smarter food safety product traceability

Applying Product Traceability Software for Smarter Food Safety

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Back in October, we covered a public forum put on by the FDA concerning the future of food safety. Just recently, the FDA has released the transcripts from nearly every session, giving those of us in the food safety training industry plenty of material to dig through concerning their vision for the future of food safety in our country. This week we’d like to take a look at a few of the ideas presented at the New Ara of Smarter Food Safety meeting involving the use of product traceability technology to quickly find the source of foodborne illness outbreaks.

Smarter Food Safety product traceability
Image credit:
mavoimage via 123.rf and United States Department of Agri via Flickr

Achieving Smarter Food Safety in the Supply Chain Using product Traceability Software

When it comes to foodborne illness tracing, it would be ideal if the FDA and CDC could immediately identify the source of contamination. For example, if someone consumes tainted lettuce in Minnesota and becomes ill, the FDA could find out the source of the contaminated product in New Mexico and take immediate action. This isn’t exactly possible with the way the supply chain works today.

Raw food products come from many different parts of the country, and certified food managers may receive a shipment of greens from California one week and Arizona the next. In fact, there are many occasions where the warehouse run by your food supplier has very little information about where your product originated. In the case of an outbreak, it takes some time to figure out exactly where the tainted product came from, potentially leaving the door open for the further spread of illness.

The big question is; How can we solve this?

During a Smarter Food Safetypresentation on product traceability, a spokesperson from the software company FoodLogiq suggested that advanced software could be used to create a roadmap for the entire supply chain. This would mean that software could be used at all levels of the supply chain from growers and farmers to individual food service facilities such as restaurants and retail producers to instantly tell you the travel history of any given product from farm to fork. But is this feasible?

We think this is a great idea, but it would take time to implement. As it stands now, there is no one high-tech method being endorsed for product traceability. That means one shipper could use a different system than another, and along the way product can’t be traced due to conflicting systems. There also appears to be little incentive for smaller operations to use this software. Small one outlet restaurants and independent farmers have enough on their plate without having to research, purchase and maintain tracking software.

If the FDA Era of Smarter Food Safety vision can come up with a product traceability standard to track nearly every single ingredient, foodborne illness outbreaks can be easily contained. Do you think an overarching tracing system could be implemented to track product and stop outbreaks before they become widespread?

Certified Food Protection Managers and Christmas

Certified Food Protection Manager and Christmas Service

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We like to pay attention to growing trends in the foodservice community, and we’re noticing a lot more restaurants are advertising that they’ll be open on Christmas Day. While it’s not abnormal for large national chains to open on Christmas, we’re also hearing that certified food protection managers of many local restaurants may decide to open on Christmas Day as well.

Certified Food Protection Managers and Christmas
Image credit: Kirill Kedrinski

Certified Food Protection Manager Opening Your Restaurant on Christmas Day?

There seems to be growing demand among diners for Christmas service at local restaurants year after year, and we’re not just talking about breakfast and lunch. Many patrons have already hosted Christmas parties, entertained out of town guests and are looking for someone else to do the cooking and cleaning up on this festive holiday. But how should restauranteurs decide whether or not to open on the 25th of December?

The first thing you should consider is demand. Will there be a demand for your cuisine on Christmas Day? While there are many cultures that do not celebrate Christmas and certain types of restaurants already have a built-in clientele, you’re certified food protection manager will have to decide if your restaurant fits into that category. If not, then you may wish to promote a special Christmas menu should you feel the need to open on Christmas Day.

The second thing you should consider is your staff. Many families have Christmas traditions, and you may not have enough staff willing to work on Christmas Day itself. You could suddenly become a very unpopular certified food protection manager should you force your staff to work both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

A happy staff is a hard-working staff, so we suggest you poll your staff or maybe look for volunteers to work on the holidays, or allow staff to work either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day to fill out empty stations should you not have enough staff willing to work. It’s also a great idea to offer the incentive of holiday pay or some sort of bonus for spending their Christmas at work.

How do you feel about opening your restaurant on Christmas Day>

Food Safety Certification Exam

Food Safety Certification Exams For Non-English Speakers

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Minnesota has a rather diverse food community, and many food service workers and certified food protection managers have learned English as their second language. If you’ve had the experience of taking a test or reviewing course materials in a language you’re not fluent in, you’ll know how frustrating it can be to fear misunderstanding test questions. The good news is, that at Safe Food Training, we can help you with food safety certification exams in a few different languages.

Food Safety Certification Exam
Image credit: maridav

Food Safety Certification Exam Language Options Beyond English

If English isn’t your first language, you might benefit from an online food safety course. The online course can be taken at a slower pace and give you a little more time to understand the material. We currently have online food safety courses available in English and Spanish. For the many fluent Spanish speakers in the Minnesota food community, this offers a the advantage of taking the course in their native language rather than one they may not be 100-percent fluent in.

What about other languages? While courses are currently limited to English and Spanish, we do have food safety certification exams available for those whose native tongue is something other than English or Spanish. We offer food safety certification testing in:

  • English
  • Spanish
  • Chinese
  • Korean

While the courses themselves may not be available in Chinese and Korean, you have the option to take the food safety certification tests in your native tongue should you speak one of these languages more fluently than English.

Could you or your staff benefit from testing or training in languages other than English? Let us know how we can help.

Minnesota Food Managers Guide to Labeling Retail Products

Minnesota Food Manager’s Guide to Labeling Retail Products

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If you’re a Minnesota food manager who works at a facility that prepares ready-to-eat foods for retail sale or creates food items consumers will purchase and cook at home, you should be aware of the proper procedures for labeling your packaged products. The Minnesota food code has a few labeling requirements for prepackaged foods that must be adhered to.

Minnesota Food Managers Guide to Labeling Retail Products
Image credit: Flickr – Michael Steeber

Packaged Product Labeling for Minnesota Food Managers

Prepared foods packaged for retail sale require labels that alert purchasers of the contents inside the package. These labels are required to protect consumers and help them make nutrition judgments about the foods they consider purchasing. Some key elements you must print on your label include:

  • Identity or name of product
  • Net quantity of contents
  • Ingredient list
  • List of major food allergens
  • Name and address of producer
  • Nutritional information

All of these items must be clearly labeled. Your potential customers should understand exactly what it is they are buying, how much is included in the package and what ingredients are included in the food product. Not only are these details informative to the consumer, they’ll actually help you sell and market your product. If you can’t adequately identify the contents of your product, how’s the general public going to identify what they’re purchasing? Misleading or confusing labels may cause potential customers to choose a different product.

Beyond ingredients, you must clearly identify major allergens. This is a must. Not only must you list allergens in your product, you should do so in a clear manner where those afflicted with allergies will clearly see if there are any ingredients they cannot consume. We suggest listing allergens in your ingredient list as well as including a clearly visible second list of allergens and potential allergens your product may have come in contact with. The allergens that must be listed are:

  • Milk and dairy
  • Eggs
  • Fish
  • Shellfish
  • Tree nuts
  • Peanuts
  • Soy
  • Wheat and flour

Depending on the size of your business, you may also be required to post nutritional information on your label. Some products packaged by small businesses may be exempt. For more information on exemptions, check out the FDA guidelines for nutritional fact labeling exemptions.

Finally, food managers must include the name and address of your business on the labeling of packaged products. This not only helps customers recognize your brand name so they can purchase your product again, but it’s also required to identify the source of contamination in the event of a foodborne illness outbreak.

Are you a Minnesota food manager that specializes in retail sales? If so, what food safety topic would you like to see us pay closer attention to?