Did you know one of the more unique ways of preserving and guaranteeing safe quality food is by exposing it to radiation?
This is typically done through either gamma or x-ray’s, and if you were a comic book geek or just a laymen fan of the Avengers, you might immediately think of The Incredible Hulk and have concerns, but fear not dear reader! This is a safe processing method that can guarantee longer shelf life and sustainability for food.
In very simple terms, the treated food of choice is exposed to electron beams or ionized radiation which kill the germs on the food that could cause foodborne illness or poisoning.
This typically occurs once the food has been packed and is the final stage of the production process, occurring at a dedicated facility and before the product ships to the end customer.
Unlike other processes like pasteurization or canning, no heat is used, and as such, it can be considered a “cold” method of preservation.
If you are critically minded, you might be thinking right now, what are the benefits and drawbacks of this?
That’s a fair question, so let’s dive in:
How does food irradiation happen?
First and foremost, it’s important to stress that while food irradiation is safe and has large commercial benefits, it should never be used substitute for other Good Manufacturing Practices.
Irradiation occurs at the end of your practice and should be the final step in ensuring safe quality products – but never as the only means of preservation or food.
This means that the food manufactured has already followed all best practices that align with Codex Alimentarius or the dedicated standard of your choice, whether that be BRCGS, FSSC, Global GAP, SQF or any other GFSI or similar scheme.
Typically packaged food like vegetables, meat, or spices are sent to a dedicated facility and passed through an irradiation chamber which bursts concentrated ionised radiation onto the food to destabilize its hydrogen bonds, which prevents DNA and RNA replication.
The food actually absorbs this radiation but once the treatment concludes, it quickly dissipates and leaves, causing no long term effect.
Once the food has been treated any free radicals that form are extremely reactive and so do not have a lasting presence.
It has no impact on non-living tissue and can also be used to slow down vegetable ripening due to the same factors.
With the correct application, it is a safe practice that can enhance the robustness of a food safety system, but it should never be used to substitute for other Good Manufacturing Practices.
For example, should you spot rot or decay on produce, the item should be discarded.
While applying irradiation to it will prevent further decay, it will not negate the damage that has already been done.
As climate change and global supply chains increase in complexity, its place may become more common as it provides an additional guarantee that invasive insects or harmful species are not being shipped undetected in final products.
Although irradiation is a common practice, its commonality and application does vary from region to region.
It is important irradiated food is always clearly highlighted so consumers can make an informed opinion.
The Radura symbol
The Radura logo is an internationally recognised symbol that was introduced in the 1960’s that can be placed on all treated food products to show they have been exposed to irradiation.
Although there can be some variance in the logo, the shape and placement, is always the same.
It is a circle, with the top half noted by broken lines symbolising the radiation waves, with another full circle, or dot, in the middle and two leaves below it, symbolizing a plant.
The colour is always a shade of green, but this can vary from region to region, with the FDA version being a darker shade of green in the United States than the more bright, almost radioactive, shade that is used internationally.
Although the symbol is designed for international use and to be immediately recognised, it is not a mandatory symbol in many places and its usage depends not just on the regulation of the specific country or region, but can also be omitted due to public perception of what irradiation means.
What else can you do to make food safer?
As already stated, irradiation should only ever be applied following other GMP’s being conducted thoroughly.
It is one of many tools in the arsenal of a food safety practitioner that can be applied should they have the resources and inclination to do so.
Should they be constrained in these resources with time sinks or find they need assistance with other areas of their GMP’s, there are solutions that can help.
One of these solutions is ours, Safefood 360, which provides food manufacturers with comprehensives solutions for all things Food Safety and Supplier Quality Management.
With more than 35 modules covering everything from HACCP, Audits and Corrective Actions through to Monitoring production records and Supplier Pre-Assessments and yearly appraisals, we have everything you need to allow your team’s to focus on more value added activity.
