Step by Step to Digital Food Safety

The food industry is facing a digital transformation. Going forward, it will be necessary to digitize processes and procedures for food safety in such a way that they can be audited and monitored online.

By Ian Scott-Mance, Technology Manager at Mettler-Toledo Product Inspection

The signs are clear: digital food safety can no longer be put on the back burner. Initiatives such as “New Era of Smarter Food Safety” by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and “Race to the Top” by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) make it unmistakably clear that the topic of digital track & trace in the food industry is gaining importance. Full traceability is already a prerequisite for certain products to access some Asian markets. China, for example, requires product types to be fully traceable before it will permit it to be sold in its domestic market. Countries like Australia are also very proactive in promoting relevant food safety initiatives.
In addition, manufacturers are also increasingly being confronted by the big players in the food retail sector imposing stricter requirements for farm-to-fork traceability, which must be embedded in digital supply chain management.
In response, food manufacturers must begin focusing on data collection, which is the essential starting point for any project that seeks to improve food safety through greater traceability. The great news is this can also aid other digitalization initiatives that the manufacturer may be working on. For example, the collection, analysis and digital availability of food safety data can also help to optimize the efficiency of production processes.

This is just the start though. Digital food safety is a process in itself, and here are the key steps to take:

Step 1: Conduct an audit of data being collected and current food safety processes

The efficient collection of data is a basic requirement so that it can then be made available across the entire supply chain, in an accessible, i.e. digital, form. Therefore, a comprehensive audit must be carried out to determine the current data status. Many of the required food safety data and processes should already be available in the company and should be well documented, as they should already have been determined in the context of food safety certifications. For example, production line critical control points ought to have been identified through earlier HACCP certification and appropriate inspection systems should already be installed there.

Nevertheless, the audit usually proves to be a challenging task. A look into practice today reveals a highly fragmented picture of how audit data relevant to food safety is recorded, collected and stored in the process flows of manufacturers. It is common to find that this data is already highly networked in part, but it is also often still gathered using tools such as USB sticks, or manually with pen and paper. From a technological point of view, the complexity is demanding, as the systems on the shop floor are of different ages and use a wide variety of protocols, network infrastructures and management processes. Older software solutions and devices in particular were originally not designed for open IoT / Industry 4.0 communication, as is standard today for new investments.

Manufacturers are therefore faced with the challenge of migrating a colorful hodgepodge of hardware and software into a unified digital food safety program. This is no walk in the park, but it is a manageable task. Global standards and communication protocols, uniform ID coding and standardized transformation events meanwhile significantly reduce the level of complexity. Examples are OPC U / A, GS1 Digital Link and EPCIS 2.0.

It cannot be stressed enough how important it is to approach the assessment of the current situation with great care and attention to detail. The more carefully the homework is done in the management of information, the more it pays off in the medium and long term, both for a smooth and cost-efficient migration to digital food safety, and as an enabler for further digitization initiatives.

Step 2: Develop your digitalization strategy

The key strategic questions are, which specific applications need to be mapped, and what are the company’s long-term digitalization goals? Are we seeking merely regulatory and market compliance with minimal effort, should the now digitally-available data also be used to optimize the production processes, or should we be aiming for a profound and sustainable digital transformation of the company with a view to IoT and Industry 4.0? Each of these scenarios requires a different plan, schedule, and capital cost. Each scenario has a different outcome.

Read the rest of the article in European Baker & Biscuit!

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