Managing Food Safety Risk Efficiently with Data Automation

Data is only valuable if it is actionable.

On a recent trip to Australia, Neogen’s Vice President of Digital Solutions Marketing, David Hatch shared a story that was relayed to him on a customer visit.

Like many people responsible for managing food safety, Mr Hatch’s customer diligently performed routine tests and recorded the results in a spread sheet.

“Spread sheets are great. You can sort data, search data and perform all kinds of analyses,” said Mr Hatch. “However, they are also passive, so unless you are actively looking for something specific, they aren’t going to call attention to potential issues. It doesn’t take long for critical information to get forgotten and lost in a mountain of data.”

This is exactly what Hatch’s customer discovered after trialling Neogen Analytics. They knew they occasionally had positive results and they always took the appropriate corrective action at the time. From a food safety perspective, they were meeting all their obligations.

What they didn’t realise, and what Neogen Analytics brought to their attention, was a pattern that identified a specific vulnerability and allowed them to address the root cause of a recurring problem once and for all.

The situation they described was typical of many modern food producers who systematically perform a large number of tests in multiple locations. In their case, the positive results were so infrequent, they simply didn’t notice the emerging pattern. And with their historical data buried in dormant spread sheets, it might have continued that way indefinitely if it hadn’t been immediately highlighted during the Neogen Analytics trial.

As Hatch’s customer explained, each time such an event occurred, production had to be halted, products had to be discarded, and thorough remedial action taken, costing the company time and money.

“It is not unusual for food safety issues like this to cost a business tens of thousands of dollars per hour,” said Mr Hatch. “Even just one hour of unnecessary downtime per week can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of a year, and for larger operations, we’ve seen cases of well over a million dollars.”

This is one of the reasons Hatch and his team developed Neogen Analytics, a fully integrated food risk intelligence solution that unifies the workflow and data generated within your environmental monitoring, product testing, and sanitation verification programs.

Data is brought to life by employing rules-based triggers to analyse diagnostic results and alert stakeholders to anything that requires their attention, allowing corrective actions to commence immediately, before more serious issues emerge. Wastage and downtime are reduced, and your team can identify what is actually causing issues in the first place.

“We’ve built software that enables a variety of food safety applications to operate within it,” said Hatch.

“For instance, our environmental monitoring application digitises and automates environmental monitoring programs, while our product testing program enables our customers to better manage risk and quality objectives.”

When users log into the software, one of the first things they see is a dynamic map of their facility that gives a high-level overview of their operation.

“We use your engineering drawings or digital photos to provide a clear and intuitive representation of all your test points and their statuses,” said Hatch. “The data is built into this view with colour coded interactive icons so that when you see something you want to investigate, it’s a simple process to drill down to understand exactly what is going on.”

Neogen Analytics offers much more than generic off-the-shelf software. It’s a dedicated food safety platform that can be tailored to your specific requirements, using the data you are already collecting as part of your normal food safety management program.

“Neogen Analytics gives you the flexibility to apply your own policies and operating procedures,” said Mr Hatch. “You decide what is important for your business, who needs to be alerted and what actions need to be taken. The platform keeps your team on track by comparing what is included in the plan you develop to actual observed performance measures.”

One of the features of Neogen Analytics that sets it apart from other products is that it was designed from the outset to complement existing food safety programs. You don’t have to make substantive changes to your current processes or spend huge amounts replacing hardware to benefit.

“All of our customers use some form of laboratory for diagnostics, and we’ve built an integration engine to handle data in any format it comes to us,” said Hatch.

Data that is typically locked away in separate silos from testing, labs, LIMS and devices is integrated and managed within Neogen Analytics to give you a more complete picture of your operation. The platform is delivered with powerful reporting and analytic tools that provide always-on access to information that is more versatile, easier to understand, and allows you to be more responsive.

By automating common processes such as scheduling tests or initiating corrective actions, Neogen Analytics can radically reduce the number of manual steps required for compliance. And with all your testing and corrective action data in one spot, you can filter and print what you need for any audit in minutes.

“Making all the data you collect as part of your regular food safety program readily accessible and proactively working for you is going to benefit your business in multiple ways,” said Mr Hatch. “Neogen Analytics will give you more visibility and control, streamline processes in accordance with your own policies, and improve reaction time through automated alerts. It’s simply a better and more efficient way to manage food safety risk.”

For a limited time, Neogen is offering a free trial of the Neogen Analytics platform for customers in Australia and New Zealand. To learn more, visit neogenaustralasia.com.au.

Image credit: iStock.com/gorodenkoff