JEFF GULLICKSON | SR. VICE PRESIDENT, WESTERN GROWERS INSURANCE SERVICES INSURANCE CORNER
Reimagining Food Safety Risk Management with Technology From an insurance perspective, a fire is a fire. However, not all food contamination and recall events are the same. Recall-related situations can be as simple as first-party business losses where only the insured is affected, or as complicated as holding the supply chain responsible for third-party losses due to product refusal in the marketplace. Coverage solutions must be created which address the unique fingerprint of each specific outbreak, and now improvements in food safety practices throughout the supply chain
• Traceability: provides instantaneous case and item level traceability across the entire supply chain using cloud and blockchain enabled technology • Financial Protection: indemnification to supply chain participants in the case of a contamination event Through the successful implementation of this unique software system, our goal is to facilitate continuous improvement every day, quickly recognize and react to data, identify trends and implement needed changes to our food safety programs. DAILY ASSESSMENT & TRACK TRENDS We have tapped iFoodDecisionSciences to provide real-time process control throughout the supply chain. iFoods is helping growers, shippers, processors and retailers move their food safety documents from paper to a digital platform. Leaping beyond other systems that copy paper documents and share them electronically, iFoods works to capture all essential food safety data points through the supply chain, resulting in a best- in-class documentation of food safety processes and practices, which mitigates the possibility of a contamination event. Additionally, for our members, it will reduce time for audits and audit preparation, provide real-time data and trend analysis to help ensure compliance and improve data quality and metrics for decision-making. TRACEABILITY Beyond data aggregation and analysis, our new software system can also track product throughout the supply chain and can be seamlessly shared using blockchain ready technology if the supply chain requires it. We partnered with Trimble HarvestMark to provide item level traceability that facilitates
technology is bringing customizable risk management programs to the next level. The team here at Insurance Services have partnered with our Science & Tech division to launch a game changing solution that will digitize food safety all the way through the supply chain. Our Supply Chain Risk Management Solution is an industry-driven solution to take control of supply chain food safety and traceability issues and allow us to develop a more targeted insurance package that meets your company’s needs. The industry has faced several high-profile food contamination events within the last few years – everything from E.coli to Listeria – and evolving beyond traditional tracking systems will allow the industry to reduce the number of outbreaks, substantially improve food safety and keep consumers safe. To quote the U.S. Food and Drug Administration: “The ongoing U.S.-wide romaine lettuce E.coli outbreak showed us, once again, that our traditional paper-based food tracking system is no longer adequate for the 21st century. An ability to deliver accurate, real- time information about food, how it’s produced, and how it flows from farm to table is a game-changer for food safety.” Western Growers (WG) is taking this challenge head on. Our new Supply Chain Risk Management Solution allows us to use technology to advance food safety in four ways: • Daily Assessment: offers real-time process control throughout the supply chain, providing companies with daily and continuous input on their food safety performance • Track Trends: allows companies to easily review and track food safety data to identify trends that facilitate ongoing
34 Western Grower & Shipper | www.wga.com JULY | AUGUST 2019
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