Tag Archive for: pandemic

Lessons from the Pandemic: How BRCGS audits adapted

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The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted our lives and changed so much.

It created new challenges, which were immediate, rapid, unknown and constantly changing.

The level of disruption was unprecedented, as was the response of the remote audit, with platforms such as Safefood 360° being used at an increased scale.

That is because the importance of food safety to manufacturing sites did not change.

Food safety is a number one concern for customers, specifiers, brand owners, and most importantly, for consumers.

Why the remote audit grew in importance

It’s important for us to analyse how the pandemic affected food safety and the lessons learned.

In this three-part series, I am going to outline what BRCGS has observed over the last 12 months of the pandemic and how businesses adapted to ensure they maintained food safety standards, plus their certification.

Whilst there are many lessons to be learnt, I will focus on three main areas across an equal number of articles:

  1. How BRCGS adapted auditing to ensure all sites had options to maintain their certification, including the remote audit
  2. Best practice tips for sites on how to successfully implement a remote audit
  3. The use of ICT and digital platforms to help make the audit process feasible for both sites and auditors

Adapting audits to maintain certification

BRCGS quickly realised that the pandemic was going to seriously effect audits and the obvious risk to consumers was top of mind.

To mitigate this risk, BRCGS quickly adapted its approach for audits to ensure all sites had options to maintain their certification.

As a result, we launched a suite of audit options taking into account the following:

  • GFSI position and their requirements
  • Brand and Retailer feedback
  • Changing and evolving local restrictions
  • Delivery Partner and Auditor availability
  • Maturity and history of site certificationBlog anchor food safety software oversight

Suspension of unannounced audits

A lesson we learned early in the pandemic was that unannounced audits created additional challenges for sites, certification bodies and auditors.

Therefore, BRCGS took the decision to temporarily suspend the unannounced audit programme until at least 31st December, 2021.

Where this is the case, the Certification Body will contact the site to arrange an announced or blended audit.

We will keep this temporary suspension under review and hope to restart unannounced audits as soon as possible.

And once we do relaunch unannounced audits, the industry will be given at least 3 months’ notice.

In addition to this, if a site really needs an unannounced audit, then these can be carried out by exception.

For example, if a customer requirement insists on it or it is as part of a combined audit with another standard, the unannounced audit can go ahead.

Blended Audits for increasing flexibility

The Blended Audit can occur where an onsite visit is possible but applicable only for existing sites.

The audit takes place in two parts:

  • Part 1: remote online assessment of some or all of the documentation
  • Part 2: shorter on-site audit

The main benefit of a blended audit is that it provides the opportunity for a rigorous audit but with a reduction in time spent on site by the auditor.

This has worked well where travel restrictions allowed auditors to visit a region or a country for a few days without having to quarantine.

a blended audit provides the opportunity for a rigorous audit but with a reduction in time spent on site by the auditor

So, if an audit takes 5 days but restrictions allowed an auditor to visit a country for a maximum of 2 days without having to quarantine, that’s where the blended audit option worked well.

The auditor would perform a 3-day remote assessment followed by 2 days on-site.

Due to the introduction of these audits and their impact on sites, auditors and Certification Bodies, they are likely to remain an element of the option for announced audits.

Certificate Extension

Where it is not possible to carry out an onsite audit of an existing certificated site, then this option allowed the certificate to be extended for up to 6 months.

Granting of the extension is based upon a risk assessment and a review between the site and the Certification Body of the controls in place at the site.

Certificate extensions are applicable for existing sites only.

Fully Remote Audit

The remote audit option is not GFSI Benchmarked.

It is available for sites when the certificate extension has expired, and it is still not possible for an audit to take place onsite due to COVID-19 restrictions – or where a site does not need a GFSI recognised certificate.

The remote audit includes a review of internal audit results, a documentation review and video audit of production and storage facilities.

The COVID -19 Additional Module

BRCGS have also published a separate assessment standard which may be used at any time to provide assurance around the management of COVID-19 risks.

It’s done like a remote audit and focuses on areas of the food safety system which are potentially at greater risk as a result of the changes enforced to address COVID-19, for example, changes to supply chains.

