Demands on the Supply Chain

From the tracking and tracing of food to in-store precautions, retailers must do all they can to ensure the products they sell are safe. 

Those involved in the supply chain have made great strides in improving food safety over the past decade. Of course, danger lurks around every corner and no matter how tight, sometimes things slip through the cracks. Despite new laws, regulations and increased vigilance, foodborne illness remains a large and expensive issue in this country.

It is estimated that more than 48 million people in the U.S. are affected by foodborne disease each year, accounting for an annual cost upward of $80 billion.

It also seems that consumer confidence in the safety of the food supply chain is steadily waning. According to the 2014 Food and Health Survey, conducted by the International Food Information Council Foundation, the number of consumers that are “not too confident” or “not at all confident” in the safety of the U.S. food supply has increased about 25% in the past three years.

Despite the popularity of the farm-to-fork concept, the fact remains that the food supply chain is more global and complex than ever. Industry observers say until there are new scientific methods to mitigate exactly where in the food supply the bulk of the issues are occurring, food safety issues will continue to increase.

In an effort to address this, Congress enacted the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) in 2011. Considered to be the most sweeping reforms of U.S. food safety laws in more than 70 years, FSMA aims to ensure the U.S. food supply is safe by shifting the focus from responding to contamination to preventing it.

FSMA directs the FDA to establish standards for adoption of modern food safety prevention practices by those that grow, process, transport and store food. It also gives the FDA new mandates, authorities and oversight tools aimed at providing solid assurances that those practices are being carried out by the food industry on a consistent, on-going basis. FSMA gives the FDA the ability to increase inspections of many domestic food facilities, enhance detection of foodborne illness outbreaks and order recalls of tainted food products.

The FDA will also be working to ensure that imported foods meet U.S. standards and are safe for consumers. For example, for the first time, importers must verify that their foreign suppliers have adequate preventive controls in place to ensure safety, and the FDA will be able to accredit qualified third-party auditors to certify that foreign food facilities are complying with U.S. food safety standards.

While signed into law four years ago, the rules under FSMA are not expected to be finalized until August, at which time the industry should start to have a better understanding of its impact on both manufacturers and retailers. “FSMA has been a bit of a wake-up call for the entire food industry,” says Robert Prevender, global managing director, food safety management, for NSF International, based in Ann Arbor, Mich. “While we wait to see what the new requirements hold, we do know that the FDA will be strengthened with new approaches and powers.” He adds that more requirements are anticipated to be released—as well as more scrutiny.

In light of the new regulations, it is imperative that retailers develop partnerships with suppliers that are capable of identifying and imparting the right procedures and education so they can meet FSMA expectations. “Retailers must ensure they can deliver confidence to their customers that the food they receive will be safe,” says Andrea Nottestad, marketing manager, retail supply chain, for ORBIS, based in Oconomowoc, Wis.

ORBIS is best known for offering plastic reusable totes, pallets and bulk containers for storage, processing, handling, distribution, direct-store delivery and merchandising. “We have a very focused approach when it comes to designing products for food safety, including features that enable easy cleaning and maintenance, from flow-through bakery baskets to standard 40-by-48 plastic pallets with minimal cavities to harbor water. We are consistently seeking out non-traditional breakthrough materials that deliver revolutionary characteristics not seen in material handling today,” says Nottestad.

With the advent of FSMA, the food industry is facing far-reaching regulations and it will need to apply even greater levels of safety measures to prevent health concerns, says Kevin Haugh, vice president and general manager of Baltimore-based Roadnet Technologies, a division of Dallas-based Omnitracs. For those transporting food, he says the “Rules on the Sanitary Transportation of Human and Animal Foods” places increased importance on being able to effectively monitor and manage temperatures, trace product accurately and load and ship products in ways that are less likely to create cross product contamination.

“This creates a demand for technologies that make it easier for companies to take preventive measures, as well as other actions, such as auditing, that are required to effectively comply,” says Haugh.

John Wallace, director of innovation for Emerson Climate Technologies Retail Solutions, says the heightened attention to food safety is pushing retailers to take a closer look at their facility systems to incorporate controls and monitoring for optimum performance. Officials at Kennesaw, Ga.-based Emerson note that the trend to offer more fresh and prepared foods, especially within smaller format chains, is adding an additional layer of complexity to operations.

“As retailers make these changes, they are upgrading their facility equipment for better control of their systems in order to consistently deliver high quality food and meet the demands of today’s consumer,” says Wallace. Emerson supports supermarket, convenience store and foodservice retailers by combining facility control with services for a complete enterprise solution. Facility management systems such as Emerson’s E2 and ecoSYS Site Supervisor provide control for HVAC, refrigeration and lighting.

