Megan Pellegrini | Food Safety News

Reconfiguring supply chains can reduce waste, increase safety

Megan Pellegrini — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 05:00:58 +0000

Could reducing food waste boil down to a simple equation? Software companies are developing programs that help food processors and retailers reduce waste by measuring company data more effectively. The scope of the problem is clear: Americans toss out the equivalent of $165 billion in food every year. This past fall, the U. S.Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced its plan to help businesses and consumers cut food waste in half by 2030 by educating consumers about food date labels and safe food storage, and work with the private sector to reduce the amount of unused food sent to landfills. Government data states that if Americans threw out just 15 percent less food, we could feed more than 25 million people each year. Plus, the less food emitting methane gas in our landfills (approximately 133 billion pounds), the less greenhouse gasses we will have in our environment. Retailers and consumers alone throw out almost a third of our food supply, said the USDA, not counting waste from foodservice operators and restaurants. Managing perishables “The most common cause we run into for food waste is buying too much or too little of raw materials needed to produce for a specific demand,” says Chris Williamson, general manager, X3 division, NexTec Group, Orlando, FL. He said buying too much dairy or shelf-life managed ingredients too soon before consuming can result in scrapped, wasted or shortened product shelf life. “This results in reduced profitability as well as increased product safety risk,” he said. Warren Gilbert, food safety specialist, FSS Corp., Elkhorn, Wis. said, “There are many ways to create food waste; improperly handling product, incorrect labeling, lack of traceability, poorly approved supplier programs, poor equipment operations and customer complaints.” One easily addressable cause of food waste is a lack of access to measurement technology in kitchens. “Simply put, you can’t manage what you don’t measure,” says Laura Abshire, director, sustainability and policy at the Washington D.C.-based National Restaurant Association, a Food Waste Reduction Alliance member. “If you aren’t accurately measuring what’s coming in and what’s being thrown out, you can’t build a waste reduction strategy.” Automating solutions By leveraging software solutions, food manufacturers can configure their supply chain systems to suggest to produce and buy exactly or close to exactly what they need to buy, no more or no less than what they need, based on specific, intelligent demand. For example, Rudy’s Tortillas, a third-generation leading manufacturer of tortilla products to food service organizations and retailers, implemented new food management software and leveraged the MRP engine as part of a food reduction project. The company was able to almost completely eliminate the waste of tens of thousands of dollars of food a month. Automated food waste tracking programs can help foodservice operators record what is being thrown out and why while examining the supply chain for areas of waste. Managers can monitor vegetable and fruit trimming, over-production and over-portioning of menu items, and reduce losses caused by spoiled and expired foods. The National Restaurant Association’s (NRA) “Conserve” program has partnered with LeanPath, food waste prevention software that helps kitchens measure and monitor waste. “It has proven results. The MGM Grand Buffet in Las Vegas, Nevada, is a high-demand, high-quality buffet that used LeanPath to successfully reduce food waste by more than 80 percent, and is now saving between $6,000 and $9,000 a month in food costs,” says the NRA’s director of sustainability Laura Abshire. New apps and web-based platforms are being created to connect retailers and foodservice operators with organizations interested in buying or receiving excess food before it goes bad, as well. Technology solutions also offer other efficiencies — from anaerobic digesters that convert waste to energy to emerging technologies for in-store applications that help the stock room communicate what’s on the shelf, says David Fikes, vice president, consumer/community affairs and communications, Food Marketing Institute, Arlington, VA. “Food retailers, manufacturers and restaurants are all working to highlight ways of better working together,” says Fikes. “Still, these efficiencies require significant investments in resources and new ways of doing business, which is why we continue to develop solutions and best practices documents to help make the business case for sustainability initiatives around food waste reduction.” (To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News, click here.)

Public demands what feds suggest: Traceability via food labels

Megan Pellegrini — Mon, 07 Mar 2016 06:01:43 +0000

While the Food Safety Modernization Act doesn’t require transparency, it encourages it, but equally important for food manufacturers, consumers are increasingly demanding traceability. “Companies are under pressure from consumers, as trust is the lowest it’s ever been,” said John Keogh, president and principal advisor, Shantalla Inc., Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. “Trust can be lost at the click of a mouse due to online conversations.” In the age of social media, food manufacturers have to be doubly cognizant of how their brands are perceived by consumers. Because today’s ground meat filler is tomorrow’s pink slime. “Consumers want transparency on labels more than anything else,” said Dr. David Acheson, former chief medical officer for both the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service and the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN). “What are they eating; where are these ingredients coming from? In the future, consumers may want insight into the manufacturing process, as well.” Acheson, who is in the private sector now as CEO of the consulting firm The Acheson Group, had an agency-wide leadership role at the Food and Drug Administration when the 2007 Food Protection Plan was in development. He served as assistant and associate FDA commissioner for foods during that time, with the 2007 plan later serving as the basis for many of the authorities granted to FDA by the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). “Effectively, FSMA is encouraging manufacturers to get insight into their supply chain risks, and whether or not they are being controlled,” Acheson said recently. “An on site, third party needs to be reviewing and testing these programs.” The equation is complicated enough for single-ingredient, non-processed foods such as fresh produce commodities. When multiple ingredients from multiple processing plants are added, meeting consumer demands for transparency and FSMA requirements for documentation of preventive controls are dramatically more complex. Software solutions are emerging to facilitate more trust amongst all members of the supply chain, from consumers to retailers to suppliers, while helping manufacturers meet new requirements under FSMA. Managing data Certainly, one of the biggest challenges for food companies is managing data, Acheson said.