Should you be interested in seeing how we can help your business, please click the button below and one of our team member’s will schedule a no obligation look at the system for you at a time of your convenience.
https://safefood360.com/wp-content/uploads/Radura-Symbol-1.jpg321845/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/sf360-logo.png2024-11-29 14:46:192024-11-29 15:48:17An Introduction to the basics of Food Irradiation
Geo-political and “black swan” events in the last couple of years have re-emphasised how crucial it is for the global food supply chain to be strengthened.
With the curtain now falling on a year of global elections, it remains to be seen how trade and policy will affect what and how we eat.
Finally, and unfortunately, rising costs across manufacturing and delivery also mean we need to be more vigilant than ever against bad actors in the supply chain who are motivated by economic gain rather than moral concern to the end customer that what they produce is safe.
Where food fraud does occur, it can quickly undo a significant amount of good will for all good faith actors otherwise.
With fraudulent activities ranging from the misrepresentation of a product’s origin to the blatant substitution or imitation of the product itself, the impact is widespread, affecting everything from economic stability to wider public safety.
Addressing this issue requires a multi-faceted approach involving stringent regulations, advanced technologies, and collaborative efforts across the entire supply chain.
In this blog, we’ll explore the key challenges posed by food fraud, examine most common high-risk products, and highlight effective strategies to strengthen food supply integrity and restore consumer confidence in the products they purchase.
Such practices can be harmful to consumers, who may be misled about the authenticity of food or animal feed, often at the risk of their health.
Factors such as intense and increasing cost-cutting pressures on suppliers and the potential for substantial profits have unfortunately resulted in food fraud becoming a more common practice.
Sometimes it can be as ‘innocuous’ as an ingredient being called something it’s not, such as “Manuka honey” from a different region or plant to where it is native, or outright replacement of ingredients such as saffron being substituted for turmeric or safflower.
In more severe cases, its practice can result in tragic outcomes.
Events such as the Melamine scandal or Horsegate highlight the need for rigorous monitoring and enforcement.
Food fraud typically occurs under the following scenarios:
Substitution or addition of materials to falsely enhance product value or cut production costs.
Dilution or misrepresentation of ingredients, creating misleading perceptions about quality or origin.
Misleading labelling or false claims about product attributes.
Certain products are subject to a higher risk of food fraud due to their economic value, production complexity, or susceptibility to adulteration.
Items like olive oil, fish, organic products, dairy, grains, honey, maple syrup, coffee, tea, spices, wine, and fruit juices are common targets.
Olive oil, for instance, often faces adulteration with cheaper oils due to its high market value, while the diversity of wine varieties makes it an easy target for dilution or counterfeiting.
As global food markets grow, ensuring the integrity of food products becomes increasingly vital, with consumer trust and health at stake.
Proactively Addressing Fraud
There are two keys things to consider for beginning to tackle fraud; these are 1) what can be done on a micro level (i.e., within your own supply chain), and 2) what can be done on a macro level (i.e., globally).
At a local site level, it is paramount to remember that for fraud detection and horizon scanning to be effective, it cannot be something static.
The dangers and threats in this area is constantly evolving and so a proactive approach that reflects reality and acceptance of this should be the norm.
In the same way that a HACCP or Food Defense plan would be updated following a process change, so should your TACCP and VACCP whenever there is a supplier or product change.
Active monitoring and threat detection from reputable sources such as EFSA or tools like Fera’s Horizon Scan should be considered.
The good news is that there are many active agencies and departments tackling this issue at regional levels which can support you while also cumulatively constituting a robust global framework, albeit one with some vulnerabilities.
In the United Kingdom, the National Food Crime Unit is a part of the Food Standards Agency which covers incidents within England, Wales and Northern Ireland, while working closely with the Scottish Food Crime and Incidents Unit.
With a mandate to address Food Crime, it specifically focuses on:
Adulteration
Substitution
Misrepresentation
Unlawful Processing
Waste Diversion
Document Fraud
Theft
While the FSA’s core responsibility is to safeguard public health in its area of remit, it does have handy tools and practices that can be applied no matter where you are based.
Speaking earlier this year at the BRCGS conference in London, one of the tools it advocates for detecting fraud is a handy mnemonic for categorising threats: F-O-O-D C-R-I-M-E-S.