Getting the most out of the remote audit – the BRCGS 9 point check list

BRCGS offered plenty of options to allow sites and Certification Bodies to work together and ensure food safety assurances were still in place during the pandemic.

However, in order for those options to be successful – especially the remote audit and blended audit options – sites had to adapt their approach to the audit.

Therefore, we offered a 9-point checklist for sites, Certification Bodies and auditors to help them with or to conduct the most efficient and successful remote audit experience.

remote audit nine point checklist for BRCGS certified sites

Step 1: Process

Engage you staff in the planning of the remote audit, have training and practice in advance.  Ensure designated personnel are available throughout the audit, including leadership.

Step 2: Access Support Information

Make sure best practice information is reviewed for the remote audit from your Certification Bodies, Information Security Officer and International Standards Organisation – there is lots of good information available on ICT and virtual activities and sites are advised to make use of this information, and ensure that relevant staff are therefore prepared.

Step 3 – Planning

This step is absolutely essential – identify the role of audit assistants to support the smooth running of the remote audit.

Who will hold the camera? Who will do the evidence gathering.

Don’t forget to plan in time for screen breaks and natural breaks for both the auditor and the site operators.

We have found the remote audit to be very different and more intense in some ways.

Step 4 – IT Considerations

Test and map out your Wi-Fi signal, have an IT person available throughout, plan in advance how to share documents, and set up a separate remote audit room if possible.

Step 5 – Preparation

Perform a mock test of the equipment, with internal and external people.

Identify weak Wi-Fi signals and test that the lighting on site is good enough for the auditor to be able to see clearly from their remote screen.

It may also be a good idea to send them a map of the site.

Step 6 – Planning

Plan the visit with the auditor in advance of the audit day.

Identify what documents need to be ready or can be sent in advance.

Step 7 – Process and Procedures

It is extremely important to ensure your site security policies and that of the auditor and Certification Body allow for information to be shared or accessed remotely.

This issue came up several times in the feedback from auditors.

Steps  8 & 9 – Outcomes and Learning

Ensure that the outcome of the remote audit is followed through.

Take the learnings from the audit experience and use them next time.

Part two: how to implement a remote audit

The theory and planning is an important part to implementing a remote audit.

It helped us successfully launch and manage sites through remote audits during the pandemic.

However, there is nothing like experience and we are certainly learning a great deal about how to perform a remote audit and the things sites need to consider beforehand.

I will cover this in part two, Remote Auditing Techniques for Sites.

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This article was written by Angela O’Donovan, Head of Standards Certification Programmes and is part of a series of guest blogs provided by the BRCGS. For more information on the BRCGS, please visit: https://www.brcgs.com/.

What is the ‘New Normal’ for Food Safety?

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In 2001, I remember thinking that life in the United States would never again be the same as it was prior to September of that year.

Sure enough with the turn of time, the term ‘food defense’ quickly entered the public vernacular as new standards began to materialize governing food security and vulnerability was common as a popular sentiment that supposed that food supply chains could be the next target.

Now almost 20 years later, it’s safe to say the world might never be the same again with the Coronavirus impacting every nation globally and posing a ‘9/11 a day’ to those of us in the US.

Thomas Fuller was one of the first in the English language to make a living from his writings, and to anyone that knows an aspiring writer, rather aptly once remarked that “all things are difficult before they are easy”.

All things are difficult before they are easy

Despite being coined nearly a half-millennium ago, I believe this sentiment is still as true as the day the ink used to pen it was wet.

It seems to me the food industry sits on the precipice of unbridled changes which arguably have already begun in earnest as an immediate response to the challenges proposed in 2020 and are likely to reverberate for many more years to come.

What has changed?

At the micro-level, shutdowns forced the temporary closure of businesses across industries stunting the global economy.

While on a larger level, the DOW, NASDAQ, FTSE, or whatever other metrics you might use to evaluate economic health are well-exceeding expectations in spite of what those on the forefront of commerce are experiencing, with many anecdotal stories of austerity emerging.

As the world begins to re-emerge from their shelters, those involved in the food supply chain have been working tirelessly to bring it back to its former strength in spite of significant strain.

