What You and Your Company Should Know about Food Traceability
As the world is becoming increasingly global and interconnected, Canadian businesses are becoming increasingly aware of just how quickly the regulations in regards to food and drug traceability can change. Given our country’s continued integration into various trade agreement networks with the European Union, the United States, and now the new Trans-Pacific Partnership, food traceability is certainly an urgent issue at hand that demands your attention.
At Thoransoft, we understand that following international regulations, such as EN-178-2002 standards set by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), can be time consuming and overwhelming, especially given the ever-changing character of norms like that. European countries and the United States, while both equally important trade partners for Canada, often have conflicting requirements and standards when it comes to traceability, which is why our company is happy to offer food traceability management software to you and your company to help alleviate this potentially disastrous and ongoing headache.
What does Food Traceability Management Software do?
The world of international commerce is far from ideal. In an ideal world, regulations for traceability would be set in stone, which would make it easier to remember them and keep track of the compliance of one’s production, packaging, transportation and other processes to stay in line with the legislation.
In reality, however, FDA’s Code of Federal Regulations Title 21 (which deals specifically with traceability issues) changes all the time as new rules and parameters are enforced, often without correlation with requirements from the European Union, Canada’s other trade partners, or even the internal regulations here at home.
Traceability software designed and implemented by our team ensures the optimization of your production and packaging processes to reduce the risk of non-compliance due to human error, data entry problems, and so on and so forth. Our software looks at FDA Part 21 requirements, the EN-178-2002 norm, as well as others from the United States, the European Union and internally, keeps track of changes and modifications, and serves as the safety net at every step of the way. All of this is done with as much automation as possible to increase efficiency. Let’s discuss what is involved in more detail.
Why is Traceability important?
If you are unable to provide food traceability reports for all of your products from the very beginning to the moment the product hits the shop shelf, you will not be able to conduct international business. The US Food and Drug Administration’s oversight, the EN-178-2002 norm, and numerous other rules and provisions ensure that only highly traceable food items are transported across national borders.
This is why it is important to follow your manufacturing process and packing process in real time. Every production order has to be viewed step by step to ensure top quality and compliance with all government rules. Does your company have the manpower to conduct such oversight in person? And yet without product traceability software, all of the work, which includes putting together and maintaining in good order the complete production history for every batch of every product, food traceability is an arduous and nearly impossible task.
Too many rules to keep in mind
As an entrepreneur, you probably really enjoy what you do. You have faith in your products and faith in your staff. FDA and other regulatory bodies, however, dig much deeper than an average customer ever would. While a regular customer here in Canada, in the United States, or in Europe, would not give it an extra thought whether a product is in compliance with the Food and Drug Administration’s norms or others, the government bodies are much more stringent and attentive.
Thoransoft’s traceability software keeps all of the various regulations and updates them as needed, so your team can focus on the things about your business that are more enjoyable, such as dealing with customers. Employing our system would allow you to painlessly identify any products that do not comply with regulations and pull or recall entire batches with ease. Doesn’t this sound like something you could make good use of, should need arise?
Another positive thought
While the main goal of installing and using food traceability systems is compliance with governmental regulations, the strict processes and collected data make this a valuable tool for other uses as well. Because traceability involves assigning a unique identifier to every batch and every individual product, it can help with identifying losses that occur during manufacturing, make it easier to conduct manual quality control measures, record information on those involved with a specific product line or batch, and gather vital data that can be used for marketing and advertising purposes, as well as to optimize your production line. The multifaceted benefits of employing food traceability automation in your company are evident.
Take your business to the next level
At Thoransoft, we understand the importance of investing resources in the things that really matter. On first glance, it may appear that traceability should not be at the top of your business’s agenda, and yet it is crucial to your success both domestically and internationally. Food and drug traceability is not just a catchphrase of the modern times, it is one of the cornerstones of global commerce, and if your company is interested in being a part of the global success story, it needs to step up its game. Our food traceability software is an invaluable tool that takes your business to the next level not only in terms of compliance with FDA and European Union regulations, but also in the wider terms of production line management, data collection, step by step accountability, etc.
Over the years, we have put our technical expertise to the service of our many customers - we look forward to working together with you in order to bring you up to speed on traceability management and identify any other areas where our gurus can do some good. Give us a call today, so our team of professionals can get to work for you right away.