This situation is similar to the timely correction that John Surak, PhD, principal, Surak and Associates (Clemson, S.C.), Syed Hussain, PhD, director of product development, product development and technical services, Butterball Turkey Company, (Downers Grove, Ill.), and the author observed at a Butterball turkey processing facility with an active SPC monitoring of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) and reported in Food Quality, May 1998, Integrating HACCP and SPC. The integration of statistically based process management, inspection, and audit clearly provides the means to increase process compliance and rapidly correct any process failures (www.nwasoft.com/press/mag_haccp.htm).
Under the AMS-administered program, vendors must demonstrate their capability to meet contract specifications and provide data and SPC deliverables with each test lot. Silliker Inc. (Homewood, Ill.), has the current contract for providing microbiological testing and nutrition services for ground beef to support supply chain quality in the NSLP. To accomplish this, Silliker employs USDA-approved cultural and rapid test methodologies and uses Northwest Analytical Inc.’s (NWA; Portland, Ore.) Quality Analyst to provide data and SPC charts to AMS and ground beef suppliers.
One element of making this safety and quality program work properly has been the use of a third party laboratory and audit services that serve as a source of monitoring data. Because data are provided to both vendor and customer, it provides a common basis for discussion and conflict resolution. Delivering SPC data and charting with NSLP reports, according to Michele Smoot, PhD, director of microbiology for Silliker Inc., has proved to be an important improvement to normal reporting packages.
“In today’s food industry, timely information is integral in proactively managing product safety and quality,” says Dr. Smoot. “These added report capabilities allow ground beef vendors to view their analytical data over specified time frames, detect processing trends of concern, and, if needed, take corrective action.”
AMS to Develop Market Capability
The development and success of the AMS program in the past decade has benefited other companies within the meat and poultry industry. One example is Westland Meats (Chico, Calif.). It spent considerable time and effort to develop the AMS product, but doing so has enabled Westland to ratchet up to a higher level of performance. The in-house laboratory is AOAC certified and ensures that all products are produced in a consistently safe and sanitized environment. Westland has implemented SPC, and all staff members have received basic quality training. For each work cell, two additional people receive extra quality control training.
Westland constantly audits itself and tightens its process management with SPC. This simplifies dealing with the third-party audits that cover all activities from receiving cattle to shipping product. The results are shared with all staff, and the audits are used as training opportunities for employees. Using both the internal and external audits as a force for training and growth is part of the continuous improvement model.
This systematic approach to developing staff skills and improving plant processes is applied to everything Westland does. Stan Mendell, Westland’s plant manager, believes in hands-on plant management and sees his major job as training and coaching. “It is important to show employees how well they do, because it’s the people who make a success,” he says.
In addition to developing a quality organization, Westland works closely with the USDA staff. “All the government agents in the school lunch program have been willing to help. They want us to be a capable vendor and focus on success,” says Mendell.
Such interaction is a characteristic of all successful safety/ quality management systems in which the vendor/customer collaboration enables the vendor to increase production sophistication and become more effective in the marketplace. “Developing our quality systems to meet the USDA requirements and having a demonstrated record of quality performance has also helped us become preferred vendors with our commercial accounts where we supply ground beef to several fast-food restaurants,” says Mendell. “By making employees aware of our customers and their needs, we have increased our success.”
Adopting Lessons from NSLP’s Program
The AMS first proposed the process management-based NSLP safety and quality program in 2000, and it was finally adopted for school year 2003-04. Many in food distribution and supply chain management have observed the effort and decided what elements of the program were beneficial for them.
ACCESS THE FULL VERSION OF THIS ARTICLE
To view this article and gain unlimited access to premium content on the FQ&S website, register for your FREE account. Build your profile and create a personalized experience today! Sign up is easy!
GET STARTED
Already have an account? LOGIN