These are areas where threats can occur and where we must be vigilant, and include:
Financial Incentives – What are the financial motivators for crime?
Opportunity – Does the actor in your supply chain have the opportunity to commit fraud? Where are these flashpoints and what can be done to minimise or remove them?
Organisation – Does the organisation have an anti-fraud culture? Is every employee trained to spot and flag any product issue with the organisation?
Documents – How are documents verified to guarantee the authenticity of products during the receiving process?
Concealment of True Origin – How are then the documents approved, used to verify the concealment of true origin?
Reputation – What do you know about the suppliers and traders that you are working with? Are they new to you? Have you carried out other checks prior working together and have you asked questions about them in your network?
Intent to Defraud – Was there any deliberate intent to deceive the outcome?
Market Drivers – What are the demand trends and trust factors for the sourced product? Are there peak periods when the product might face a higher risk of adulteration, and how could these factors impact your product? Additionally, how can horizon scanning help to prevent negative impacts on products?
Examples – How might external events impact your business, and would your current processes enable you to detect them? For example, with the war in Ukraine leading to higher tariffs on certain Russian products, is there a risk of misrepresenting the country of origin to bypass these tariffs? What best practices are in place to identify and manage such risks?
Smart – Are the current processes effective, and is the company actively evolving and enhancing best practices to prevent food crimes?
Considering the above will allow any business to gather and structure their intelligence, conduct thorough investigations, engage with their stakeholders to shore up weaknesses, implement more robust checks and processes, and internalise a more cohesive culture in their organisation that fosters continuous improvement.
What other proactive steps can you take to mitigate fraud?
Efforts from organisations like the NFCU play a crucial role in safeguarding the integrity of the food supply chain and protecting public health and consumer interests.
However, we cannot rely on these as a sole measure.
If you are an actor or an agent involved in the creation, supply, manufacturing, distribution or service of food, you are responsible for its authenticity just as much as its safety.
In an age of big data and over whelming news cycles, it can be difficult knowing where to get started.
Depending on what part of the supply chain you are involved in, there are multiple options you can consider.
Applications such as Horizon Scanning, Process Analytical Software that uses Spectrometers or Chromatography, Genomics or DNA testing, or comprehensive Quality Management systems that combine Supplier Quality Management with features such as Statistical Analysis tools that can detect anomalies or link directly into Environmental instruments for real time monitoring and providence of data lineage.
We are proud that we offer a tool that helps address the last part of this picture.
Our robust solutions for Food Safety and Supplier Quality Management can assist you in building and instituting a culture of resilience and adaptability against food fraud and crime.
This means you can have peace of mind and ensure trust and confidence both internally with your staff and externally with your consumers, customers and stakeholders.
Preventing potential risks and identifying market vulnerabilities is crucial for businesses to avoid adverse scenarios that can impact brand image, deteriorate customers trust, and ultimately affect the overall company profitability.
Granular levels of control for risk and vulnerabilities assessments can enable a more effective strategy which entails cross-checking supplier risks and vulnerabilities with your own internal processes.
Regular score-carding and reviews of suppliers can help you proactively prepare contingency plans and maintain high standards for proactive future responses when black swan events occur.
If searching for a new vendor, having workflows that streamline pre-assessments can enable faster sourcing when a tried and trusted vendor is not able to deliver.
Obviously, and almost most importantly, this goes without saying, but all of the technologies, frameworks and processes in the world can amount to nought and not substitute for a poor culture.
Equipping your employees with knowledge about the various types of food fraud and how to recognise potential risks in their operations is paramount.
Tackling fraud is not a simple issue nor is it one that we can rest on our laurels with.
To comprehensively address these risks we must be active, vigilant and continuous in our monitoring to ensure that production is safe for all.
It is abundantly clear that in order to do this while juggling the demands of modern life, technological solutions need to be implemented and can help mitigate some of this burden.
In at least the areas of Food Safety and Supplier Quality Management, we can play a small part in helping your business protect your operations and safeguard your brand equity and customer health.
