PET Food Processing - December 2019 - 27

achieving this is a challenge," Rogers says. "It is important to conduct good root cause and implement preventive corrective measures when defects are discovered.
Inspection systems may reject non-conforming product
from the production line, preventing them from reaching the store, but simply rejecting the item does not correct the true root cause. In order to improve the process,
companies must implement corrective preventive measures to improve the process."
For some, improving the process includes reducing
or removing the paper element with more mobile options for paperless food safety and sanitation execution
plans and IoT (Internet of Things). Mobile options allow processors and suppliers to execute documentation
for preventive and predictive food safety plans right on
the plant floor. This can also include connecting NIR instruments to web-based services for performance monitoring and instrument management, Tordenmalm says.
Verification of all food safety actions is of growing importance to risk mitigation, and a growing number are
prioritizing this with a paperless solution, according to
Taryn Hickey, marketing director, Nexcor Food Safety
Technologies, Buford, Georgia.
"Documentation should be done once and reported
on many times across departments for consistency and
accuracy," Hickey recommends. "One of the biggest benefits of our KLEANZ solution is the ability to track information across all departments. Data can be trended
into dashboards that inform decision making for optimized execution of food safety plans. The dashboards
also help management better allocate resources."
FSMA has dramatically increased documentation
requirements and well-maintained paper trails for pet
food and treat safety compliance, according to Hickey.
As a result, Nexcor is seeing more requests for offerings
that provide transparency and data sharing.

From a pet owner perspective, FSMA places increased
focus on the quality and safety of animal feed and pet
foods. Some processors also anticipate continued scrutiny of the safety of pet treats and fresh products that
aren't processed with a microbial kill step. "Preventive
controls under FSMA include kill steps and sanitation,"
Marshall says. "Now those controls require validation
of effectiveness and routine verification activities showing they achieve desired outcomes. Supplier verification
is driving customers to expect more data points showing products are wholesome, high-quality and safe for
consumption."

The gold standard
As equipment gets better and more reliable, software
improvements make the operation of the instruments
more intuitive. Innovations in networking enable more
seamless processes to get data to the people who need it,
and advances in calibrations improve our ability to analyze difficult components and perform sensitive qualitative and food safety applications, Schumann says. These
technologies continue to fuel the drive toward a gold
standard of food safety but, in the end, it remains up to
the organization to determine the standards and allocate
the necessary resources to maintain the standards they
choose to set.
"Never in our history as an industry has producing
food that is safe for our pets to consume and safe for our
pet parents to feed been more vital," Krehbiel concludes.
"What we elect to test and how we elect to test is essential at all times to accomplishing both."
PFP

In large part, it's up
to each organization
to invest in both
the people and
the platforms to
measure and control
the attributes they
determine are most
important.
Sosland Publishing

Lasting effects
Transparency becomes instrumental when considering
the increased levels of testing that are a part of FSMA,
which shifted the focus from responding to foodborne
illness to preventing it. This includes environmental
testing as well as finished goods testing prior to release
for shipment into the marketplace.
"As a pet food manufacturer, if you don't produce a
pet food that meets nutritional requirements and is safe,
which is appealing to both the pet and owner, and produce it in a cost-efficient manner, your business risk is
high," Tordenmalm cautions. "On-site analysis and testing are critical for all of those points, including the efficiency issue as preventing problems and optimizing
processes is something on-site testing and measurement
definitely addresses."

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PET Food Processing - December 2019

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