Information Technology: Intelligence Super Tools of the Trade

Information may not be able to change the course of mighty rivers or bend steel in its bare hands, but one could say data today is faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and even able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.

With each passing day, information technology is increasingly more diverse, creative, adaptive, and influential, offering all components of the food chain unprecedented efficiency and flexibility, 24/7. Voluminous amounts of useful business management information are being communicated in various forms over long distances as fast as Superman flies through the air.

Here’s the scoop on some new data tool developments, perhaps even soon to be reported by Clark Kent in the Daily Planet.

Data Intelligence Tool

In July 2017, SafetyChain Analytics, a new business intelligence tool, hit the marketplace, courtesy of SafetyChain Software, Inc., San Rafael, Calif., a purveyor of real-time food safety and quality management solutions.

SafetyChain’s suite of software, including Supplier Compliance, Food Safety Management, Food Quality Management, and CIP (clean in place) Optimization & Material Loss, helps companies ensure program compliance; identify and manage issues early; be ready 24/7 for inspections, inquiries, and audits; and more effectively evaluate and improve performance across their operations, according to Jill Bender, SafetyChain’s vice president of marketing.

“With one centralized data repository, and use of our data analytics tool, companies are able to get real-time business intelligence that goes beyond just measuring compliance, but actionable data,” Bender says.

“SafetyChain Analytics offers 24/7 on-demand access to food safety and quality data intelligence, including supplier performance, food safety and quality tasks, and all their measured and recorded attributes across multiple locations,” Bender emphasizes. “Live operational monitoring of exception-based trending and process control, including a holistic view of food safety and quality data are included.”

GFF, Inc., City of Industry, Calif., producer of Girard’s Dressings, is using the SafetyChain Analytics program.

“Based on the data that we are collecting, seeing, reviewing, and signing off on in SafetyChain, we are able to instantly track the issues that might arise in the day-to-day production, in real-time,” says Aisha Kalley, Girard’s food safety and compliance specialist. “If we suspect there’s an issue based on the data we’re seeing, SafetyChain Analytics has a function where we can build a report around that and it will automatically help us pinpoint the challenges and determine the root cause.”

As an additional angle, the new SQF Edition 8 Quality Code requires statistical process control monitoring with graphical representation, which SafetyChain’s new analytics tool has, Bender mentions. “With our core real-time software enabling companies to more effectively manage food safety and quality, a lot of the data needed to monitor processes is already being collected/achieved within usage of our system,” she points out.

Online Incidents Database

In July 2017, Global ID Group, Fairfield, Iowa, introduced HorizonScan, an online database that contains more than 85,000 records of global food safety and authenticity incidents affecting hundreds of commodities from nearly 16,000 suppliers in 180-plus countries, according to Mark Cohen, the company’s vice president of global marketing.

Global ID Group is a food safety and quality company and provider of testing, certification, training, consulting, and specialty services. The company is the exclusive distributor for HorizonScan in North America, Brazil, and Germany.

“The HorizonScan food safety management system monitors safety and integrity alerts worldwide, collecting data daily from over 110 food safety agencies and other reliable sources to deliver timely alerts on emerging food safety issues,” Cohen relates.

HorizonScan’s web-based food safety software displays the most important issues with pertinent, actionable facts, Cohen elaborates. “One uses a computer or mobile device to search by commodity, country of origin, type of threat, supplier, date of event, and more,” he explains. “Users can set up automatic alerts for the commodities and issues most important to them.”