The Right Sort for Your Plant
Automated inspection devices (sorters) are a relatively new technology for many fresh cut plants. If you have a sorter in your plant, you understand how critical the sorter selection process is. If you don’t have a sorter in your plant yet, I suspect you have or will consider the benefit this technology can bring to you in the future. Working for a sorting designer/manufacturer, I’ve experienced the process of helping food processors to work thru this selection, and observed a few critical success factors.
Define your business drivers and current processes. Why are you considering technology or automation additions to your line? If you are investigating automated inspection for your fresh cut line, your primary goal could be to improve food safety & quality. Additional business reasons might be to reduce operating cost and increase yield. In any case, are you able to create a financial model for this investment that creates an acceptable return for you? The answer here depends on how well you understand the quality/cost equation of your current process. You’re going to try to define the benefit of improvement over your existing methods, so you will need to define what metrics are important to you. Often, metrics include quality records, customer complaints, yield per shift, and line labor cost.
Discuss your expectations with the technical experts, both those within your organization and within your vendor partner’s team. Clearly define and communicate your goals and expectations, down to the detailed level. A good vendor partner will work with you to understand your goals and expectations, and give you honest feedback on how well their sorter solution can fit your needs.

Nello Zuech, of Vision Systems International, presents a much more detailed look at risk reduction in making this selection:
http://www.machinevisiononline.org/public/articles/archivedetails.cfm?id=1820

Do you have a sorting selection story to share? Are there additional considerations you see that I haven’t mentioned here? Is there one most critical factor? Let's continue the discussion.

Stumble It!

Bookmark on del.icio.us

IFT Food Safety Education

On the ever timely subject of food safety, I wanted to let you all know about the IFT webinar: Safety of Minimally Processed Foods, and I think this session could have some great value for you. I am joining some industry specialists as a presenter, and I'll be talking (instead of writing) about equipment applications and innovations. Check out the link for more information:
http://www.ift.org/admin/?pid=1001845

The IFT pitch:
In our busy days time is precious commodity. IFT’s Knowledge & Learning Center offers webinars….online seminars that provide helpful information that is condensed, specific and applicable to current and emerging topics affecting the food industry and your career. Webinars are an easy, effective and convenient way to get educated and informed on the latest industry trends and topics.

Is your budget limited? If so, these web casts are exactly what you and your colleagues need. You will find a wealth of information in a webinar ranging from marketing techniques, formulation tips and the latest news and science. The web casts are only 1.5 hours, involve a panel of expert speakers, and have a low registration rate of $195 per site! (I think they're having a late summer sale, and this is only $95 for members.) Additionally, they are available on demand and can be viewed at your convenience – anytime and anywhere. For information about web casts, speakers and registration visit: ift.org/knowledge.

Stumble It!

Bookmark on del.icio.us

Prevention Details: Foreign Material Removal

We talked last time about giving credit to the fresh-cut industry for the prevention investments they've made in the food safety battle. Kudos to them for the GAPs, GMPs, and HACCP implementations that really are providing large benefits to the safety of our food.

The part of this prevention effort I know about is in the detection and removal of foreign material (FM) and product defects from a stream of fresh-cut product. This prevention doesn't come cheap up front, but the paybacks can come quickly, not only in recall prevention, but also in labor reduction and quality improvements. GAPs can help prevent some FM from coming into the process line, but any outdoor crop will have the inevitable evidence of some creature being present. Whether by land or by air, insects, birds, animals and humans all have the potential to leave items behind in a growing area, and those items can be picked up during the harvesting process, and tranferred to the processing plant.

How do we get rid of FM? Washing will remove some, but do you really want to put FM in your wash water? Most HACCP plans would specify removal of FM prior to any wash to avoid potential contamination. But, using people to inspect your product prior to wash is the last thing you can afford to do, if you can even find them to start with.

Of course, there is a pretty good solution today, and that is to use an automated sorter, which uses a nearly magical combination of mechanical, electronic, optical, pneumatic, and software components to detect and remove FM and product defects. This sounds pretty complicated, so how do you know what is really required? We'll cover those basic needs and functions next time.

Stumble It!

Bookmark on del.icio.us

What about some credit for prevention?