To see how we can help you foster a continuous culture of resilience and create a more trustworthy food industry for everyone, please request a demonstration or click the button below for more information.
From horsegate to leafy greens, and covid to the Ever Given, the last decade has highlighted how complex and just-in-time supply chains have left us more vulnerable than ever.
In parallel, Moore’s law tells us that technology doubles every 18 months, meaning our exposure, and reliance, on digital solutions has become more dependent than ever.
In this rapidly evolving environment, data governance and its security are no longer an option, but a must-have, and honestly are now often more of a pre-requisite at the start of due diligence than the questions on quality management.
As companies rely more and more on cloud-based platforms to streamline operations, protecting sensitive information is more critical today than it ever was.
At Safefood, we are backed by the legacy of more than 180 years of LGC, our parent company, of providing tried and trusted solutions that underpin assurance and quality at all levels of food manufacturing and its supply chain.
Of course, we don’t rest on this legacy and take practical steps to ensure we honour this tradition in the face of evolving threats and disruption.
For us, ensuring data security goes beyond compliance. It’s also an opportunity to differentiate yourself from the competitors.
This blog is inspired by our recent e-book on platform security and takes a transparent look at the measures we deploy to protect your data security and provide you with confidence that you are operating to the best standards and practices.
Security and Compliance: Building Trust Through Proven Solutions
We understand that you have entrusted us with your data and the security of it is paramount.
When you outsource critical business operations you are placing a high degree of trust in the vendor’s ability to maintain, and often exceed, the standards that you provide to your own customers.
We value this trust and strive to deliver best-in-class solutions that safeguard and protect your data security, privacy and compliance practices.
To us, data security means more than just meeting standards; it’s about ensuring peace of mind, and we strive to demonstrate our commitment to this by ensuring we are audited and credentialed.
By adhering to SOC 2 (Type I and Type II) protocols, we offer rigorous security controls to protect customer data, giving you confidence in the safety and integrity of your information.
If needed, we can provide a full copy of our SOC2 report to your technical terms during your due diligence.
Adapting to Your Business’s Needs
The foundation of our platform is built on secure Microsoft .NET technologies and hosted within Microsoft Azure cloud, giving you an enterprise-class solution with enhanced performance, scalability and flexibility to scale as your business’ needs grow and evolve.
This means you need options to the platforms and hardware you can deploy.
To this end, our solution is browser-agnostic and compatible with all systems that have internet access.
So whether you operate Edge, Firefox, Chrome, Opera or something else across Windows, macOS, or Linux, you won’t have any issues logging in.
If you need to operate offline, we also offer dedicated mobile applications available in the Apple and Android stores that allow you to record and take audit data with you anywhere in the world and upload the results later at a time that’s convenient for you.
This ensures your data is always available and accessible, whether you are in the office, on-site, on the move, in a black-spot or even in the air.
A cynic reading this might think it sounds well and good, but this is all “inwards” looking to the platform – and in an age of hyperconnectivity, what about integrations?
Well ,the good news is that our platform integrates seamlessly with your broader IT ecosystem through advanced API support.
Our technical teams will assist your developers and ensure tight and seamless integrations using REST APIs.
This data is held in data warehouses to optimize the reports performance and enables easy extraction for the use with your own enterprise Bl tools should you wish.
Data Ownership and Control: Your Data, Our Responsibility
You will always retain full ownership of your data.
Under GDPR, we are considered a data processor and we will serve as the conduit for your business needs. In line with this, nothing of your use is disclosed to third parties, except as required by law or as directed by you (such as using our Supplier Portal).
As part of our role, we only use data to provide you the best service and experience, such as troubleshooting, detecting, and repairing problems which might be affecting the operation of services, improving new features, and protecting you against emerging threats.
All data, both in transit and at rest, within our platform, is encrypted, utilizing industry-standard encryption protocols like AES265, TLS 1.2 or better encryption.
Nonetheless, to further strengthen security, Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) through smartphone devices, email or SMS can be enabled at both the user or business levels.