David Acheson

“The expectation with FSMA is for companies to gather more data and act on it,” he said. “Whether a company uses 10 or 1,000 suppliers, it has a constant stream of information coming in that needs to be analyzed.” This information is useful for the environmental analysis required by FSMA, for example. Plant equipment can collect times, temperatures, speeds, etc., that will bring to attention if a food safety problem is occurring, said Acheson. “Testing has a faster detection rate today, as well,” he said. “Results for pathogens can come back in six hours, instead of 48 hours, which increases the company’s ability to stay in front of risks.” Solving problems Consumers, for one, expect the food industry to conduct effective recalls today, said Keogh, which generally cost $10 million — let alone the untold impact on consumer trust. In 2007, the Food Marketing Institute, Grocery Manufacturers Association and GS1 (Global Standards One) organization began working together on developing a standard protocol for product recall information between businesses, so there would be a standard method for issuing and communicating recalls.

John Keogh

“Ninety percent of food is now managed through GS1, which has a rapid business-to-business automated recall on its platform,” said Keogh. The last few years have also seen improvements in cloud-based traceability applications, which can gather information from farm to fork, he said. Information can now be gathered on each ingredient, supplier, protocol, data format and coding structure involved in a processed food. This data can then be transformed into a common format and put into appropriate processing applications. There is a drawback. Companies may not want to disclose the information because of concerns about security and competitive advantages. “I think when CEOs look at transparency it raises questions over the right to know over duty to disclose,” Keogh said. To enable consumers to more easily stay informed, GMA initiated the Consumer Information Transparency Initiative (CITI), which features the SmartLabel program, Keogh said. This initiative allows consumers to learn more about a product by scanning a bar code or reaching a landing page online with information on ingredients, nutrition, allergens, advisories and brand information. “As technology matures, the next phase will focus on providing one interface so a variety of information can converge, like SmartLabel,” he said. Mapping the supply chain In order to enable accuracy, brand owners need to unravel their supply chain with supply chain mapping, said Keogh. It allows retailers to see that when suppliers’ safety verifications will be expiring so they can contact them to make sure they are on track to secure renewals. GS1’s EPCIS is another open standard that allows businesses to capture and share information about the movement and status of products, logistics units and other assets in the supply chain. Trading partners use Core Business Vocabulary (CBV) to ensure that all members of the supply chain are using the same vocabulary. Transparency is also critical for supplier verification, said Keogh. “If a U.S. importer accepts third-party verification from a foreign county, it will need documentation or a guarantee that the supplier records are correct,” he said. (To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News, click here.)

CAPA plans essential to surviving a recall

Megan Pellegrini — Mon, 29 Feb 2016 06:01:49 +0000

When auditors visit food facilities, particularly when auditing for compliance with the Food Safety Modernization Act, one of the first things they want to see is the Corrective and Preventative Action (CAPA) plan. Noncompliance and recalls can have financial consequences — the average cost of a food recall is $10 million, according to Sage Food Safety Consultants in Cincinnati. Yet, less than half of companies say they are ready for a recall. Only a third have a standardized process in place. One of the goals behind the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011 (FSMA) is reducing risks, which should reduce recalls. Companies with strong, automated CAPA plans can more quickly and efficiently conduct recalls. A CAPA plan can also enhance customer service by speeding responses to questions or complaints by improving traceability and certifying compliance. What should a CAPA plan inclulde? “Auditors want to see what is done when different high risk scenarios take place or happen and how does an organization ensure that steps are followed for corrective, as well as preventative measures,” said Chris Williamson, general manager of the X3 division of NexTec Group in Orlando. Williamson said if a customer calls in with a complaint a number of questions come up: What type of complaint is it? Is it related to food safety? Does it require an inspection of some sort (equipment, produced good, raw material, packaging, etc.)? Other factors to consider are: Is a product affected? Is it still in inventory? Does a recall need to be initiated? What are the next steps? What is the audit process? “Best practices usually involve leveraging technology or a system that can record the action or incident and then have it trigger the next course of action,” Williamson said. “The definition of workflow in many solutions is an engine that sits and monitors, waiting for a specific condition to happen. So when that condition does happen, it triggers either a notification or another action.” FDA’s take on CAPA plans The Food Safety Modernization Act enables FDA to better protect public health by strengthening the food safety system. It enables FDA to focus more on preventing food safety problems rather than relying primarily on reacting to problems after they occur, according to the agency’s website. Under FSMA the FDA has, for the first time, a legislative mandate to require comprehensive, science-based preventive controls across the food supply. The following are among FDA’s key new prevention authorities and mandates. Mandatory preventive controls for food facilities require companies to implement a written preventive controls plan that includes:

