By Fred Whipp, Vice President of Business Development at mpro5
Lack of compliance in Food Safety and Quality (FSQ) consistently poses significant risks to organizations and communities, including the potential for public health emergencies, foodborne bacterias and illnesses, or even loss of life. According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 600 million — almost one in 10 people in the world — fall ill after eating contaminated food, and 420,000 die annually. Whether it’s tracking ingredient usage or food labels, food manufacturers are constantly trying to maintain compliance standards, while also meeting customer needs.
When it comes to maintaining and assessing food safety, industry standards have evolved from simple, visual inspections and paper-based records to a more digitized approach. Thanks to modern advancements in process management, as well as advancements in technology such as Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI), organizations can now conduct comprehensive audits across all sites in real-time, providing instant visibility of compliance status with automated alerts of any anomalies to trigger corrective actions.
By leveraging technology and intelligent food traceability software, organizations can better streamline their food manufacturing operations, simplify critical compliance procedures by ensuring clear documentation, and achieve Grade A distribution across all establishments. Moreover, food management software can enhance the efficiency of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) systems to simplify the process of implementing and managing food safety protocols.
Let’s break down how intelligent process management software helps mitigate risk in food safety.
Daily food quality audits
In general, many issues are more easily remedied if they are caught early. Daily, digitized audits of critical control points (CCPs) allow for early detection of any quality concerns or food safety issues, such as allergen checks and refrigeration monitoring, to ensure consistently-safe meals and high quality service. For reference, the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) has an online Safe Food Handling guide, as well as a Consumer Complaint system to report reactions or other problems with FDA-regulated food and products.
Regular audits also pinpoint areas for potential improvement across food handling practices, quality control and sanitation procedures, in addition to ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements. While manual food checks can often be time-consuming and subject to human error, a digitized and data-backed approach mitigates organizational risk, while maintaining quality standards through every step of the process.
Food manufacturers can use food quality audits to train team members on food safety protocols and quality standards, as well as identify root causes of quality issues or non-compliance. Such audits can help document findings and determine whether issues stem from inadequate training, supplier issues, equipment failures, or other factors.
Digital logbooks
Transitioning from burdensome paper filing systems (that can oftentimes find you misplacing important pieces of information) to modernized digital logbooks saves time and resources for a more efficient and effective approach to operations. By digitizing and standardizing essential paperwork, management can not only streamline data entry and retrieval processes, but also ensure accuracy and allow for real-time monitoring of essential food safety parameters, such as temperature, humidity, and more.
For example, with the use of digital logbooks, food manufacturers can easily track and manage ingredients and batches, expedite decision-making thanks to real-time data entry, access information from various devices, and integrate with other software and systems.
IoT data and smart monitoring
Process management software that uses IoT sensor data provides unprecedented efficiency and visibility in business operations. Additionally, IoT sensors, which can measure environmental inputs such as temperature or movement, can help unlock actionable insights to improve food process compliance and boost productivity through data-driven decision making that prevents overall risk.
By harnessing the power of IoT data and smart monitoring technologies, food manufacturers can seamlessly monitor a variety of CCP factors including temperatures in refrigerators, freezers, and food storage areas via IoT-enabled sensors; food inventory levels, expiration dates, and usage patterns via IoT-based inventory management systems; and equipment performance and usage via IoT sensors.
Improve team health and safety
While smart technology is revolutionizing the food industry as a whole, it’s also changing the way organizations oversee their teams. Effective process management software allows organizations to focus on health and safety with automated checks, reports, and risk assessments. By implementing such checks, it’s easy to indisputably prove continuous compliance and thus, mitigate risk related to FSQ.
Food manufacturing management software can serve as a valuable tool for promoting positive team cultures that value health and safety. Food manufacturing organizations can use it for streamlined communications, to assign regular equipment inspections and cleanings across the team, and to track health and safety training and certifications.
Intelligent process management software plays an essential role in mitigating FSQ risks by offering enhanced reporting, centralized data, simplified workflows, compliance management, and more. Implementing such software provides tools for monitoring, control, documenting and reporting that aligns with HACCP standards and allows manufacturers to uphold their commitment to delivering safe, high-quality food products and services.