It is probable that business is not going to return to the way things were prior to March 2020

To be clear, I truly believe it is probable that business is not going return to the way things were prior to March 2020 ever again.

This was a suspicion I held personally that was all but reconfirmed to me when the FDA announced their Blueprint for the New Era of Smarter Food Safety which was quickly adapted to the learnings from Covid-19 and which intend to provide enhanced tools for the new challenges we have.

For the FDA to react so quickly, shows they acknowledge the significance of the current climate

As I discussed in a previous blog on FSMA which was the last time the FDA made such significant change, monoliths often move slowly and cautiously out of a desire for permanence, so for them to react so quickly and so prominently, shows that they have acknowledged the significance of the current climate and embraced what Thomas Fuller would call the “hard” part in order to make things easier for the industry into the well far-flung future.

What can be done differently?

Prior to the COVID19 pandemic, food safety professionals could ‘get by’ having their food safety and supplier quality management systems simply documented on paper or tucked away on an excel spreadsheet as long as these programs were accessible by their staff who were often within arm’s reach of each other, typically working in the same office.

Prior to COVID-19, food safety professionals could get with legacy systems as long as they were accessible

The merits of the sustainability and efficacy of such an approach was not without its detractors (including myself) but ultimately such systems were endemic in the industry by virtue of their legacy and the fact there was a low barrier of entry to start with them.

In these, HACCP programs, along with their complimentary SOP’s, were able to be tucked away in rudimentary document control systems and oversight was typically limited to direct observations performed by the QA Manager whenever they had an opportunity to walk the production lines, or whenever they were called to respond to a crisis out on the floor.

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Audits were typically limited to predefined checklists of food safety standards and rigid in their nature, and when they would need to be changed and documents versioned, unless you had the resources it was a can of worms that Pandora herself might delay opening.

Audits were typically limited… and unless you had resources, it was a can of worms that Pandora herself might delay opening

As a food safety issue occurred, communication of it could be cumbersome as it might require copying and scanning records, then emailing them to relevant individuals where it might sit last in their ‘inbox’ and go unseen causing unnecessary delays.

When an audit involved an external party, such as those from a Certification Body conducting one on behalf of the SQF or BRCGS, they would need to be hosted on-site, often for a day or two, and be given free reign over the environment, something that is just no longer feasible.

The Coronavirus brought about a paradigm shift in our society with things like social distancing, wearing masks, and excessive hand washing.

One of the most obvious and long last impacts of the Coronavirus to the food industry that is quickly becoming apparent is an acceleration of the digital thread of transformation and a wake-up call that just because we can do things one way, doesn’t mean we should continue to do so when there are safer and more pragmatic options available, even if it does mean an element of strain to configure these new approaches in the immediate term.

Just because we can do things one way, doesn’t mean we should continue to do so

In the food industry, we’ve seen additional changes recommended by the CDC such as daily health checks, workplace hazard assessments, and improved building ventilation systems.

Workforce management became more prominent than ever with the CDC not just recommending best practices for contract tracing and proximity tracking, but a myriad of activities and initiatives that businesses could deploy to assist in the fight against Covid-19.

The food industry, in particular, was, and still is, under a tremendous strain with many different challenges arising across sectors from manufacturers to restaurants with many implementing split shifts, reduced workforces, and by consequence, risk running a more ‘light-touch’ approach to compliance than they should ultimately strive for.

What should be done differently?

The world itself has changed, and the food industry needs to adapt along with it.

It is widely accepted that necessity is the mother of all invention, however, in this instance, there is no need to reinvent the wheel, but it might be better to acknowledge that necessity is the mother of adaptation, not invention.

While the principles of food safety systems may essentially remain the same, the old models might not.

While the principles of food safety systems may essentially remain the same, the old models might not

The acknowledgment from GFSI and its related schemes to allow the use of ICT and hybrid audits shows that industry is willing to accelerate the ‘Digital Transformation’ to ‘Industry 4.0’.

Safefood360 Remote Working Challenges Food Safety Ebook

As a result, what this means in practical terms is that Food Safety Managers will now be more reliant on technology to perform tasks like communication, remote auditing, and medical screening.

