Recent TraceGains Webinar Featured Practical Aspects of an Effective Supplier Control Program

Recent TraceGains Webinar Featured Practical Aspects of an Effective Supplier Control Program

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Westminster, CO -- (SBWire) -- 05/28/2013 --TraceGains, Inc. recently hosted a webinar with David Schauf, VP of Quality at Illes Seasonings and Flavors. Schauf discussed his best practices for managing supply chain, supplier, ingredient, and raw material risks within the context of both the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI).

To view the webinar in its entirety, click this link: http://www.tracegains.com/effective-supplier-control.html.

During the presentation supplier control considerations were discussed including the implications of the FSMA and GFSI on supply chain management and defining supplier base characteristics, as well as establishing vendor control parameters and designing a custom vendor program for food safety and quality, and auditing and evaluating vendor performance.

The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) was also highlighted. The FSMA is the government’s response to the public health burden resulting from foodborne diseases which sicken approximately 48 million people each year in the USA of which about 128,000 are hospitalized and 3,000 die. The FSMA was enacted to enable the FDA to redirect their focus from one of reaction to one of prevention of food safety problems. The law provides FDA with more authority and directs them to build an integrated national food safety system which also holds imported foods to the same standards as domestic.

The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) is a harmonized, business-driven initiative for the continuous improvement of food safety management systems to ensure confidence in the delivery of safe food to consumers worldwide. Companies recognized under the GFSI must be audited at least annually by an accredited Certification Body, of which BRC and SQF are the major ones in the U.S.

All GFSI recognized schemes and standards contain requirements that go beyond those laid down in the Codex General Principles of Food Hygiene Code of Practice. Heavy emphasis on compliance with legal requirements and are based on HACCP principles, food safety management systems and prerequisite programs, such as Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) product control, purchasing procedures, internal audit and full product/ingredient traceability.

Food manufacturers must consider the following aspects of supplier control, such as quality assurance, economics, regulatory compliance, and risk minimization as well as operational efficiency and technical advantage.

TraceGains (http://www.tracegains.com) is for quality, purchasing, product development, and other departments, that are burdened with manually managing suppliers and documents. TraceGains delivers full-service supplier, compliance, and regulatory document management solutions, including FSMA and GFSI. Unlike manual, ERP, or traditional document systems, TraceGains extracts data from documents and automatically takes action. TraceGains is proven to empower people to quickly solve problems, speed audits, and simplify continuous product improvement.

Supplier documentation storage, whether in file cabinets or in digital formats, may satisfy regulatory retention requirements, but does little to systematically unlock the wealth of business, compliance, and regulatory information they contain and you require on a daily basis to operate successfully.

By automatically analyzing and scorecarding supplier-provided documentation as it is received—such as certificates of analysis, qualification questionnaires, audit documents and their results, certifications (Kosher, Organic, etc.), insurance certificates, allergen questionnaires, and other import requirements (COOL, C-TPAT, FSMA, GFSI), among others—TraceGains helps food and nutraceutical manufacturers and ingredient processors automate document management, meet regulatory and industry compliance requirements, identify best and worst suppliers, source better with less risk, automatically raise product quality, and painlessly perform or participate in audits, all without needing to involve the IT department to help with complex technology.

TraceGains customers experience on average a 56% reduction in out-of-spec lot receipts, and a 20% reduction in attribute variability, resulting in enhanced continuous improvement, better performing ingredient and raw material inventory, improved cash flow, and long-term brand protection. Follow TraceGains on Twitter at @tracegains.

TraceGains, Inc.
http://www.tracegains.com
Marc Simony, Director of Marketing
pr@tracegains.com
720-465-9400

Media Relations Contact

Marc Simony
Director of Marketing
TraceGains, Inc.
720-465-9400
http://www.tracegains.com

View this press release online at: http://rwire.com/257912