How Does Technology Influence a Company's Food Safety Culture?

As per FDA's New Era of Smarter Food Safety, technology adoption and food safety culture have been identified as critical focus areas for reducing the societal burden of foodborne illness.

FREMONT, CA: Commitment to technology implementation and adoption demonstrates, in many ways, that a company values growth and improvement. For example, during the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, significant investments were made to adopt and implement non-traditional retail models such as direct-to-consumer and alternative delivery. As a result, firms were forced to develop alternative business models to continue operating during this turbulent period. Similarly, food safety professionals must continue to discover and adapt to the most recent industry advances, such as employing and upgrading technology to assist in solving previously impossible challenges.

Many businesses have not recently invested in technological solutions to improve their food safety culture. For example, paper forms and documentation are still widely used in the food industry. This failure to leverage specialized tools results in duplication of effort, inability to gain actionable insight, and an increase in the likelihood of documentation errors and avoidable risk. Organizations that have invested in technology, on the other hand, have discovered that their teams can automate laborious and manual tasks, reduce risk, increase insights into macro-trends, and prevent issues rather than react to them. Such technology that provides actionable insights will be required to prepare for the future food supply chain.

The main goal of technology is to make the lives of its users easier. However, the cold supply chain is a mystery for many food safety professionals. Most people understand that trucks are loaded with perishable shipments, and then the product arrives at its final destination. But were foods kept safe and in the necessary quality condition, or were they subjected to temperature abuse? With real-time supply chain visibility, food safety, quality assurance, and logistics teams can take a proactive preventive controls approach to cold chain management.

Real-time, Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled and cloud-based technologies would allow users to gain insights from live data from shipments, such as time, temperature, geo-location, light and pressure sensing, and historical loads. This technology assures that the cold chain has been controlled and provides organizations with valuable data to prevent quality issues. Investing in technological solutions can assist you in developing the food safety culture that your company desires and that your customers expect.