As we enter the new era of food safety, it is important to reflect on the current state of the industry. With many complete and accepted programs meeting the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), regulatory and customer requirements we need to determine as an industry the basis of our “current state” of food safety management are well-defined.
Based on the data and reports, we continue to have major issues to address that are primarily the result of incomplete business process management (BPM) and a need for more complete deployment of food safety throughout the food industry organizations. For example, in the issue of Leafy Greens and Romain Lettuce, it’s the revelation that water quality is a key requirement to a safe product of these types, or that control of condensate and process water leads to high risk of Listeria M. leading to outbreaks.
We are in demand of a necessary transformation to the new era of the Food Safety Business. Our existing business processes hold gaps that lead to solutions in this new age.
What is the New Era of Food Safety?
The new model is focused on establishing “The New Era of Smarter Food Safety.” It follows an FDA roadmap that aims to achieve a new and updated level of compliance.
The New Era is built on four core elements to support FDA’s ultimate goal of reducing foodborne illness. This establishes a new starting point to address the following core key attributes as identified to initiate the business process improvements necessary to advance upon the current level of food safety.
Tech-Enabled Traceability
Smarter Tools and Approaches for Prevention and Outbreak Response
New Business Models and Retail Modernization
Food Safety Culture
This model complements and works with the enforceable FSMA rules which have led to the final and most recent ones to address risk areas Preventive Controls, including environmental monitoring, intentional adulteration, and resulting in expansion of numbers of qualified individuals within an organization.
A significant number of food organizations do not exhibit traceability as an automated food compliance function or without manual intervention of process information and records. The situation and the lack of verified data that can be automatically generated leads to disfunction in responding to food outbreak responses, which can be addressed through business process management. The New Era results in the ability to achieve enhanced Tech-Enabled Traceability.
Most modern ERP systems capabilities provide the functionality to address a greater level of “Tech-Enabled Traceability”; however, most of the systems have not been correctly configured with this requirement as a priority. Most ERP systems are configured to enhance the speed of product development, sales, and revenue generation with food safety coupled with the quality processes being a secondary focus. A risk is the ability to distribute adulterated product more effectively. The established organizational and process design does not allow for both process and culture to adequately respond to issues prior to the possible release of materials.
A consensus within the food industry related to food safety and compliance is the need to instill a food-safe culture at all levels of the supply chain and its participating members. This needs to be including both the “top-down” full commitment by all levels of senior management and the education of the “whole” organization in understanding the food safety needs for all employees. A critical requirement to achieve this is to be able to monitor the performance of each function down to the base level operations.
A major gap exists with the business focus on revenue and the food compliance focused on food safety, creating a “void” in business process management. This leads to a difference if the “functional objectives” of the organizations and a dual bias of profit vs. food safety that is clear in the regulatory response to the higher profiled outbreaks within the recent past. This is not likely deliberate but a symptom of poorly deployed business process and not achieving that food safety is “job-one”.
A complete acceptance and understanding that all members are in the “Safe Food” industry need to be understood and each participating organizations’ culture needs to reflect this 100% of the time and under all conditions. With the evolution of food standards, laws, rules, and generally accepted requirements are well established. If followed, these rules endure the highest degree of safe food.
The new model needs to be based on a central major business process that aligns food safety and business as a prerequisite and new challenge. This integrated approach is necessary for the development of food-safe culture and the expectations and measures of all aspects of the comprehensive food business model with food safety as the priority.