At its core producing and providing safe quality food to consumers is something that is a requirement that remains unchanged, but how we meet these requirements must adapt to circumstance.

Providing safe quality food remains unchanged, but how we meet these requirements must adapt to circumstance

It is all but inevitable that we are likely to see many more changes in the coming months and years, and technology will play a large role in these changes.

Safefood 360° provides the platform from which your company will remain agile enough to maintain accountability in remote working environments while retaining the flexibility to make changes and scale as your business grows.

Remote food safety management is now a real and viable possibility with an agile platform that allows users to log in from virtually anywhere and communicate in real-time, meaning not only can internal audits be performed against any of the 100’s of integrated food safety checklists (GFSI, FDA, Tesco, etc.), but interim guidance checklists which adheres to the World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) can also be used daily to confirm best efforts are being applied.

Blog anchor food safety software oversight

Audits both from retailers and technical standards, as well as from the legislators, reflect that manufacturers are acting in the best interests of our consumers, and technology is an enabler that allows us to meet these standards in as efficient a manner as possible.

To hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope

Another quote I am fond of is Martin Luther King Jr’s is that with the right mindset “we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope”.

Some people also believe that nothing worth having comes easy, but to meet these challenges for now and the future, it seems that recent changes have laid the foundational principles to accelerate our industry into the future.

Changes have laid the foundational principles to accelerate our industry into the future

I truly believe that looking forward, Safefood 360° offers the tools for us to lay these stones and build a better industry for us all well into the future.

I am excited for the years ahead and look forward to speaking with you all about creating a long-lasting legacy and positive changes for our industry.

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How we improved customer satisfaction during a global pandemic

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When President Trump announced US border crossings were due to be suspended on March 11th we were in the unusual position of being with our customers at our annual user conference in Dublin, Ireland.

In the lead up to the event we had kept a close eye on the news of the Coronavirus which was becoming more pervasive in everyday life, but like many and those that had joined us in Ireland, were still surprised by the rate of acceleration that week.

Literally, overnight the world seemed to change at an alarming pace and our customers were asking us what our Covid-19 strategy and plans were to ensure their business operations remained unaffected.

At the end of every year, we conduct in-depth surveys with our users to understand how happy they are using the Safefood 360° and the project supports from initial set up to ongoing technical support.

We do this because although we work with many of these customers on a daily basis from their initial set up it is easy to lose sight of their experience and what they are really thinking.

These surveys are designed to allow us to step back and take a clear and unbiased look at the year and how our customers perceive us, from the highest level of C-Suite to the average user who just wants to ensure their actions are closed out as efficiently as possible so they can focus on the next task.

In a normal year, we might already have a suspicion of how we have performed as we generally have an idea of what our customers typically expect and how we’ve performed in line with those expectations.

However, it would be asinine to claim this was a normal year, and as the pandemic hit and the situation worsened globally, we knew we had to step up and ensure that we were available for our customers during this time.

Safefood 360° has exceeded industry benchmarks

I am more than happy to say that this year we have well and truly exceeded expectations and can report our highest levels of satisfaction ever recorded that far exceed the industry benchmarks.

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Methodology

The findings in these surveys were conducted by engaging our users with Customer Satisfaction forms and a Net Promoter Survey.

These assessments were conducted from the 19th of October to the 10th of November and responses varied across the spectrum of stakeholders from C-suite and Director-level to operations, sanitation, and quality managers.

The survey was conducted via Survey Monkey, which allowed us to benchmark our scores against 161,000 other companies who conducted the same research through the Survey Monkey platform.

Findings have been benchmarked against 161,000 companies

Each customer received one invitation to complete the survey which contained one NPS question, supplemented by five satisfaction questions and one open-ended question to allow for enhanced context and follow-up if necessary.

The response rate of the survey was 35% which is the industry standard for survey completion.

Net Promoter Score – What is it?

NPS is a customer loyalty metric that measures customers’ willingness to not only return for another purchase or service but also make a recommendation to their family, friends or colleagues. It is a benchmarked metric that allows you to gauge a customer’s overall satisfaction and potential for churn.

