BoDeans Baking Group Maintains Top Food Safety Certifications With Allergen Control Best Practices

By Edward Lee, National Accounts Manager, BoDeans Baking Group

Most food manufacturers would say their top priority is creating great products that consumers can’t get enough of. The layman might assume that a food manufacturer’s number one goal is all about flavor and high-quality ingredients. But, there’s something that trumps even those key elements of food manufacturing: allergen controls.

Today’s food manufacturers are more concerned with allergen controls than ever before. With an ever-increasing number of allergen sufferers, this issue becomes more pressing with every passing year. Here are a few important numbers to consider:  According to foodallergy.org, as many as 15 million Americans have food allergies. One in every 13 children has a food allergy and the number of children with food allergies increased approximately 50 percent from 1997 to 2011.

The company I work for, BoDeans Baking Group, has earned the top rating from the Safe Quality Food (SQF) program, so I thought I’d explore exactly what that means in terms of everyday practices. I sat down with Randy Bridgford, our Safety and Quality Assurance Manager, to get his take on allergen controls and find out what advice he might offer other companies looking to improve allergen control practices.

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