Food Safety Technology Prevents Recalls

After all, food safety responsibility flows uphill. A mistake made by far too many food manufacturers and processors is to charge mid-level managers with deciphering Food Safety Modernization Act regulations and try to implement these for the manufacturer’s food safety program. The best-in-class firms, on the other hand, have senior leadership members checking up on reports as they better understand that food safety is mission critical to business success.

Ultimately, the continuous improvement of food safety programs translates to more than just “peace of mind” for food manufacturing executives; elevated safety performance actually impacts the business’ bottom line by driving a more efficient manufacturing process, reducing the downtime necessary to clean machinery, minimizing shutdowns mandated by inspectors, and promoting more efficient use of expensive microbiologist resources.

Food safety technology empowers this continuous improvement process–and its positive ripple effects–by automating the management of data and communication. It harnesses the power of data to approach food safety more proactively, identify contamination trends more quickly, and respond to emerging non-conformances more immediately. It is the key to modernizing food safety in such a way that recall prevention becomes a tangible reality.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: No food safety process is perfect. Positive testing results and non-conformances are bound to happen in every supply chain and production environment, especially as scientific advancements forge more intelligent detection methods. Nonetheless, dynamic, proactive food safety remains critical to the mission of all suppliers and manufacturers along the product journey. Food safety technology is the gateway to making the success of that mission possible.

Dr. Koeris is founder and chairman of the board of directors at Corvium, a food safety and risk management software firm. Reach him at [email protected].