Typical responses from an NPS survey fall into 3 brackets:

  • Promoters(score 9-10) are loyal enthusiasts who will keep buying or subscribing to your service, as well as referring their peers or colleagues, which ultimately enables and fuels growth.
  • Passives(score 7-8) are satisfied but unenthusiastic customers who are vulnerable to competitive offerings.
  • Detractors(score 0-6) are unhappy customers who can damage your brand and impede growth through negative word-of-mouth.

How is it calculated?

Subtracting the percentage of Detractors from the percentage of Promoters yields the Net Promoter Score, which can range from a low of -100 (if every customer is a Detractor) to a high of 100 (if every customer is a Promoter).

NPS Score Scale

After analyzing the results, we are more than happy to let our customers know that we improved our overall NPS score in 2020 by +4 to 49.

The score of 49 means we are 18 above the industry standard as benchmarked by Survey Monkey using data from over 100,000 surveys conducted through their platform and far in excess of the scores of Retently’s 2020 NPS Benchmarks for SaaS and Enterprise Software companies.

Safefood 360 NPS Score

Not only did our NPS score improve, but so did our key satisfaction KPIs relating to support, product development, and product quality.

Throughout this blog, I will explain how we achieved these scores by adapting to the pandemic and our customers’ needs by introducing new processes, features, and product enhancements to ensure it was business as usual for our customers in an ever-changing global landscape.

Actionable steps into improving user satisfaction

The first step we took was to ensure all users knew that it would be business as usual at Safefood 360° and nothing was going to change in the immediate aftermath of lockdowns and restrictions.

We sent out the communication below to put our customers at ease and let them know we were here for them.

Covid 19 Support Message Safefood 360°

After this, the teams of Customer Success, Professional Services and Technical Services collectively offered to meet every single one of our customers and devise a strategic Covid action plan to ensure that our customers’ needs were met, as well as to discuss any fears or doubts they had about proving their compliance to standards and legislation to their own customers.

Along with these meetings, we also increased the level of attention from our Data Science and Technical Services team to more closely monitor the backend of system to stay alert of unique challenges or queries as they arose.

We quickly realized that user behavior was changing, the usage of the platform was increasing steadily, and our customers needed us now more than ever.

Once every user we met with was assured of our increased availability and that we were available to help, we then identified two keys areas in which we could offer more assistance than ever.

  • Support
  • Product Enhancements

Support

This year our Technical Services and Data Science team solved more than 5,000 requests for tasks in the application and questions on using the software.

The satisfaction rating from these tasks was in excess of 98%.

More than 5,000 Customer Support tasks solved with almost 100% satisfaction

How did we achieve this?

Unlike most of the food industry which still required employees to attend on-site to maintain (or exceed) productivity, we had the luxury and great fortune to be able to pivot from an office-based working environment to remote working with minimal interruption.

One of the advantages of this was that almost immediately the “downtime” of commuting was eliminated and we were able to increase service hours due to the extra flexibility our team now had.

Staggered shifts that provided support in off-peak times were introduced which increased the availability of our support team so they could operate from 7 AM – 7 PM GMT.

This is an increase of four hours of availability which we felt our customers would need during the pandemic as more customers moved to conduct remote audits through the platform.

The impact of this was evident in the survey results as 91% of survey respondents stated that they were satisfied with the level of customer support we provide.

This is above the global benchmark of 84% report from Survey Monkey.

NPS Graph 1 Satisifed with Safefood 360° Service

Figure 1: Satisfied with support

Furthermore, not only was the increased availability of our support noted but so too was how quick our support team was to respond.

82% of survey respondents rated Safefood 360’s responsiveness to support as Extremely Responsive or Highly responsive, which is well in excess of the global benchmark of 71%.

NPS Graph 2 Support Responsiveness

Figure 2: Support responsiveness

Lastly, and perhaps in part to support being more readily available and faster to respond, user satisfaction of responses remained as high as ever with >94% of all queries being answered correctly on the first attempt.

Product Enhancement

After we conducted our analysis of our findings from the 2019 survey and our Covid strategy meetings, it was evident that our customer base was screaming out for enhanced ways the user could build reports and effectively analyze the data they submitted into Safefood 360°.