Moreover, our data retention complies with numerous international codes for information security, including the E.U. Data Protection Directive (95/46/EC), the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679, ISO/IEC 27001:2005 and with the requirements of FDA 21 CFR Part II and EU Annex II.
Finally, in the event that you need to leave the platform for any reason, following the off-boarding process, data is securely destroyed, ensuring your sensitive information does not persist in our systems longer than needed.
Fault Tolerance and Continuous Protection
Our platform is designed to be fault-tolerant and redundant, ensuring that operations continue semi-automatically even in the event of failure.
Redundancies are built into the infrastructure, enabling a quick recovery with minimal intervention and the platform is monitored 24/7 to ensure effective migration of data should it be needed.
Furthermore, regular penetration tests, vulnerability scans, and secure coding assessments using internationally recognized and accredited third-party security tools and specialists are constantly conducted.
If a catastrophic event was to occur with a data center, all instances are geo replicated and will be made available at a back up location and available to ensure you have continued use of the platform and do not experience any disruption.
How important is data security to you?
In today’s interconnected world, data security isn’t just about compliance or a regulatory checkbox – it’s a competitive and strategic advantage and a key driver of business resilience.
We are committed to delivering industry-leading security that not only protects your sensitive data but also strengthens your operational processes while ensuring compliance with the latest global privacy and regulatory standards.
By partnering with us, you’re not just choosing a platform – you’re investing in a solution that continuously evolves to meet emerging security challenges while safeguarding the future of your business.
If data security is your top priority and you’d like to explore how we provide comprehensive protection, we invite you to visit our Platform & Data Security webpage for a detailed overview of our robust security features.
https://safefood360.com/wp-content/uploads/Data-security-1.jpg321845/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/sf360-logo.png2024-09-27 09:45:162024-10-02 16:42:55How we ensure trust and security in our software platform
Compliance to food safety regulations is not only a legal requirement but it is also a crucial factor in protecting your brand’s reputation and ultimately, its financial health.
It goes without saying, but more importantly than anything, it is also an ethical requirement and a reminder of WHO’s mission of recent years that food safety is everyone’s business.
However, although the vast majority of production is done with the best of intent, sometimes, and unfortunately, either through design, accident or happenstance, noncompliance is unavoidable.
When this happens, there are real world costs that can quickly accumulate.
Beyond just the cost of a recall itself, the hidden costs of non-compliance can be substantial and wide ranging to your organisation.
In the blog below, we look at some of the direct and indirect financial impacts of non-compliance and what proactive compliance measures and strategies can be adopted to mitigate these risks.
The Direct Financial Impact of Food Safety Non-Compliance
The financial repercussions of food safety non-compliance can significantly damage the future of a company.
No matter where you are producing or exporting products to, understanding what these are will help you to highlight and stress the importance of preventive measures when making any process changes or submitting any business proposal.
Fines, Penalties and other Fees
Failure to comply with food safety regulations can lead to substantial fines and penalties from regulatory authorities.
In the absolute worse case scenario, your business may need to cease production either while an investigation is occurring, or while the appropriate steps are taken to redress and fix the nonconformance’s you have attained.
If levies or fines are applied, these financial repercussions can quickly add up and place significant strain on your company’s budget.
For instance, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not been shy in the past to issue fines that can reach millions of dollars for serious violations.
Needless to say, if money is tight, this may impact your future plans and initiatives as well.
Product Recall Costs
Recalling products from the market due to safety concerns is one of the most immediate and severe financial repercussions following a non-compliance incident which can be harmful.
When this happens the expenses related to logistics, disposal and the production of replacement goods can quickly rack up.
Typically, small businesses tend to make up the majority of cases where goods are recalled and unfortunately, these are often the ones that are most affected.
Without casting aspirations, a quick google search can easily highlight unfortunate real world scenarios where companies, either willingly or unwittingly non complying have found themselves bankrupt once the dust has settled and their costs have to be processed.
In tragic circumstances with bad actors intentionally acting without regard, this can result in life long jail sentences, but even in the more earnest scenarios, the legal processes can have serious impact.
