Tag Archives: food quality

How Hello Fresh and Intelex Are Managing the Global Food Supply Chain

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Today’s global food supply chains are more complex than they’ve ever been. Until recently, consumers ate the food they grew in their communities and would adjust their diet to suit the seasonal availability of various products like fruits and vegetables. Today, consumers can have food from any part of the world as part of their regular diet. In the United States alone, food travels on average 1,300 miles from farm to fork, with 33% of products and 80% of seafood imported from other countries. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates food products that are processed by more than 300,000 different facilities in over 150 different countries.

In such a complex supply chain, food travels around the world in the custody of multiple agents, with variations in documentation and processing resulting in loss of critical information about food origins and authenticity. In many cases, the food itself goes … Read more...

Protecting the food supply chain from fraud and malicious attack

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Every few years, an intentional adulteration of the food supply grabs headlines around the world. In 2008, Chinese dairy manufacturers added the chemical melamine, a plasticizing agent, to milk and infant formula to boost the detectable protein levels, resulting in the hospitalization of 54,000 children and six deaths. The 2013 EU horse meat scandal, in which horse meat was substituted for beef in products sold across the EU, severely damaged consumer confidence in traceability and testing standards for meat products. Perhaps even more disturbing is the possibility of intentional contamination of the food supply to cause harm, a possibility that has gained more attention in the age of global terrorism. 

With the complexity of today’s international food supply chain, it is vital that the food industry move beyond food safety and quality approaches to incorporate food fraud—to protect against intentional contamination for economic gain—and food defence—to protect against intentional contamination to cause harm. … Read more...

Processes and data-driven technology are protecting your food from contamination and adulteration

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In the United States alone, food travels on average 1,300 miles from farm to fork, with 33% of produce and 80% of seafood imported from other countries. Food products regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are processed by more than 300,000 different facilities in over 150 different countries. The complexity of this supply chain means that food can travel around the world in the custody of multiple agents along the way, with variations in documentation and processing resulting in loss of critical information about food authenticity and origin or even loss of the food itself. Approximately 1.3 billion tonnes of food is lost from the global supply chain annually without any understanding of where it goes. Traceability and authenticity in such a complex supply chain are therefore extremely difficult to manage, especially when consumers are increasingly concerned about those assurances, as well as about additional elements like sustainability and genetically modified … Read more...

Ensuring Food Safety with Quality Management Software

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Food safety characteristics have a very close connection to food quality characteristics, and while all food safety characteristics relate to quality, not all food quality characteristics relate to safety. Food quality, according to Alli (2016), relates to ensuring that products meet the established requirements for food characteristics. Garvin (1987) describes eight dimensions for measuring the characteristics of food quality: performance, features, reliability, conformance, durability, serviceability, aesthetics, and perceptions. Food safety, which relates to the characteristics that have the potential to be harmful to human health by causing illness, falls under the performance and reliability dimensions of food quality. Food safety characteristics are therefore specific kinds of food quality characteristics.

By recognizing that food safety and food quality have an integrated relationship, organizations can bring quality methods and tools to bear on the difficulties of navigating food safety regulations in their FSMS (Food Safety Management System). With food supply chains now … Read more...

Highlights from 2015 NLS Food Quality Symposium

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On this week’s edition of EHS This Week we’ve got the week’s top stories in environment, health and safety news:

  • Recap of the 2015 NLS Food Quality Symposium
  • Key Topics Discussed During NLS Food Quality Symposium

Remember to write us with your suggestions, questions and comments. Also, if you are an industry expert and ever want to take part in the program, we’d love to have you. Until next week, enjoy the program!

EHS This Week Resources
For more information on the stories and resources mentioned in this week’s podcast, check out the links below.

  • Learn more about the NLS Food Quality Symposium. Click here
  • Video Gallary from previous NLS events. Click here

[audio: 2015/12/EHSTW-121115.mp3]… Read more...

Food safety worker injuries,Transporation Safety Board’s Lac Megantic report, Workplace safety in schools and more on EHS This Week!