Observers say food safety risks are multiplying in predominantly two areas. The first centers on the increased risk of litigation. “As we all saw with the Jensen Farms cantaloupe case, the out-of-court settlement with Walmart set precedence that all parties in the supply chain are now liable for the outbreak of any foodborne illness, even if they were not aware the product was contaminated,” says Randall Fields, chairman and CEO of Park City Group, based in Salt Lake City. The second area centers on FSMA.

Under FSMA, companies now have to keep verification of their supply chain’s compliance for up two years and have it accessible within 24 hours. Observers say this requirement will pose new record-keeping challenges. Due to the requirements, many companies are looking to automate their management of compliance documentation.

“During these past few months, retailers have been focusing on choosing new systems, getting their suppliers implemented and their compliance documents in hand before the FSMA deadlines,” says Fields. 

FMSA not withstanding, officials at NSF International say that GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative) benchmark standards have become more of the norm for suppliers to the retail industry. The result of which has been greater scrutiny on sanitization programs that have led to improvements in operation designs. One example of this, says Prevender, can be seen in the stronger physical separation of raw product and finished product, which has forced many facilities to change their operation flow and physical design to comply with GFSI-benchmarked standard requirements.

As reusable pallets become more commonplace, ORBIS officials say knowing and implementing proper cleaning techniques will be imperative in the battle to improve food safety standards. “Retailers will need to understand the differences between cleaning techniques, including microbiological cleaning, or industrial sterilization and non-microbiological cleaning,” says Nottestad. “Know enough to ask the right questions and the right partner should lead you to the right solution. An effective reusable plastic packaging partner should be equipped with a full understanding of all of the available cleaning techniques.” Nottestad adds that ORBIS only uses FDA-approved materials that allow for high temperature washing and its hygienic pallet designs ensure product integrity at every point of the supply chain.

Rehrig Pacific Co. offers reusable transportation products to just about every facet of the grocery supply chain, from field-to-store shelves including harvest totes, RPCs, pallets, trays and retail ready merchandisers. Kaley Parkinson, director of applied technology sales for Los Angeles-based Rehrig, says in terms of traceability there are many “band aid” solutions in the market today, but very few comprehensive solutions being offered. “Oftentimes these standalone solutions create significant extra cost and burden for the supplier that ships down multiple channels because they have to comply with different equipment and processes for each individual entity,” she says.

“Unfortunately, this can also create the unintended consequence of making a broader solution fight face even more headwinds as the potentially complete solution is seen as ‘just one more added cost,’” she adds, noting that part of this is a lack of clarity as to what the regulations are, how they will be enforced and what constitutes compliance.

Solutions abound

To help its clients manage regulatory, financial and brand risks in the food, pharmaceutical and dietary supplements channels, the Park City Group launched ReposiTrak in collaboration with Leavitt Partners. The ReposiTrak platform consists of two systems. The Compliance Management system receives, stores and shares documentation, while managing compliance through dashboards and alerts for missing, expired or inaccurate documents. The Track & Trace system identifies the supply chain path taken by a product in the unfortunate event of a product recall and can reduce the risk in the supply chain by identifying backward chaining sources and forward chaining recipients of products in near real time.    

“We believe it takes a village to drive implementation and manage compliance and therefore we offer an active, versus passive approach,” says Fields. “We know that competitive solutions depend on the voluntary self-management of suppliers and without constant contact and follow up, suppliers will fall out of compliance and increase brand risk.” ReposiTrak’s active approach includes a dedicated staff of account managers and technical support to help drive implementation and manage compliance. According to Fields, Park City Group has helped its customers reduce non-compliance in their supply chains by 70% on average within their first six months on ReposiTrak.

NSF International provides expertise and accredited services across the entire food supply chain, from farm-to-fork, to help retailers meet their objectives for food safety and overall compliance. The group offers auditing, testing and certification services that enable retailers to better manage and control food safety, quality and regulatory compliance throughout their supply chain as well as their own operations. Its training programs cover all aspects of food safety including what can be anticipated through FSMA.

NSF International also offers a NSF-FSMA Readiness Assessment Tool, a free online program companies can use to assess their food safety management systems and prepare for FSMA compliance. “We have a devoted team of technical experts with 20-plus years of experience that provide consulting to identify and resolve problem areas of the supply chain,” says Prevender. “Our newest innovation is a dynamic software technology called Aspirago that enables retailers to monitor and control their very complex and global supplier networks.”

