Julius Patkai & Associates

There is no margin for error when it comes to food safety.

It is important that the key aspects of food safety are not looked at as just a compliance measure. In the long run, companies that make it a top priority enhance their profitability by preventing costly recalls, loss of reputation, and potential litigation.

A strong food safety culture is something all food and beverage companies should aspire to attain. When employees, managers, and leaders feel personally committed to food safety, they follow the right practices even when no one is watching.

Julius Patkai & Associates can help create and sustain that commitment to set the right tone for food safety cultural excellence.

It offers a complete range of food consulting services, ranging from conceptualization to commission of projects within the food processing sector, helping clients build a strong, harmonized food safety culture that reflects their company's policies, systems, and processes, and incentivizes good food safety decisions at every level. Its services extend to the agriculture and aquaculture industries in the U.S. and Canada, as well as the processing industry and government agencies.

Navigating the Complex Food Safety Landscape

New government regulations, along with expectations from consumers and stakeholders, compel food manufacturers, restaurants, and grocery stores to constantly sharpen their focus on food safety. Julius Patkai & Associates helps clients tactfully navigate this complex landscape by providing thirdparty certification audits against food safety standards like Foreign Suppliers Verification (FSVP), Good Agriculture Practices Inspection (GAP), International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP), Global Food Safety Initiative Certification (PrimusGFS), Canada organics, and kosher certifications.

But government oversight and inspection is only a part of the bigger, complex picture Julius Patkai & Associates aims to capture.

It understands how the industry's focus is turning to a holistic approach that also looks into other aspects, like supply chain transparency, local sourcing, and fresh and minimally processed food. It goes beyond the conventional, reactive food safety functions and makes it an enterprise-level purpose for its clients.

Julius Patkai's food consultancy services champion and govern food safety at the enterprise level in this regard, to manage the operational risks for an organization. Its programs dig deep into other crucial aspects that impact food safety, like the recent regulatory and auditing requirements, consumer trends, and brand, supplier, and process risks posed to clients. Quality assurance systems further enable control measures to assure the quality and safety of food and show compliance with regulatory and client requirements.
"We take a unique approach that helps clients instill a powerful food safety culture, one that incorporates scientific, operational, and consumer perspectives to identify and manage food safety risks," says Julius Patkai, MBA, CMC, CITP, principal of Julius Patkai & Associates.

Turnkey Solutions for Optimized Food Safety

While the firm aims to support clients' commitment to safe food by providing solutions, services, and expertise to keep food safety central to their culture, its turnkey processes are what give it an edge in the industry.

Every client collaboration begins with an on-site inspection to observe their current operations and get the full picture of what needs to be achieved. Following this, it holds a discussion to gain an understanding of the services needed to achieve these goals. This begins with a gap assessment to review food safety and quality management procedures and check for shortcomings. A gap analysis is then conducted to assess the effectiveness of their current procedures and how they can be improved. After a thorough evaluation, Julius Patkai's consultants provide recommendations of what action should be taken.

The next step is to enact measures to close these gaps. This could mean having review sessions with employees about food product safety, adding product inspection equipment to check for the identified hazards, or redesigning operational elements. Upon confirmation, its team works with the client to identify the programs they want to be certified in. All relevant information is gathered and compiled into a tried-and-true program, which is then customized to meet their demands.

Once completed, the food safety program has to be assessed to ensure all risks and hazards associated with the business's operations have been identified and assigned specific monitoring and control measures.

Its consultants are instrumental in delivering services, from the initial idea generation phase to mobilizing the product in the market. Its team's keen eye for detail, combined with their industry expertise, has resulted, time and again, in rendering turnkey services to clients.

They serve as an extension of a client's team and provide a unique perspective to address complacency and enhance food safety, from a friendly voice reminding them to be mindful of food safety during their daily interactions to extensive assessment and improvement strategies.

Success Behind Stellar Food Safety and Quality Services

Asked about the company's role in food safety, Patkai states, "As food consultants, we strive to over-deliver on our services and build strong personalized relationships with clients."

Patkai has a solid reputation and a proven history of providing consulting services that help clients effectively market products and services, improve processes, and certify their product quality to meet international markets and standards. The idea behind Julius Patkai & Associates was to build a culture that focuses on establishing long-term relationships with each client by delivering services that meet and exceed their needs.

Its humble beginnings can be traced back to its first Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) program.

Back in the day, Patkai used to be a farmer until the industry witnessed an economic downturn. This prompted him to look at other ways to make a living, eventually leading to the inception of the company. He wanted to apply his expertise to provide results for clients, hoping to make a sustainable and revolutionary change in the country's food safety industry.

Fast forward to today, he and his team have successfully conducted over 500 projects related to food safety programs alone. That, coupled with their experience in developing ISO quality management programs and working with multiple distributors, large agricultural operations, oil refineries, and seafood processes, has helped them develop a well-rounded experience in dealing with diverse projects. This helps them deliver exceptional results to clients that optimize food quality, adhere to safety standards, and maximize yield.

Food safety is not a one-and-done activity. Simply being committed to the idea isn't the same as executing a program that cultivates a strong food safety culture. Through its unparalleled food consultancy services, Julius Patkai & Associates helps clients produce greater quality products while maintaining high standards of production and food safety compliance and nurturing the food industry workforce toward excellence.