fbtechreview.comSEPTEMBER 20258in myviewBy John Gurrisi, Vice President, Food Safety and Quality, Fresh ExpressJohn GurrisiIt seems like yesterday, whether rain or shine, field and plant personnel were hovering over clipboards studiously recording locations, quantities, varieties, equipment settings, temperatures, times and more. As the advertising slogan goes, "We've come a long way!"Today the digital revolution has transformed not only how the fresh salad business is managed ­ withlight-year increases in efficiency and speed ­ but modern technology has also led to significant benefits in risk management, supply chain wide food safety, resources deployment, product quality and social responsibility initiatives.It's hard to find a fresh foods category other than value-added salads that has so successfully leveraged technology to grow into an almost $12 billion industry.In 1989 Fresh Express created the retail fresh salad categorywith the invention of its breathable bag technology that extended shelf life long enough to allow distribution of fresh salads to retail grocers nationwide. And every year since then, there has been a steady climb to leverage the latest and greatest technological innovations for the growth of the category and the benefit of growers andshippers, manufacturers and ultimately, consumers. As background, it's important to understand that the delivery of fresh salads to consumers is an unbelievably time-condensed endeavor. From the time fresh lettuces and leafy greensare first harvested to when they are packaged and ready to ship,only a mere 24-72 hours have elapsed. To accomplish this freshness feat and to maintain the utmost rigor in food safety practices, technology must ­ and does ­ play a major role. Recent additions to the technology platforms at Fresh Express are centered squarely around food safety. These include a complete reimagining of our end-to-end traceability system to enhance accuracy and speed as well as the implementation of an advanced vision system to control the potential for allergen error or mislabeling. Along the way, we have also increased the digitization of our food safety management systems and employed modern technologies to improve food safety within the processing plants. THE TECHNOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATION OF THE VALUE ADDED SALAD INDUSTRY
< Page 7 | Page 9 >