ORBIS has introduced a variety of new products recently, from tote and dolly systems to small-format pallets. ORBIS’ 42-by-30 Small Format Pallet was designed specifically for retail shipments into small-format stores with narrow doors/aisles and no receiving dock and limited backroom storage. This narrow-profile pallet was designed to have 45 locations in a standard truck and to fit three across, versus alternative pallets. At the store, pallets are offloaded and moved inside for replenishment, with no time-consuming repacking to a cart.

Looking at the larger food safety picture beyond product specifics, officials at ORBIS say the best way for retailers to start improving is by assessing their supply chain needs so that the right solution for the right opportunity can be found. Nottestad says reusable packaging products such as plastic pallets, bins and containers and processes can make sense, but its full benefits are not always understood at the onset for a company. “Our job, as a partner for our customers, is to show how packaging can drive long-term financial, environmental and food safety benefits, so retailers can focus on their core business,” she says.

Parkinson notes that Rehrig’s focus is on building solutions that are adaptable, configurable and scalable across a wide variety of entities. She says the company achieves this by working to leverage existing systems wherever it can, while weaving together a bigger and better picture of traceability. “It is our belief that the simpler we can make our solutions, the better it is for everybody,” she says.

According to Parkinson, this significantly reduces the overall costs involved and does not require each system to completely rewrite itself. “We are not in the business of building compartmentalized, standalone solutions that only fit one particular model or supply channel,” she says. “The ultimate answer needs to work everywhere. The challenge is that each supply chain is unique, having a solution that has the ability to layer over a broad spectrum of existing systems is key.”

Climate control

One of the most important elements in keeping food safe for retailers is ensuring that food is transported, stored and displayed at the proper temperature. According to Emerson Climate Technologies officials, the company helps grocers safeguard their food by providing electronic controls and other components that manage refrigeration systems to ensure they are operating properly. Emerson’s latest facility control, ecoSYS Site Supervisor, provides energy management through control of HVAC, refrigeration and lighting systems. The facility control systems can detect when a problem is beginning to occur and provide an alert that action needs to be taken.

In addition, Emerson’s ProAct Services provides a cloud-based monitoring service staffed by refrigeration experts that can remotely monitor the performance of the refrigeration systems 24/7/365. Company officials say real-time performance assessment of facility systems provides retailers with timely information on energy expenditure, maintenance costs, refrigerant leaks and shrink causes. “Remote monitoring provides additional assurance that as any system issues are detected, Emerson can triage and appropriately deal with them in a timely manner—before impacting the customer experience,” says Wallace. The can also be used to identify opportunities for operational improvements.

Omnitracs is working with its customers in a multitude of ways to address growing challenges and trends. On the FMSA front, it provides customers solutions to support temperature monitoring, traceability, loading, reporting and other enabling technologies. On the customer service and cost efficiency front, it provides a range of optimization, routing and navigation technologies designed to allow companies to provide higher levels of customer service while reducing costs, via better use of vehicle and driver resources. Omnitracs also provides solutions centered on promoting other forms of safety, such as safe driving behaviors, as well as compliance in areas such as hours of service and fuel tax reporting.

Microban International, a leader in built-in antimicrobial protection, leverages a breadth of antimicrobial technologies to engineer custom antimicrobial solutions. The Huntersville, N.C.-based company provides its customers with turnkey support including technical development, regulatory assistance, patent counsel and marketing support, getting customers to market quickly and effectively.

The company’s SilverShield technology was created to help address anti-microbial concerns such as Listeria, the bacteria found in soil and water as well as some animals. According to company officials, SilverShield reacts eight times faster than other silver antimicrobials while maintaining polymer durability and integrity. Testing shows that SilverShield provides 99% reduction of Salmonella enterica, E. coli, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRA) in two hours at room temperature. “Good cleaning practices are essential, but sometimes they are not enough, which is why SilverShield was designed to complement the use of disinfectants in the fight against bacteria,” says Dr. Burke Nelson, director of materials engineering at Microban.

Microban’s commercial refrigeration partner, Hussmann, has incorporated Microban’s antimicrobial product protection to keep the surface of its products cleaner between cleanings. “Display cases, racks, door handles and shelves are constant targets for damaging bacteria, mold and mildew,” says Nelson, noting that Microban technology is infused into the end product during the manufacturing process. “Disinfectants help eliminate bacteria during regular cleanings, but food handling products can quickly become contaminated. As Microban technology is built-in to the molecular structure of the product, it won’t wash off or wear away, thus providing a long-lasting protection,” says Nelson.