As food manufacturers grow and increase distribution out of province and to large retailers they need to build a documented food safety plan. This is typically achieved through a HACCP plan or as a Safe Food For Canadians Preventive Control Plan (required to ship out of province).
Both of these approaches have ongoing documentation requirements for each production run and supporting functions. There are a variety of check lists and forms that need to be consistently completed to ensure standard operating policies and procedures are met.
Some examples are:
Ingredient and packaging receiving
Pre-operation preparation and inspection
Batching and processing records
Quality control checks
Ingredient and product traceability
Daily and long term sanitation
Building and equipment inspection and maintenance
Employee training
Shipping records
Digital Food Safety refers to online tools that help food manufacturers with food safety plan document creation and management. These tools can also automatically generate action items and reminders so that daily documentation requirements are not missed.
Two Canadian based companies offering this service:
FoodByte: https://www.joinfoodbyte.com/
Provision Food Safety: https://provision.io/
Venturepark Labs has connected with these companies to learn how they help early stage food companies implement and manage their first food safety plan. Both companies offer effective and customized support to help companies build a food safety plan in their system. Check out their websites or request a demo.
You are also invited to reach out to Venturepark Labs to discuss this approach to building and managing a documented food safety plan and how it could work for your company.
Written By: Marlis Bens, Venturepark Labs Program Manager