How Does Technology Impact a Company's Food Safety Culture and Cold Supply Chain?

Food safety culture has been demonstrated to be a crucial factor in an organization's success or failure.

FREMONT, CA: Food safety culture is an essential topic in the food business right now, and for a good reason. A food safety culture is critical to the success of any food safety system. As the bedrock upon which all subsequent programs are built, this notion must be weaved throughout the food supply chain, from farmer to consumer.

The use of technology in fostering a culture of food safety

Commitment to technology deployment and adoption demonstrates that a business's growth and improvement are critical. For instance, during the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, significant investments were made in non-traditional retail methods such as direct-to-consumer and alternate distribution. Organizations were forced to develop alternative business models to continue operating during this chaotic period. Similarly, food safety specialists must continue to uncover and adapt to industry advancements, including utilizing and upgrading technology to resolve previously insurmountable difficulties.

Often, firms have not invested in technological solutions to enhance their food safety culture in recent years. For example, the food business continues to rely heavily on paper forms and recordkeeping. This failure to leverage technology tools results in effort duplication, an inability to get meaningful knowledge, and an increased possibility of documentation errors and unnecessary risk. On the other side, firms that have invested in technology have discovered that their employees can automate time-consuming and manual operations, minimize risk, better understand macro trends, and prevent issues—rather than merely respond to them. Such technology that delivers actionable information will be vital as we prepare for the future food supply chain.

The culture of food safety and the cold supply chain

Each industry member plays a crucial part in ensuring food safety, and the position as the manager of the supply chain's food safety culture is critical. To begin, create communication channels, initiatives, and processes that facilitate collaboration and information sharing. Additionally, enterprises can get significant buy-in from their supply chain partners by offering previously inaccessible data or assisting them in resolving current difficulties.

Technology's ultimate goal is to make users' lives easier. For many food safety professionals, the cold supply chain is a black box. Most people are aware that trucks are loaded with perishable cargo and then delivered to their final destination. With real-time supply chain visibility, food safety, quality assurance, and logistics teams may approach cold chain management with an active-management, preventive controls perspective.

Real-time, Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled, and cloud-based technologies enable customers to gain insights from live shipping data, including time, temperature, geolocation, light, and pressure sensing, as well as historical shipments. This technology instills confidence in the cold chain's control and offers enterprises valuable data to help prevent quality issues. Investing in technological solutions can assist in establishing the food safety culture that an organization and customers seek.