Wow, how quickly the bad-guy designation gets shifted. For two months, and up until just a few days ago, the FDA bore the brunt of press finger pointing in the Saintpaul outbreak. Suddenly, that finger is pointing at the food industry, and produce suppliers in particular, because they resisted an undefined and expensive tracking methodology. Although it is human nature to try to find a haunch on which to sizzle the blame brand, this ignores the fact that a trace back system doesn't address many basic food safety issues.
http://www.newsinferno.com/archives/3522
http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080728/EDITORIAL/807280306

Forget about all the investments you have made in actually preventing an outbreak in the first place; GAPs, GMPs, HACCP, triple wash, automated dosing systems, optical inspection equipment, and cold chain investments. If you're associated with the food chain, your feet are in the fire for not embracing trace-back.
Can we go back to those pesky economics? How much will it cost taxpayers and food companies to implement a trace-back system? Are there other investment options that would give a better return on the food safety dollar?
In the EU, a group has provided initial funding for a type of trace-back system, based on the technology available in micro-devices, with a pilot program slated for release in 2010.
http://www.traceback-ip.eu/index.php Sounds intriguing, but it appears underfunded at €15,5M for the scope of work. Perhaps this pioneering work can be used to help model a cost effective system elsewhere.
Do you think a trace back system would be an effective tool in the food safety arsenal? Let me know what you think. Meantime, let's all work to help increase the public awareness of the tremendous effort the fresh produce industry has invested into prevention, and give them some well-earned credit.

Stumble It!

Bookmark on del.icio.us

Outbreaks and Economics

First off, apologies for the gap between last time we talked and now. United FreshTech came and went, and life happened for all of us, at the same time our industry is coping with another frustrating & financially damaging outbreak.

Consumer safety is important, but overall common sense and yes, economics must play a part. Condemning an entire industry segment or two (and yes, that's essentially what the FDA has done with their recommendations) for an unknown source of infection is not appropriate. The cost to the fresh-cut industry can be measured in the hundreds of millions, and the prevented harm is likely less than ten million; something like a 50:1 ratio. In my opinion, the economic impact of the FDA's actions is out of scale with the harm prevented. OK, the press probably has some culpability here, too, since dramatic headlines and highlights leave out most of the important detail the FDA has articulated. But the real source of the problem is within our own government's processes. http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/tomatoes.html

Does our government routinely demand this same sacrifice from other industries besides food? Even if there are regulations requiring other industries (maybe like the auto industry) to outspend benefit 50:1, those industries have a much better chance to recover additional costs in the marketplace. Fresh-cut is perishable and won't hold until the research is done and analysis published.

While I'm picking on our own government's processes, do you know what the CDC's definition of an outbreak is? "Two or more cases of the same disease that share a common exposure". Although two people sick might seem like enough to classify it as an outbreak if one of them is me, generally, I think we should save our "outbreak" classification for much larger groups.

I do care about the health & well being of Americans, I just think our US system has become too sensitive and reactionary, and this is expensive for all in the end. I'd like to see some reasonable and proactive process improvements before the next outbreak. Let me know what you think.

Stumble It!

Bookmark on del.icio.us

Viva Las Vegas for FreshTech

There's a lot of energy in the air in Las Vegas, and it seems to have rubbed off on the FreshTech show. Or, maybe it is the combination of conference sessions, Fresh Marketplace, FMI, and special events that give this year's show a special pizzazz. Show attendees today seemed to be enjoying the overall venue, and were happy with the Las Vegas choice for next year as well. From an exhibitor point of view, equipment staging and booth services went smoothly, although we heard about a few freight delivery hiccups from others. We saw a number of visitors from outside the United States, with Canada, Belgium, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Brazil and Mexico represented. FreshTech proved a good place to be on this Cinco de Mayo! More show updates tomorrow, and if you also attended, let us know what you think about the value of the show this year.

Stumble It!

Bookmark on del.icio.us

United Fresh Show

While I wait patiently to get those seeds going in the garden, we're just finishing preparations for the United Fresh show in Las Vegas next week. This is an event I look forward to each year, and yes, although I like to show off the new solutions we've developed and talk about our successes, the real draw for me is the people. I'll see folks I've met before, make some new acquaintances, and discuss current issues with all. Yep, I'll enjoy the Las Vegas location, too. I think United Fresh continues to work to improve the value of this show, and we'll get a chance to assess how effective they are this year. The reorganization they've just announced seems a bit confusing at first glance, but sounds like a way to improve focus in specific areas. Do you think this is a positive move forward? Or will the multiple groups be too difficult to manage and result in a fractured decision process? I hope to see you at the show, but if you can't make it, stay tuned for the posts next week, and let me know if they are helpful.

Stumble It!

Bookmark on del.icio.us