Digital Transformation in Food Safety Inspections – Why It Matters?
One of the strictest regulation policies in the EU is in the field of food safety. Food safety concerns directly the health of people and their quality of life. That’s why there is strong sensibility to keeping compliance with regulation from the side of the food industry and enforcing regulations from the side of regulatory agencies.
The growing food safety culture leads to the adoption of new technological solutions that can help regulators transform their food inspection model. However, some countries are struggling with the digital transformation of the food safety inspections more than others. In a culture with growing food safety awareness and improved regulatory practices, transforming the inspection management model can make foods even safer. That’s why the adoption of IT infrastructures in the food safety inspection model is a step that regulators must be taking on (if they haven’t yet).
What can inspection management software do for food safety inspections?
Ditch the paper, embrace the digital
Imagine the paperwork that food safety inspectors and other administrative entities must do to ensure the flow of inspection management. Inspections checklists, copies of documents such as permits, orders, maps, photos of inspection site, etc. It’s a big load of paperwork. Now if we imagine that the paper is being replaced by software that allows everyone to his job digitally, it won’t be hard to see the benefits in terms of productivity.
But the question is how a digital document management system can make foods safer? The answer is in the data. It’s very challenging to organize and present data that is based on paper documents spread all over the cabinets of a food inspection agency. If this data is collected and organized via sophisticated inspection management software, then it can be visualized, analyzed and used for identifying trends and building a better visibility on food inspections. In other words data can be used for making smarter and faster decision making that directly affects the optimisation of inspections.
The bonus thing: the use of inspection software with integrated document management system can improve the inspection management process not only in food regulatory agencies, but also in the food industry itself (by serving as a digital infrastructure for internal inspections and audits).
Inspectors inspect more while working less
If the digital document management safes time for inspectors, how can we enable them to use this time to cover more inspection sites and cases? Digital transformation allows regulatory agencies to leverage on technologies such as AI to optimise inspection scheduling and inspection routes so that inspectors can be send on the most optimal inspection routes without causing a conflict in their schedules. The application of such AI-driven inspection management can ultimately lead to long-term cost savings for the regulators because of the optimized resource utilization.
Related: How to reduce the cost of inspections with routing optimisation?
Reduce human errors with the help of data and AI
An employee of the Food Safety Agency may assign wrongfully skilled inspectors to an inspection case. As a result there will be a lot of time and costs wasted for nothing. Automating food safety inspections with the use of data and AI can dramatically reduce the making of such mistakes. The effect of such optimisation can be seen from miles. The question is why it takes so long for the public sector to turn to new technologies that can ensure the safety of our communities?
Related: How AI can transform inspections?
How a food regulator embraces digital transformation?
It all starts with strategy. Your organization has a digital transformation strategy? Good. Then it will be easy for the CIO to prioritize the adoption of inspection software for food safety. Even if your organization doesn’t have a strategy, now is the time to make one.
Contact Canalix here, if you need food safety inspection software and a digital transformation strategy.