If you find yourself the unfortunate position of having legal action taken against you there can be a host of charges, fees and sunken costs that quickly accrue.
If your company already has inhouse legal counsel, some of these costs are lessened by not having to go externally, but there might be an opportunity cost to your business where the time and energy of these resources may be spent on other value serving activities.
Of course, even if you are in a defendable situation and manage to resolve relatively unscathed, you may still need to compromise through settlements or damages.
The Indirect Financial Impact of Food Safety Non-Compliance
While the direct financial impacts of food safety non-compliance, such as fines, recall costs, and legal fees, are readily identifiable, the indirect costs can often be more insidious yet equally detrimental to a company’s financial standing.
These indirect implications can arise from diminished consumer trust, increased insurance premiums, and the loss of market opportunities, all of which can compound over time.
A brand that suffers from non-compliance may find itself navigating a lasting reduction in customer loyalty, as consumers become increasingly wary of products that compromise their health and safety.
Furthermore, the financial strain placed on resources during compliance investigations and remediation efforts can divert capital away from innovation and growth initiatives.
By understanding these indirect financial impacts, businesses can implement robust food safety strategies that not only ensure compliance but also enhance brand resilience in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
Your brand reputation may suffer following any incident that causes any level of adverse effect on a consumer.
Regardless of the severity of the incident itself, whether it’s a food safety issue, or even just a breach of Packers rule, the impact and relationship with the consumer can have a long lasting affect.
Scandals such as horse gate, recalls, and overall increasing costs under the guise of inflation despite record profits have all affect consumer sentiment.
In today’s digital age, where information spreads rapidly, the repercussions of losing consumer trust can be particularly severe, impacting a brand’s reputation for years to come.
Still it is not all doom and gloom and there are options to repair this.
With technology so ever present at every step of the food supply chain and in the hands of consumers post consumption, there are more opportunities than ever to reach the consumer and engage them to dispel this scrutiny.
While proprietary production processes need to be protected, your brand can now meet these consumers where they are, and provide clarity in more ways than ever before.
To regain trust, companies must prioritize transparency and effective communication, often combined with self-sanction actions and clear information-sharing strategies.
However, as indicated by IFT, rebuilding trust is challenging, especially when consumers are overwhelmed with negative information.
How you deal with a crisis and the relationships you have already created in advance of it which are based on trust and true influence can be the key in consumer sentiment and the decision to give you a second chance, before you ever compromised your first.
Business Disruption Costs
This almost goes without saying as it is the common thread through all of the above reasons, but any unplanned event is a disruption that takes time, energy and resources away from your business plans.
Hopefully, the disruption is minimal and your business can contain and pivot exposure to the affected product, production line or site, but it could be wise to consider the ripple effect that may emanate when this happens.
When an unfortunate event occurs, whether it’s a halted production line, supply chain interruption, or workforce inefficiencies, the important thing is you are ready and in position to deploy a responsive and well-constructed action plan.
Strategies to Mitigate Risks and Avoid Financial Pitfalls
It is wise for all businesses to incorporate contingency plans and strategies for events.
Ignoring their invaluable use when needed, their preparation and maintenance has an opportunity cost that must be associated to them.
Naturally, it should be hoped they will never be needed, and in which case, the work could be perceived by some to redundant, but in the planning and preparation of these, there are opportunities to review processes and make adjustments for improvement.
Implementing effective strategies to mitigate risks associated with food safety non-compliance is crucial for maintaining operational integrity and financial stability.
Proactively addressing the risks through robust systems, process improvements, risk analysis, audits and application of Six Sigma principles will allow you to create a solid foundation that mitigates and all but eliminates the adverse impacts you may have.
The following points outline key strategies that organizations can adopt to enhance their food safety practices and safeguard against significant losses.
Implementing Robust Food Safety Management Systems
Implementing robust food safety management systems like BRCGS, SQF, or FSSC2200 or any other GFSI recognised scheme can significantly enhance your compliance efforts.
Each of these schemes have its own advantages and provide a passport to your organisation to do business with retailers globally who will have assurance and confidence that you are doing and striving to do the best at all times.