evaluating the hazards that could affect food safety;
specifying what preventive steps, or controls, will be put in place to significantly minimize or prevent the hazards;
specifying how the facility will monitor these controls to ensure they are working;
maintaining routine records of the monitoring; and
specifying what actions the facility will take to correct problems that arise.

(To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News, click here.)

Do the math: Manage food waste with measurements

Megan Pellegrini — Mon, 22 Feb 2016 06:00:21 +0000

Reducing food waste could boil down to a mathematical equation as software developers decipher details to help food producers, retailers and foodservice operators solve the problem with data. The scope of the problem is clear, with Americans tossing out the equivalent of $165 billion in food every year, according to a report by the Natural Resources Defense Council. This past fall, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced its plan to help businesses and consumers cut food waste in half by 2030. The plan is to educate consumers about food date labels and safe food storage, and to work with the private sector to reduce the amount of unused food sent to landfills. Government data states that if Americans threw out just 15 percent less food, we could feed more than 25 million people each year. Plus, the less food emitting methane gas in our landfills (approximately 133 billion pounds), the less greenhouse gasses we will have in our environment. Retailers and consumers alone throw out almost a third of our food supply, according to the USDA, not counting waste from foodservice operators and restaurants. Managing perishables “The most common cause we run into for food waste is buying too much or too little of raw materials needed to produce for a specific demand,” says Chris Williamson, general manager, X3 division, NexTec Group, Orlando, FL. He said buying excess dairy or shelf-life managed ingredients can result in scrapped, wasted or shortened product shelf life. “This results in reduced profitability as well as increased product safety risk,” he said. Many other factors also contribute to food waste in the U.S., said Warren Gilbert, food safety specialist, FSS Corp., Elkhorn, WI. “There are many ways to create food waste; improperly handling product, incorrect labeling, lack of traceability, poorly approved supplier programs, poor equipment operations and customer complaints,” Gilbert said. One easily addressed cause of food waste is a lack of access to measurement technology in kitchens. “Simply put, you can’t manage what you don’t measure,” says Laura Abshire, director, sustainability and policy at the Washington D.C.-based National Restaurant Association, a Food Waste Reduction Alliance member. “If you aren’t accurately measuring what’s coming in and what’s being thrown out, you can’t build a waste reduction strategy.” Automating solutions By leveraging software solutions, food manufacturers can configure their supply chain systems to produce and buy what they need, no more or no less, based on specific, intelligent demand. For example, Rudy’s Tortillas, a third generation leading manufacturer of tortilla products to food service organizations and retailers, implemented new food management software and leveraged the MRP engine as part of a food reduction project. Guerra said he was able to almost completely eliminate his waste of tens of thousands of dollars of food a month. Automated food waste tracking programs can help foodservice operators record what and why an item is being thrown out and examine the supply chain for areas of waste. Managers can monitor vegetable and fruit trimming, over-production and over-portioning of menu items, and reduce losses caused by spoiled and expired foods. The National Restaurant Association’s (NRA) Conserve program has partnered with LeanPath, a food waste prevention software provider that helps kitchens measure and monitor waste. “It has proven results. The MGM Grand Buffet in Las Vegas is a high-demand, high-quality buffet that used LeanPath to successfully reduce food waste by more than 80 percent, and is now saving between $6,000 and $9,000 a month in food costs,” said the NRA’s Abshire. New apps and web-based platforms are being created to connect retailers and foodservice operators with organizations interested in buying or receiving excess food before it goes bad, as well. Technology solutions certainly offer efficiencies — from anaerobic digesters that convert waste to energy to emerging technologies for in-store applications that help the stock room communicate what’s on the shelf, says David Fikes, vice president, consumer/community affairs and communications, Food Marketing Institute, Arlington, Va., and FWRA member. “Food retailers, manufacturers and restaurants are all working to highlight ways of better working together,” says Fikes. “Still, these efficiencies require significant investments in resources and new ways of doing business, which is why we continue to develop solutions and best practices documents to help make the business case for sustainability initiatives around food waste reduction.” (To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News, click here.)