4 Themes From The 12th Annual North American Summit On Food Safety
By Sam Lewis
I had the opportunity to attend the 12th Annual North American Summit On Food Safety in Toronto on April 20 and 21. In addition to an opportunity to network with more than 150 attendees, the conference featured more than 20 educational sessions from industry and government executives. The presentations addressed an array of obstacles the food manufacturing industry is currently facing and offered solutions to address them. Here are four topics from the summit I found to be top of mind for the food manufacturing industry.
1. Food Safety Gets Modernized
Food safety is a shared responsibility, for industry and government agencies alike. Both must work in harmony with one another to ensure the production of safe food and beverages. For the last several years, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has been planning, designing, and modernizing initiatives within the agency. 2016 marks the pivot point from planning to implementing these science- and risk-based initiatives that align with international standards. By modernizing systems, food safety will be strengthened by giving companies flexibility to design controls showing operations and products are compliant with applicable regulations. Among these initiatives is the Electronic Service Delivery Platform (ESDP).
ESDP will provide three core capabilities. First, it will standardize and automate processes of those working with CFIA. The initiative will improve operation productivity by moving many processes online. For those working with CFIA, ESDP will make working with the agency more consistent, predictable, and transparent. Next, ESDP will provide better information on resource utilization, results, and issues by adding CFIA’s ability to assess risks and effectiveness of risk management programs. By continually refining the program, ESDP will be able to target areas of highest risk. Finally, ESDP will use collected data for analysis and tracking. Better use of collected data means boosted productivity for both industry and the CFIA.
2. Your Suppliers Must Make The Grade
It’s no secret that supply chains have grown to global proportions and face more risks than ever. Because of this, it is imperative that you onboard supply chain partners that meet your unique requirements and exhibit transparency in adhering to them.
When choosing and hiring new suppliers, it’s a good idea to seek long-term business relationships. Karen Mills, director of quality assurance at High Liner Foods, presented four criteria her company has adopted when considering supply chain partners. First, the prospective company must conform to current good manufacturing practices (cGMPs). Next, the prospect must have a HACCP (or equivalent) certification. Third, the potential partner must be willing to participate in on-site audits from High Liner Foods. And, finally, the company being prospected must be willing to participate in third-party audits, such as those under a GFSI scheme.
3. Safety Must Be Baked Into Your Culture
Building a culture of food safety is an essential task that every food company — from 50 workers to 50,000 — struggles with. Everyone from the CEO all the way down to the front-line operators must be educated on the same food safety practices, make food safety behaviors their first priority, and exhibit those behaviors in all their tasks. Further complicating matters of building a food safety culture is the addition of company mergers and acquisitions to the equation. How do you change the behaviors of freshly acquired employees to meet the food safety requirements of a new company?
Paula Klassen, senior director of food safety and quality assurance at E.D. Smith/Treehouse Foods, addressed this issue, and, to quote Paul Simon, “the answer is easy if you take it logically.” I will be speaking with Klassen on how to determine if a company and its food safety culture are worth acquiring and furthering the conversation regarding integrating food safety cultures in a future article.
4. How Do You Assess Vulnerability?
Food fraud is an easy term to define and understand — the fraudulent and intentional substitution, dilution, or addition to a product or raw material, or misrepresentation of the product or material, for the purpose of financial gain by either increasing the apparent value of the product or by reducing the cost of its production — but not so easy of an obstacle to overcome. In his presentation addressing fraud and assessing vulnerability, Gordon Hayburn, VP of food safety and quality at Trophy Foods, elaborated that no food is safe from fraud, but some are more likely or vulnerable than others. This list of vulnerable foods includes: olive oil (more olive oil is produced annually than olives are harvested), fish, milk, grains, honey, maple syrup, coffee, tea, spices, wine, and some fruit juices.
To combat food fraud, Hayburn suggests conducting a vulnerability assessment by sourcing reliable information about the potential adulteration, mislabeling, and substitutions in your supply chain. Once you know which ingredients and products are at risk, you can then determine which controls you will need to implement. There is no single, prescribed vulnerability assessment, but Hayburn explained how a Priority Risk Number (PRN) system has worked for him and his efforts at Trophy Foods.