Once implemented these schemes require vast amounts of documentation and resources to maintain and can be a struggle for many businesses.
If this is happening to you or you would like to pre-empt this, our digital solutions can eliminate a lot of this non value added time by providing real-time analytics, automating compliance checks, and centralizing documentation, ensuring your operations consistently meet and exceed global standards.
With Safefood 360°, you not only streamline your processes but also foster a culture of food safety excellence, empowering your team to make informed decisions and respond swiftly to regulatory changes.
Regular Training and Education for Staff
Continuous training is crucial in keeping staff informed about the latest regulations and best practices.
By investing in regular educational programs and workshops, organizations can significantly mitigate all risks throughout their organization.
Training is a cost but continuous investment in your people will endear them to your operations and provide continuous benefit to your bottom line.
This should overall reduce employee churn and increase the output of employees as they add enhanced value to your operations.
One of the conditions of GFSI schemes is that you maintain regular training logs and records that can demonstrate the improvement you are putting into your people.
When this happens, again we are able to help with our training module which can take care of these admin tasks for you and free up your time to focus on other value added activities.
Conducting Regular Audits and Inspections
Internal and external audits are crucial for identifying potential compliance issues before they escalate into significant problems.
Regular inspections help maintain high standards and prompt corrective actions when necessary.
Strong and versatile audit workflows provide a comprehensive solution for managing food safety and quality audits.
By leveraging this technology, businesses can easily schedule, conduct and track inspections, ensuring all standards are met consistently.
For example, following the implementation of Safefood 360°, Bluegrass Ingredients enhanced their auditing processes and now achieve consistent SQF scores of either 98 or 99 annually.
Regular audits not only mitigate risks but also prepare companies for success in an increasingly regulated environment.
Building a Culture of Food Safety
To effectively foster a culture that prioritizes food safety across all levels of the organization, it is crucial for leadership to take a proactive stance.
This includes not only reinforcing the importance of compliance but also actively encouraging employees to engage in food safety practices.
By embedding food safety into the organizational ethos, companies can ensure that every team member understands their role in maintaining high standards.
It drives accountability and promotes continuous improvement, helping organizations mitigate risks and enhance their overall performance.
For more insights, you can read the full article here.
Sustaining Compliance for Future Success
The hidden costs of food safety non-compliance reach far beyond immediate financial penalties, touching on aspects of brand reputation, consumer trust and long-term profitability.
As the examples in this blog have shown, the repercussions of failing to maintain rigorous food safety standards can be both immediate and sometimes irreparable.
For food businesses to thrive in an increasingly regulated environment, proactive measures are not just advisable – they are essential.
Implementing robust food safety management systems certified under the GFSI would be the first step to protecting your brand and helping to ensure better outcomes.
Once this is established, your business may need help sustaining or growing from that.
In these instances, there are a plethora of options out there from consultations to custom workflows and solution.
Our software solution is one of these which offers a custom off the shelf solution tailored to the food manufacturing industry.
Backed by domain expertise and food safety, we offer full support to set up, deploy, and maintain your system so you can ensure your digital transformation is successful.
By further embedding these practices into the core of your operations, you can create a culture of continuous improvement, where every team member is not only informed but also empowered to uphold the highest safety standards.
Such proactive approaches do more than protect against financial pitfalls; they build a resilient brand that consumers can trust, even in challenging times.
By investing in the right tools, training, and systems today, your company can secure its future success, ensuring that it not only meets but exceeds the expectations of regulators and consumers alike.
In conclusion, Safefood 360° doesn’t just support compliance – it propels your business toward excellence, safeguarding your brand’s reputation, fostering consumer loyalty, and driving sustained profitability.
The question is no longer whether you can afford to invest in food safety compliance, but whether you can afford not to?
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To learn how Safefood 360° can strengthen your compliance strategy and protect your business from the hidden costs of non-compliance, sign up for a free demo today and take the first step towards a more secure and profitable future.
https://safefood360.com/wp-content/uploads/The-Hidden-Costs-of-Food-Safety-Non-Compliance-7-1.png321845/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/sf360-logo.png2024-08-30 13:58:492024-08-30 13:58:49The Costs of Food Safety Non-Compliance: How to Avoid Financial Pitfalls
Today’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.
