established efficiently, in alignment with the business’ goals and objectives, and that all your users are trained to a high standard to be fully self-sufficient in using the platform.
Every member of the PS team has extensive experience with major retailer standards, including Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) standards such as BRCGS, SQF, and FSSC, as well as global legislation, including FSAI (Ireland), FSA (UK), FDA (USA), USDA (USA) and EFSA (EU).
What does an implementation project look like?
This will vary depending on the size and structure of your company, as well as the nature of the project itself.
The below provides an overview of what each of these may look like, but once you start speaking to your sales agent during your due-diligence process, we’ll be able to more accurately advise.
Once the project is formally scoped and approved, a kick-off meeting is conducted with a dedicated Project Manager and myself (Vice President of Professional Services) to define project priorities and set expectations for the onboarding process.
This is designed to ensure you get maximum stakeholder commitment from our side and that we are fully committed to achieving your business goals.
Based on the number of sites and the articulated scope, various types of implementations are possible:
Based on your project implementation parameters, the most suitable onboarding approach will be selected from the following options:
Vertical Approach
The vertical approach is most effective when one site has already established best practices and procedures, and the client wishes to replicate this implementation across all other sites. The process begins with the implementation of all modules at one site which is designated as the pilot site.
Horizontal Approach
The horizontal approach is particularly well-suited for scenarios where all sites maintain a consistent level of best practices and established procedures but are not standardised.
It is especially advantageous when the customer aims to achieve process standardisation concurrent with SF360 implementation.
It can support management scenarios where one project manager can oversee each site individually or an overarching project manager can coordinate data gathering across all sites simultaneously.
Hybrid Approach
The hybrid approach merges elements of both the vertical and horizontal methods.
The implementation proceeds at one site exclusively, which is defined as the pilot, or simultaneously across all sites, focusing on modules such as HACCP, Cleaning, Recall and others.
Regardless of the approach we use, we also incorporate a hybrid project methodology combining Waterfall and Agile.
Some workflows will need to follow a prescribed path, while others can be done simultaneously.
This approach can be highly effective for projects with both predictable and adaptable components.
Implementation Stages
Once the type of implementation project outlined above has been defined and agreed upon, the implementation process is initiated.
The implementation process is divided into nine stages, which are as follows:
Data Intake
This stage involves collecting specific data and documents such as: Master Data (e.g., documents, procedures, specifications) and other controlled documents, system records, programs and plans, inspections, checklists, and any other documents used in the current food safety management process.
Data Clean-Up & Standardisation
This is a necessary step in data projects of a sensitive or wide-ranging nature.
Data Clean-Up involves analysing the provided data and determining if there are any necessary adjustments needed in order to meet the standards for upload into SF360.
This is done with your agreement and will be validated to ensure that nothing is being destroyed.
Upload
Data upload involves transferring your data to the platform.
The upload process is conducted in stages, module-by-module, based on your priorities which we establish during the project’s kick-off meeting.
Data Validation
During data validation, the customer has the opportunity to log in, review and validate the data that has been uploaded to the SF360 platform.
At this point you will be provided with several links to sample records which will allow you to test the records in safe environment.
If there are any issues at this stage, we will investigate together thoroughly and revisit the first three steps to redress and ensure that optimum data capture, workflows and processes are being deployed before any further steps are taken.
Training
Training sessions are supplemented by a library of system resources, including webinars and an in-depth user guide.
You might also prefer to have live training on specific elements of the software.
If you do this, we will complete 1-to-1 or 1-to-many training records specific to your instance of the platform through scenario based training or interactive quizzes specific to your work flows.
These sessions can also be recorded creating a personalised library of instructional videos that you can refer back to at any time for new joiners or simple as a refresher for staff if its needed.
Go Live
The Go Live phase varies depending on the project type.
For a Supplier Quality Management project, Go Live mainly focuses on supplier and/or material assessments, including pre-assessments, full assessments, supplier corrective actions and supplier audits.
For other projects, such as Food Safety Management, Go Live focuses only on the modules that have been implemented.
Sometimes, at this time, your team may be more comfortable and wish to increase the scope of the project.
That’s fine if it happens, simply speak to us and we’ll advise you of what that might look like to achieve, and the plan can be modified if needed.
Go Live Hyper Care
We don’t simply let go of your hand once the project is “complete” and tell you we’ll be in touch next year when your bill is due.
During this period, your teams are provided with additional support as you continue to use the system.
During this phase you may address any unexpected issues that arise during or immediately after the Go Live phase.
Admin Training
Admin training focuses on managing and updating Master Data within the system.
These sessions empower administrators to operate autonomously and effectively within the platform.
These are provided concurrently with the above steps or can be done towards the end if that’s cleaner.
Again, similar to general training in step 5, these sessions can be bespoke to your iteration of the platform and recorded so you always have a reference point.
Project Sign Off
Project Sign Off is the final stage of implementation.
After all modules are built, validated, and the training is completed, Q&A sessions or meetings are taking place to address any remaining questions or concerns.
Once your project leaders or Executive team are satisfied, a final close-out meeting takes place where we review everything to ensure nothing is missed, provide any final suggestions on your future use, and leave the door open for future collaboration should you ever need us again.
Conclusion
We acknowledge that every company offers support and configuration services, but our feedback from our customers is that ours is incomparable to competitor offerings.
At every step of the way we promise to deliver you a collaborative and well-structured approach that reinforces the trust you have placed in us by choosing us as your vendor.
