Software solution offers food manufacturers increased traceability
With food traceability playing a critical role in the global market and continuing to grow in complexity, the global leader in inspection technologies for food quality and safety, Loma Systems, is making food manufacturers and processors aware of the importance of having robust traceability systems in place. Loma’s TRACS (Trending-Reporting-Analysis-Capture-Software), is a graphical reporting software tool for efficiently monitoring production to easily identify performance issues.
As Covid-19 and the implications of Brexit has made sourcing more complex, the need for full traceability has intensified as manufacturers are forced to purchase ingredients from new and multiple suppliers. Furthermore, changes to household food behaviour has seen consumers being increasingly more cautious and discerning about the food they eat and its origin. The net result is that food retailers are demanding food manufacturers meet their codes of practice (COP) obligations by inspecting and logging all production activity to ensure a traceable audit trail.
Integrated within Loma’s IQ4 metal detectors, X5 Series X-ray systems, CW3 Checkweigher or Combination systems, TRACS communicates over a network, automatically capturing data from multiple machines, at various sites if needed. The software displays live and historical batch data for all production runs, providing trend analysis of key measurements for each batch, such as give away, metal count or downtime for improved efficiency. Live dashboard information is easily accessed via a web browser, providing a quick and easy overview of machine status in real-time, enabling performance issues to be identified, so that appropriate action can be taken promptly. Maintaining integrity of the captured data, information can be exported for off-line analysis or integration into other systems.
Manufacturers and processors will recognise that with a traceability software solution such as TRACS in place, their production lines will be extremely well protected against a product recall or withdrawal. However, should legal proceedings occur due to a contamination, having TRACS to help track, securely record and analyse data, will positively influence a more favourable legal outcome, as it will prove that the correct inspection processes were in place. It also mitigates the size of the recall as traceability with TRACS will quickly inform where specifically the product issue was, thereby helping to reduce the product quantity recalled.
For more information on TRACS and maximising data analysis of your metal detector or X-ray system, visit here