As a result of this, we committed to solving this issue and accelerated the release of our bespoke business intelligence reporting tool throughout 2020.

The reporting tool has been a huge hit and has seen many of our customers build their own reports without the assistance of our service team.

Further to that, we quickly enhanced elements of the software to include more flexible options for audits so that users could conduct audits remotely, whilst also accurately reporting the results in the system and share these with colleagues working offsite.

These actions were taken in advance of the approval of remote and hybrid audits from the GFSI and we monitored this news to ensure Safefood 360° was compliant with the requirements.

More flexible options allowing remote audits were introduced in advance of the the introduction of remote and hybrid audits from the GFSI

Not only did we release our Self-Service Reporting tool and add additional features for remote audits, but we have also been overhauling the monitoring module to include new features that would allow for more flexibility in tests and programs, as well as enhanced SPC analysis.

As a result of these changes and new developments, 100% of our customers noted that Safefood 360° met their needs during 2020.

Safefood 360° met 100% of customer needs

Whilst 89% of respondents rated Safefood 360° as a product of very High or High Quality.

These two satisfaction KPIs are above the global benchmark of 95% and 81% respectively.

NPS Graph 3 Product Quality

Figure 3: Product Quality

Other areas in which we surpassed the global benchmark include ‘Quality of Product’ where 89% of our customers stated that the product was of Very High / High Quality, again surpassing the industry standard by 7%.

How will we continue this moving forward?

Hopefully, the events of 2020 have been a Black Swan and remain an anomaly, but in the event that they do not, we have put in place long-lasting and sustainable actions to ensure the functionality of services continues to exceed expectations.

This year our Technical Services team was rebranded to Data Science & Technical Services, which you may rightfully ask, what’s in a name?

Click here for more information about this change, but our commitment to our users in the coming months and years is to continue the marriage of cutting edge technology, analytics, and customer service with domain expertise that remains unrivaled in the industry.

This means users can expect exciting new features and functionalities that combine Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and the Internet of Things which aim to make everyday tasks easier to main in their compliance and management systems.

We’ll continue to support this through our best-in-class Technical Support which is always available in the application and a reformed series of webinars throughout the year which will focus on practical insights to allow users to maximize their RoI.

For those that want something ‘more’ or customized, the Customer Success team is available to consult on a bespoke basis about your needs and project deliverables to ensure you maximize your business goals.

If you would like to start one of these conversations now, leave a comment, or simply get in touch with any of the team to begin.

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COVID-19 Food Safety Guidance Checklist now available

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Interim guidance from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in food manufacturing facilities is now available to all Safefood 360° users as a free-to-access checklist.

Unlike other industries, it may not be possible for many involved in food manufacturing to work remotely given the nature of their operations.

However, ensuring the safety of personnel in the supply chain is paramount to helping maintain the integrity of the food chain as it works under unprecedented challenges.

There is now an urgent requirement for food manufacturers to demonstrate operational processes comply with social protection measures in order to best protect workers from the risk of contracting COVID-19.

The World Health Organization guidance for food businesses offers advice and measures that food businesses (both retail and manufacturing) can implement in support of existing food safety best practices to ensure the integrity of the food chain is maintained at all stages.

Caveats to the guidance

Although it is highly unlikely that COVID-19 can be contracted from food or food packaging, the guidance acknowledges that precautionary steps need to be taken within manufacturing environments as the virus may remain viable on surfaces for differing lengths of time.

Surface Material
Potential lifespan of Covid-19
Plastic & Steel
72 hours
Cardboard
24 hours
Copper
4 hours

*Disclaimer: This research was performed under laboratory conditions with controlled humidity and temperature and should be considered with caution in real-life environments.

The guidance also reinforces the importance of sustained stringent sanitation and hygienic practices to reduce the risk of food surfaces and packaging materials becoming contaminated, as well as the correct use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to mitigate its spread.

What is in the guidance?

The guidance provides practical advice and considerations for multiple areas throughout operations, including:

  • Symptoms overview
  • Fitness appraisals
  • Illness reporting procedures
  • Hygienic practice recommendations
  • Best practice for correct glove use
  • Physical distancing guidelines
  • Delivery precautions and advice for limiting external contact
  • Retail-specific advice
  • Staff canteen considerations

How to use the checklist in Safefood 360°?