This is what enables us to maintain our position as a global leader in Food Safety and Supplier Quality Management software and why we are pleased to sit alongside other LGC brands who have delivered assurance, quality and trust to food manufacturers, importers and governments for more than 180 years.
We also accept that life is messy and that projects are ultimately fluid creations.
This is why we our PS team remain available beyond the initial setup and encompasses the entire lifecycle of your software usage, including ongoing training and development to ensure you maximise the software’s potential.
At Safefood 360°, our commitment to excellence and comprehensive support guarantees that every integration process is smooth, efficient and successful.
Our expertise and dedication help every customer meet and exceed their food safety and supplier quality management goals.
If you are still unsure, send us a message and we’ll put you in touch with one of our customers who are similar to your own production so you can hear from them directly, or simply watch the below to see what success looks like.
What is Single Sign On and why do we offer it?
in blog, Food Safety KnowledgeSince the initial launch of the Safefood 360 platform we have always had a staunch and steadfast commitment to security and privacy.
This commitment has taken many shapes over the years and has been realised in many different ways in the SF360 platform.
Indeed, for more than 180 years, security has also been at the heart of our parent company, LGC, which was founded to test the authenticity of, initially tobacco, and later food imports into the United Kingdom.
Knowing the authenticity of a product, and validation of that claim, is itself a form of security as it gives peace of mind that things are as they should be.
Since the acquisition of our platform into LGC we have benefitted from many different synergies and resources.
To an external eye, some of these benefits and changes are more evident than others.
Behind the scenes, however, one of these synergies has been access to the deep and expansive knowledge that exists across the LGC group from PCQI’s and QA to business analysts, data engineers, and great minds in legal and corporate governance.
To this end, over the last 4 years we have been vigorously and continuously refining and improving our platform to ensure we offer an optimum product that suits a vast array of needs and gives peace of mind where it is needed.
During this time we introduced a new Microsoft customer identity access management platform (CIAM) into Safefood – called ADB2C. This is a safe and scalable authentication system solution capable of supporting millions of users and automatically handles cyber threats such as denial of service, password spray and brute force attacks.
This has proven very popular since we integrated it several years ago but it’s not the only choice for our customers. We also have another option that is more favourable for some of our clients – called Single Sign On.
What is Single Sign On?
Single Sign On, or SSO, as its typically called, is an important part of cloud security that very simply, makes life easier for your administrators by reducing various user logins across systems to one master username and password.
Essentially, it is a universal key that can be used to open all platforms a user needs, while allowing your administrators greater control of all the accounts and user roles in your organization.
Using this, you, as the user, only need to log in once at the beginning of your day, and you will instantly have access to Safefood 360 and any other systems you configure through SSO to work.
That means no more password resets or frustration when you make a mistake – just direct access so you can focus all your attention to the task at hand.
If you are unfamiliar with this, you may be thinking what’s the catch, or in a growing world of importance on security, data protection and privacy, why would you not want your systems air-gapped from each other?
The answer is quite simple, and we’ll go into the complex later, but essentially SSO provides your IT business partners with peace of mind that every user account is genuine as it provides greater traceability of accounts over the system, so no old accounts remain active long after the business need for it has ceased.
It also gives your administrator team direct control over access criteria, so you can eliminate dependencies on a specific vendor, and enable a zero-trust security policy as well.
In short, think of SSO like a bouncer to a nightclub – where the ID only needs to get checked once at the door and then the customer is free to order drinks – without SSO, the customer would need to verify their age each time they are at the bar, slowing up service, increasing the risk that someone may be underage or be refused, ultimately and decreasing the quality of service for everyone.
Benefits of SSO
For the reasons already listed above – SSO is more convenient and creates a better experience for everyone.
As people only need to be concerned with remembering one form of ID, you can make this stronger as it does not need to be repeated.
Think of a hall pass in school versus a passport.
Hallpasses can be issued frequently in line with changing demands, and typically are just a piece of paper with a stamp that can be forged versus a passport which has holograms, barcodes, serial numbers, signatures and other devices.
While a passport is difficult to forge, access is more immediate as being in possession of it, means the document is more trusted – and no additional verification is needed.
Both control your ability to travel, but one needs to be reissued constantly and checked, while the other is more durable, trusted, and can be used for a longer period of time without maintenance.
Although it is always advised to not use specific words or patterns in passwords, people are human and sometimes cut corners. By cutting down on the number of passwords in use – it’s less likely that a specific one may be spoofed or guessed – and as such, another security measure is present.
When your team do need to log on – they don’t need to think about it; and neither do your administrators.
Lastly, your IT team can benefit from one master list which they can deploy and modify systems access in real time with – this means like the rest your Safefood 360 system, that you will benefit from a singular version of the truth where all information flows across the different verticals of the business where it is needed, but most importantly, that this information correlates and matches when there is duplication.
Talk to us to learn more
If you are an existing customer we would be happy to talk to you or your technical teams about your SSO environment and what supports you need from us to enable this in your environment.
If you are not a customer though, we’re also happy to speak with you about how this is just one small piece of a much larger digital transformation project that we can help with you.
We offer off-the-shelf and custom solutions to food manufacturers of all sizes from single site manufacturers to some of the larger brands you may be familiar with such as Carlsberg, Publix, DSM-Firmenich, Upfield, Wegmans, Royal FrieslandCampina, Jacobs Douwe Egberts and much more.
Whether you are looking to fully digitally transform your food safety, compliance or operational data, our platform has customizable solutions which can fit your need.
If you would like to see how and have your questions answered, simply click the button below and get in touch where a member of our team will explain more.