8 ways to improve food safety within factories
Food safety and quality is gaining importance and complexity at the same time. Chains are growing longer, more international and more intertwined, and a minor deviation can bear major consequences in a production chain. On top of that, requirements are expanding; legislation is becoming more stringent and inspecting and controlling these aspects is a core task for food producers. And yet, errors do occur: how is that possible and how can they be avoided?
It goes without saying that each food producer has extensive procedures, heavy quality and safety manuals, lots of testing and routine audits. And yet, things do go wrong at times, especially if those procedures are recorded on paper and kept in folders. Written plans may not always reflect everyday reality. Operators and team leaders are often forced to make decisions and solve problems under pressure. Paper is patient, but machines don’t wait. Plus, old habits can be more persistent than a newly designed working method. And different operators tend to do things slightly differently, which may cause deviations as well.
One small step for the company, one giant leap for food safety
Digitisation of work instructions, checklists, autonomous maintenance tasks, training and internal audits in a digital platform like EZ-GO, boosts your ability to take food safety to the next level.
Converting paper-based information to the app is a one-time action that takes relatively little time but makes a huge difference, improving food safety in 8 different ways.
- Rather than being kept in folders, information remains at the operator’s fingertips right when they need it, dramatically increasing its use.
- Because everyone is using the same digital work instructions, differences between executed tasks are virtually eliminated, ensuring consistent quality and fewer mistakes.
- Digital work instructions are great for training new operators and help avoid beginner’s mistakes.
- Digital checklists keep inspections consistent and complete.
- When something does go wrong, all activities and checks are traceable, making it easier to find the cause of the mistake and prevent it from reoccurring.
- Procedures that don’t work in practice are easy for operators to report. This allows for deliberation to take place and the procedure to be updated to something that does work.
- Digital work instructions and checklists can be adjusted with the tap of a button, updating everyone who has to work with them right away.
- External audits are easier to conduct, because procedural information is conveniently accessible and informative statistics available in an instant. Traceability for client audits is vital in the industry.
There are clear rules when it comes to food safety and quality, and all food producers understand the importance of compliance. This means that formulating the right procedures isn’t enough; all employees need to be able to apply them properly in their everyday work. EZ-GO offers a user-friendly and transparent solution.
Want to have a chat about improving food safety within your factory? Feel free to get in touch: https://ezfactory.nl/en/contact/.