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:
Plan: Identify opportunities for improvement, set objectives and develop a detailed change plan against defined metrics which will constitute success.
Do: Implement the plan to test its effectiveness and feasibility. This might be done on a reduced or pilot basis to mitigate disruption and test efficacy before scaling.
Study: Monitor and evaluate the results to determine if the changes meet the objectives and identify any problems and areas for improvement. Realign your hypothesis with what you want to achieve and ensure you have defined what constitutes improvement and what changes will result in those improvements.
Act: If successful, standardize the new process; if not, revise the plan and iterate including reviewing the objectives set out, the methods deployed, or even your null hypothesis in entirety.
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:
Enhanced Food Safety
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.
Continuous Improvement
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.
Data-Driven Decision Making
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.
Standardisation
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.
Plan: Once the problem is identified, create potential solutions that may result in an improvement and determine some measurable goals for their success.
Do: Introduce your changes on a small scale and collect sample data.
Check: Interpret this data and compare the results against desired results. If the solution works and the results are satisfactory, proceed to the next step. If they have not, return to the Plan stage and repeat as necessary.
Act: If the solution has worked, scale it up for deployment and roll out across all problem areas and establish it as the new pre-requisite for any future works.
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:
Plan: Identified the opportunity for enhanced checks in the sanitation processes.
Do: Introduced the new sanitation process on a small selection of products and production lines.
Study: Performed microbial testing and ATP swabs to assess effectiveness, both on the line and products, both before and after each run.
Act: Once the results could be interpreted and the affect of change was deemed desirable they integrated the new sanitation process into standard operating procedures, leading to improved food safety and quality.
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:
Plan: Developed a comprehensive food safety training program for all employees and made it mandatory for everyone not just those involved in direct handling.
Do: Implemented the training program to a select group of restaurants.
Study: Monitored and audited the trained restaurants for compliance and used both qualitative and quantitative data to test efficacy and areas for improvement.
Act: Rolled out the training program to all restaurants and established a regular review and update schedule so the plan would remain adaptive to changes in the chain.
Example 3: Improving Cold Chain Management in Food Distribution
A food distribution company used the PDSA cycle to enhance its cold chain management:
Plan: Identified the need for better temperature monitoring and control.
Do: Tested different monitoring systems in a select distribution centres.
Study: Integrated IoT devices in their Monitoring programmes to take real-time results and evaluate the effectiveness of these systems across shared records of product quality, integrity and longevity as well as any impact on its sensory characteristics.
Act: Adopted the most effective monitoring system across all distribution centres, leading to reduced spoilage and improved food safety without impacting finished product.
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.
https://safefood360.com/wp-content/uploads/PDSA-blog-cover.jpg6271200/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/sf360-logo.png2024-07-30 11:21:042024-09-27 09:43:38Using the Plan Do Study Act Cycle for Better Food Safety Management
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:
Module Prioritisation
Data Collection
Data Validation
Program Set Up
Full User Training
Hypercare
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:
Number of Sites:
Single Site: Implementation is limited to one site. No site structure is required for these projects.
Multi-site: Implementation encompass multiple locations, which can be within the same country or globally.
Scope:
Food Safety Management
Supplier Quality Management
Both Food Safety and Supplier Quality Management
Based on your project implementation parameters, the most suitable onboarding approach will be selected from the following options:
Vertical Approach
Horizontal Approach
Hybrid Approach
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
Clean-up and standardisation
Upload
Validation
Training
Go Live
Go Live Hyper Care
Admin Training
Project Sign Off
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.
https://safefood360.com/wp-content/uploads/The-Answer-To-Food-Safety-Digital-Transformation-Challenges.jpg6271200/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/sf360-logo.png2024-06-28 11:46:212024-06-28 11:46:21The Challenges of Digital Transformation in Food Safety: How we Guarantee Success
