Thursday, January 30, 2020

How Plant-Based Foods Are Changing the Supply Chain

Meat-alternatives are bringing new food safety concerns to the already complex supply chain.


The plant-based meat market is anticipated to be worth more than $320 million in the next five years, according to a report released last summer by Global Market Insights. As the popularity of meat-alternative products continues to rise, new challenges are being introduced to supply chain management. Joe Scioscia, vice president of sales at VAI explains some of these hurdles and proposes how technology can help.

Food Safety Tech: Is the growing popularity of plant-based foods introducing hazards or challenges to the supply chain?

Joe Scioscia: The growing popularity of plant-based foods has presented a new set of challenges for the supply chain, especially considering many of these organic items are being introduced by traditionally non-organic retailers. Impossible Foods received FDA approval for its plant-based burger in 2019, showing just how new the plant-based movement is to the industry.

Obviously, the organic supply chain and produce suppliers have long followed regulations for handling produce, such as temperature controls, cargo tracking, and supply and demand planning software, so the produce could be tracked from farm to table and in the case of a recall, be traced back to the source. But for meat alternatives that are combining multiple plant-based ingredients, organizations in the supply chain who are handling these products have new food safety concerns. Considerations on how to store and process meat alternatives, how to treat each ingredient in the product and, most importantly, how to determine temperature controls or the source of contamination are all discussions the food industry is currently having.

FST: How are plant-based foods changing the dynamic of the supply chain from a food safety perspective?

Scioscia: The food supply chain has changed dramatically in recent years to become more complex, with food items traveling farther than ever before, containing more ingredients and required to follow stricter regulations. Many of the changes to the supply chain are for the better—organic and plant-based alternatives offer health benefits for consumers and are a move towards a more sustainable future. But the reality is that the supply chain isn’t quite there yet. Suppliers, retailers and producers at every part of the supply chain need to work together to ensure transparency and food safety compliance—including for plant-based products. Foodborne illnesses are still a real threat to the safety of consumers, and these same consumers are demanding transparency into the source of their food and sustainable practices from brands. All of these considerations are what’s making this next era of the food industry more complicated than ever before.

Because food safety compliance is always top of mind in the food industry to keep consumers safe, this new and complex supply chain has required companies to rely heavily on technology solutions to ensure plant-based products are equally as safe to consume as non-organic alternatives. These same solutions are also helping supply chains become more transparent for customers and streamline food processes to build a more sustainable future.

FST: What technologies can food companies and retailers use to better manage the supply chain risk while supporting the increased consumer demand for meat alternatives?

Scioscia: Utilizing a centralized software system is one tool many food suppliers and distributors can use to better visualize, trace and process products in the supply chain—including for plant-based alternatives. Having access to a central platform for business data to track assets and ensure food safety regulations are being met allows for companies to optimize processes and cut unnecessary costs along the way.

Heading into 2020, many organizations in the food supply chain are also looking at new applications like IoT, automation, and blockchain as ways to curb food safety issues. The FDA has taken steps to pilot blockchain and AI programs to better track drugs and food products, in conjunction with major food brands and technology companies. Other organizations are following suit with their own programs and many are looking at these solutions to improve their food tracking efforts. It’s clear technology has the most potential to make it easier on the industry to comply with food safety regulations while meeting customer demands for plant-based alternatives and organic options—all the while building a sustainable supply chain for the future.

Article Source: https://foodsafetytech.com/news_article/how-plant-based-foods-are-changing-the-supply-chain/

Monday, January 27, 2020

WHY CANNABIS COMPANIES NEED HACCP TO SUCCEED

Superior Food Safety has partnered with Icicle Technologies Inc. to bring Icicle, a smart food manufacturing software, to the food & beverage and the growing industries. 


As a young, innovative, and tech-oriented industry, cannabis companies are growing a whole new multi-billion dollar industry in almost no time at all. But in such a quickly expanding sector, only recently legalized in Canada and other jurisdictions, it’s more important than ever for cannabis companies to ensure that their products are safe to consume. With the right outlook and the right technology, securing public trust and producing the best product on the market are two wholly compatible goals.

Look to Canada for Cannabis Regulations & Compliance

As cannabis becomes legal in more and more places worldwide, the biggest bureaucratic shift will be toward regulation in an industry that has never been regulated before. Many governments are unsure how to proceed, especially when cannabis occupies a grey legal area as a product with limited legality (e.g. if only medical cannabis is legal or if it is federally illegal, as in the US). For this reason, it is practical to look to Canada, the first G7 and G20 country to legalize marijuana, for a safer path into the future.

