ONLINE EXCLUSIVE: Safety Challenges Remedied With New Technology

Some things never change. In the food industry, the need to ensure the safety of all products is one of those things. With the rising number of large-scale food recalls, diminishing consumer confidence, and increasing scrutiny from regulators and the food industry marketplace itself, the need to ensure the safety of the domestic and global food supply, coupled with demands for brand-protection assurance, have never been greater.

The costs associated with large-scale recalls, both human and financial, can be staggering. In 2008, Maple Leaf Foods, Inc., incurred a direct cost of about $19 million from a recall of contaminated meat linked to a food poisoning outbreak that killed four people in Canada. Earlier this year, Peanut Corporation of America filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy after peanut products produced in their plants led to nine deaths, a massive recall, and mounting lawsuits. Many industry experts believe the total costs associated with this recall may exceed $1 billion.

These recalls, and many others, have left consumers seriously questioning the safety of the foods they consume. According to a recent IBM study, less than 20% of consumers trust food companies to develop and sell foods that are safe and healthy. The study also revealed that 60% of consumers are concerned about the safety of food they purchase, and a strong majority of respondents, 83%, were able to name a food product that was recalled in the past two years due to contamination or other safety concerns. Nearly half of survey respondents—46 percent—named peanut butter, the staple of school lunches for children nationwide, as the most recognizable recall. This study further validated what many industry experts have asserted: Consumer confidence in food safety has plummeted.

Many industry experts have attributed the growing number of large-scale food recalls to the expanding size and complexity of the food industry supply chain. From growers and harvesters through ingredient manufacturers, intermediates, and packaging food processors—including storage and delivery by warehouses and transporters—each supply chain link actively contributes to the ultimate delivery and consumption of food products worldwide. Efficiency improvements in lean manufacturing, faster inventory turns, increased product offerings, and the sheer volume of fresh and processed food product quantities manufactured, stored, and transported, have become complicating factors in food safety incidents. Automated traceability systems have become a necessity to ensure the safety and quality of the products being stocked on the shelves.

In addition to the ever-expanding food industry supply chain, food processors must also contend with government and customer-driven compliance mandates. Since the Bioterrorism Act passed in 2002, government-imposed regulations have been increasing for food processors in major economies worldwide. Previously voluntary practices in food safety and traceability are now mandated. New policies regarding food safety continue to be enacted, as evidenced by the FDA’s Food Protection Plan, rolled out in 2008. The plan targets proactive food safety and food defense through effective prevention and intervention, as well as rapid response. It focuses on greater information sharing, increased access to production facilities, and assurance for registration and certification systems.

One-Up, One-Back Traceability

click for large version

A common requirement at the core of these regulations is often called “one-up, one-back traceability.” The food processor must meet two basic expectations:

• Trace-back: For all manufactured and warehoused products intended for human consumption, the processor must maintain the source identity of all ingredients contained in every individual product lot.
• Trace-forward: For all ingredients received, the processor must be able to identify the disposition of the ingredients into all intermediate and food products for sale.

While these requirements are well placed, they pose significant challenges for food processors with multiple steps in their production processes, steps that often involve mixing and blending multiple batches, reusing incidental scrap and reworked ingredients, and managing the reality that one processing step often results in not just one, but multiple, output products. For many food processors, there is nothing “simple” about the one-up, one-back requirement.