A checklist utilizing the above advice from the WHO is now available to all users of Safefood 360° for immediate application.

These can be accessed from within the system starting today and applied in your manufacturing facility.

If you are not currently a platform user, or would like to know more information about using Safefood 360° to enforce the strength of your Food Safety Management System in response to the challenges of COVID-19, please leave a comment below or contact us for further information.

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COVID-19 Food Safety Update

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On March 11th the World Health Organization officially declared the COVID-19 Coronavirus a pandemic.

Originating from China towards the end of 2019, the continued growth of this specific strain of Coronavirus has seen it quickly spread from the city of Wuhan in Hubei province to more than 180 countries, affecting more than 340,000 people and causing more than 14,000 deaths at the time of writing.

While much about the virus is yet to be discovered, its affect already on the global supply chain has been seen in stores from Auckland to Austin with many shoppers stockpiling goods and food items in the fear of a global supply chain break down, albeit, this occurring while the supply chain itself is still fully functional.

These actions and attitudes might be better attributed to a human fear of ‘what is to come’ due to the virus’ exponential growth as communities seek to ‘flatten the curve’, and do not typically consider how modern food businesses are prepared for disaster scenarios to continue to perform and deliver vital business functions, as already they are demonstrating their capabilities to do so.

Supply Chain Precautions

Just less than a decade ago the FDA introduced the Food Safety Modernization Act which is considered the first major federal address for food safety in the United States for more than 70 years.

The sweeping reforms that have been introduce since then authorize the FDA to take more action and bring stability and security to the US, and consequently, the larger global food supply chain than ever before.

Already, the FDA has taken steps to adapt to the challenging situation of limited travel that COVID-19 presents and has announced a temporary suspension of onsite verification audits, so long as other reasonable methods are taken (read more).

Equally, so too have the USDA (read more) who are collaborating with the private sector (more information), and as have the GFSI who have clarified their position on audits in this time (more information) and the BRCGS who have issued guidance on Audits and Re-Audits, Risk Assessments, Certifications and a multitude of other considerations (more), all which will bring stability to food operators and ensure that their standards remain in compliance as they endeavor to deliver safer food to consumers.

How does Safefood 360° help

Safefood 360° are fully committed to helping our users ensure their business activities continue as usual.

Our products and services are operating to their full capacity and the continued use of the platform will remain unaffected for our customers and their suppliers.

As a fully cloud-based software our systems are hosted and supported globally with a number of redundancies and fault mechanisms in place to ensure their continued delivery in the face of global issues such as, specifically, in this case, a pandemic.

Learn more information about our underlying technology and security here.

Regulatory requirements and GFSI certifications have prompted us to work with like-minded vendors, which has positioned companies within the global food supply chain to already be working towards a common goal of providing safe quality food to the store shelves.

The Safefood 360° software will allow your company to leverage technology and unlock the power of your data to seamlessly connect your company’s food safety systems with your supply chain and improve communication across your business group.

This means your business can continue to demonstrate compliance and assure your vendor compliance without needing to physically visit their onsite premises and can continue to operate criticial business processes while mitigating risk and exposure from your staff to COVID19.

Essentially, the Safefood 360° platforms allows businesses to maintain oversight during the current global situation and allows businesses to maintain their compliance and demonstrate their commitment to the necessary precautions in otherwise uncertain times.

In these trying times of unprecedented change, we will continue to operate our systems and support our users in their multitude of applications from Food Safety Plans, Auditing and Document Control to Supplier Approval, Assessment and Score Carding with a system that allows users to bring together disparate fragments of information into a food safety management system that brings it all together.

If you have any questions or would like to know more about how we can help your business continue to deliver core critical functions, please leave a comment, or email me ([email protected]).

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Safefood 360°, built by a group of food safety experts in 2010, is designed to tackle the real difficulties facing food-related industries by combining Food Safety Management and Supplier Quality Management Solutions with over 35 pre-set modules – creating a fast, secure, and audit-ready working environment.

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