How can you defend your company from the next food scare or scandal?
Whether it’s product contamination, MRSA, adulteration of products, questions of food origin, modern slavery, to name a few – the food industry is often in the media spotlight.
At both the BRC Brand Protection and Food Manufacture Food Safety conferences, supply chain transparency and sharing information were common themes to help businesses protect their reputation and fight against challenges such as food crime.
At the Food Safety conference, the Food Standards Agency’s Director Openness, Data & Digital noted “data is food – we need to consume, value and share it in the supply chain.”
Authenticate IS supply chain transparency platform allows you to go beyond the traditional approach of ‘one-up one-down’ mapping. With cloud-based software, members can securely share information up and down the entire food supply chain with their customers and suppliers – as far back as the grower or breeding farm.
If you know your supply chain, including indirect suppliers, it can be easier to assess potential vulnerabilities so you can implement appropriate measures to minimise your risk. In the event of a product recall, it can be quicker to identify the source if data about your entire supply chain is at your fingertips.
As well as mapping, you can issue, manage and reply to audits and assessments. With live links to certification bodies, you can be certain that certificates (whether yours or your suppliers) are up-to-date and easily accessible. You can also build a catalogue of products and include allergen, nutritional and environmental attributes and create powerful reports that can help you to make important decisions quickly and confidently.
In today’s economic climate, food crime and food safety aren’t the only challenges you may face. Modern slavery is a hidden issue within many supply chains, and the importing of livestock or foodstuffs from countries with different quality and safety regulations can pose serious risks.
The complexities of global procurement and supply have made it increasingly difficult to achieve gain a full line of sight, but with the help of technology, transparency has finally arrived.