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On this week’s edition of EHS This Week we’ve got the week’s top stories in environment, health and safety news:

  • Occupational injuries involving insects
  • US ranks among top 10 international food safety violators
  • The worst causes of injuries for food safety workers
  • Transportation Safety Board of Canada releases Lac Megantic report
  • Students organize workplace safety training

Remember to write us with your suggestions, questions and comments. Also, if you are an industry expert and ever want to take part in the program, we’d love to have you.

Until next week, enjoy the program!

EHS This Week Resources
For more information on the stories and resources mentioned in this week’s podcast, check out the links below.

  • Bureau of Labor Statistics report on occupational injuries involving insects. Read it here.
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Hazards & Exposures. Read about preventing insect-related injuries here.
  • Analysis of International Food Safety
… Read more...

Canada’s National Exhibition (CNE) Food Safety: Post-Cronut Burger

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It’s that time of year again – summer is rolling to an end, the office is deserted, and the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) is open for business. Established more than 135 years ago, the CNE annual fair is known for its agricultural innovations, classic (and perhaps a bit rusty) rides and more recently, its unique and unlikely hybrid food.

With this food craze, the CNE has offered up novelty food items such as deep fried Mars bars and Nutella fries. Last year’s most notorious offerings were the bacon and peanut butter milkshake and of course, the infamous cronut burger. Now while you might think the cronut burger, a half-croissant half-donut bun with a beef patty smeared with maple bacon jam, is well-known for its interesting ingredients, think again.

The cronut burger gained its infamy after sending hundreds to the hospital with food poisoning in August 2013. While thankfully there were … Read more...

ISO’s New Health & Safety Management Systems Standard, Shift Work Linked to Type 2 Diabetes, Protestors Rally Against EPA’s Clean Power and more on EHS This Week!

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On this week’s edition of EHS This Week we’ve got the week’s top stories in environment, health and safety news:

  • ISO committee releases draft of ISO 45001
  • Law prohibiting bare hand contact with food repealed
  • New food safety partnership between U.S. & Mexico
  • Research links shift work to risk for Type 2 Diabetes
  • EPA’s public hearings on Clean Power Plan draw crowds

Remember to write us with your suggestions, questions and comments. Also, if you are an industry expert and ever want to take part in the program, we’d love to have you.

Until next week, enjoy the program!

EHS This Week Resources
For more information on the stories and resources mentioned in this week’s podcast, check out the links below.

  • ISO 45001: Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems standard. The first draft can be purchased from ISO here.
  • Research published in the Journal of Food Protection in 2010.
… Read more...

Webinar – Traceability in Food Manufacturing: From Farm to Fork

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Food Safety is a growing priority for food and beverage companies across the U.S. and around the world, with recent sweeping food safety legislation and increasing public concern over foodborne illness and contamination. Supply chain traceability has become a core pillar of preventive food safety, and businesses are seeking new tools to manage food supply chain data.

This free 30-minute webinar facilitated by Intelex food safety solutions specialist Jeremy Mawson discusses the following topics:

  • What traceability means within the food and beverage industry.
  • How traceability is actually achieved within the supply chain from farm to fork.
  • The evolution of global food safety standards and legislation (e.g. FSMA), and why end-to-end traceability is becoming increasingly important.
  • Whether managing your own company data is enough to maintain compliance and reduce the risk of violation.
  • The integration of information systems throughout the supply chain to achieve complete end-to-end traceability.

Here is a preview … Read more...

Lessons in EHS History: Salmonella and the Food Industry

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We all know that the effects of salmonella poisoning are not pleasant: infected persons usually suffer from diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps that begin 12 to 72 hours after exposure and symptoms will last anywhere from four to seven days. In the case of vulnerable people, such as children or the elderly, the symptoms can be far more serious and can even lead to death.

Salmonella has certainly been a hot topic in the news lately in the United States and around the world, but how well do you understand where it comes from, how the food industry combats this threat, and how you can protect yourself?

The Origins of Salmonella

Dr. Daniel E. Salmon, an American veterinary scientist, is credited with discovering the first strain of salmonella in 1885 (in fact, it was his research assistant, Theobald Smith). Simply put, salmonella is a bacterium that causes intestinal infection. So … Read more...