Food Safety Summit

Six steps to improve food quality and safety

May 28, 2009

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In the past year, food supply quality has sparked global safety concerns that must be addressed to regain consumer confidence. Unfortunately, when regulatory bodies demand effective systems and controls to ensure food safety and quality, efforts to meet these standards often are viewed as a detriment to bottom line success, says Mike Jovanis, vice president of product management, Sparta Systems.  

With several years of experience in creating best practices for quality management and compliance in the life sciences industry, Sparta’s quality experts recommend six critical steps to make the food production process safer. These suggestions will not only help protect consumers against tainted food, but also serve to streamline manufacturing processes, Jovanis says.

1. Manage, track and report on non-conformances, investigations, corrective and preventive actions and other actions when requirements are not met. Food and beverage manufacturers need to quickly respond to supply quality issues and limit the impact of incidents.
2. Track a multitude of suppliers with enterprise-wide supplier quality management tools. As processors source ingredients from more suppliers and locations around the globe, manufacturers need to monitor and manage risks across the supply chain to protect stakeholders and consumers alike.
3. Improve safety and manage training, procedural changes and preventive maintenance schedules. By implementing end-to-end safety process tracking and workflow management, manufacturers can ensure greater control of the quality process, proactive identification of potential issues, increased team accountability and reduced costs in managing safety issues.
4. Enforce standardized change control procedures, while also allowing for flexibility to meet specific workflow steps based on the type of change. Companies can reduce the need for costly recalls or wasted supplies by ensuring efficient and effective reconciliation of changes in the manufacturing process.
5. Monitor critical processes, identify gaps and improve quality with audit management. While regulatory compliance questions are now being raised in light of recent food safety headlines, manufacturers should always implement proactive programs to manage supply quality issues and remove the potential for critical incidents.
6. Ensure compliance with industry standards for employee and supervisor training on proper safety procedures with training management.

“There is a growing need for accountability within the food supply chain,” says Jovanis. “As the FDA and other governmental bodies accelerate levels of enforcement and oversight for food safety throughout the supply chain, food manufacturers will recognize the need for stronger processes, technology solutions and escalation procedures in the face of critical incidents to safeguard themselves and consumers from harmful quality issues.”