Since cannabis was legalized in Canada in 2018, companies that wish to produce or sell cannabis have to comply with many regulations, including filing a monthly report with 477 fields. There is every reason to expect that as legalization rolls out, stringent oversight will be a necessary part of a business’ survival – and it must go far beyond the GMP certification that is a basic component of most food safety regulations. As those in the food industry know, GMP can be the beginning of compliance, but it is never the end.

The Clue is in the Edibles

More than any other industry, cannabis companies know that even the slightest shortcoming in safety compliance is a sure way to slam the door on success. It is here that the food industry can give cannabis companies an invaluable clue – and invaluable tools – to look ahead and embrace the possibilities of the future.

It is also here that Canada can point the way forward yet again. Edibles will only become legal in Canada this fall, a full year behind other types of cannabis products. According to Deloitte, the market is estimated to be worth $2.7 billion annually. And while there is a good argument for treating all cannabis products (which come from a plant that must be grown and harvested) like a food product, the edibles industry is certainly about to be hit with the regulatory requirements from the food industry.

In fact, the control measures that the government is requiring of edibles manufacturers are, in the words of Health Canada spokesperson Tammy Jarbeau, “in large part drawn from and align with requirements that apply to food under the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations.” These regulations are designed to specifically reduce the risk of food-borne illness and contamination by requiring edible and extract producers to create, among other things, hazard analysis (5.2.13) and preventative control plans (5.2.14) starting on October 17, 2019.

The writing is certainly on the wall: the government is taking its regulatory cues from the food industry, and cannabis companies that succeed must follow along. The good news is that, unlike many of the regulatory software for the cannabis industry, there is no need to start from square one.

HACCP: The Future of Cannabis Compliance

The gold-standard of the food industry, required in Canada since the Safe Foods for Canadians Act was passed into law in 2012, is the HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) program. While it’s not a certification itself (more so a systematic approach to identifying hazards and creating plans around them), most food safety and quality certifications do require or build upon it, including higher-level certifications like SQF. Business partners generally require HACCP to do business all over the world, particularly in North America.

So if HACCP is increasingly a prerequisite for business in the food industry, you can bet that most cannabis regulations will draw from it. And while much of the food industry still uses outdated, manual approaches to HACCP that take months or years to implement, the cannabis industry is perfectly situated to jump ahead and adopt the new technologies that are specifically geared toward compliance.

From Food to Cannabis: Automated One-Click HACCP Plans and Traceability

In fact, the cannabis industry is already looking to compliance and traceability technology built specifically for the sector. But those software systems don’t treat cannabis as a food product – and so miss a huge opportunity to anticipate the needs of the industry (like the necessity of robust traceability) and capitalize on the knowledge and experience of a parallel and even intersecting one (that is, food).

An ERP like Icicle, designed for the food industry and seamlessly adapted for cannabis businesses and supply chains, transforms the process of implementing HACCP from spanning months or years to just weeks, and takes what once took shelves and shelves of binders, and now puts it all in one digital space.

Thanks to automation and IoT technology, Icicle can:

  • Manage compliance and traceability from seed to (whole)sale: Streamline traceability down to the farm level, generate traceability reports in seconds, and protect businesses throughout the supply chain from costly and dangerous recalls.
  • Generate HACCP plans and other compliance documents in one-click: Automate those 477-field reports and other types of documentation with a single, interconnected ecosystem for your entire business — sales, shipping, safety, traceability, and beyond – that can update in real-time.
  • Implement a sustainable system that will grow with your business: The fastest solution is also the best and most forward-thinking one. Icicle provides complete licensing documents and related SOPs so you can achieve full compliance with the Cannabis Act, including any changes down the road and requirements in new markets, because we will get you set up the right way.

Visionary thinkers and leaders understand that these changes are coming, that they should be embraced, and that part of embracing higher standards of safety and quality means adopting automation solutions that help you get ahead of – and even mostly eliminate – paperwork, recalls, and inefficiencies.

Cannabis companies need to move beyond the basic pharmaceutical and GMP requirements and start thinking about the long-term implications of upping their food safety game. And those that are the first to adopt HACCP plans will gain access to massive market share potential long before their slower competitors.

By Icicle

Friday, January 24, 2020

2020 Classes Available for Registration!


CLASSES AVAILABLE at Napa Valley College

February 20, 21, 2020
Foreign Supplier Verification Programs (FSVP)
Regular Price $725, ETP Price $250

March 18, 19, 20, 2020
FSPCA/PCQI Food Safety Preventive Controls for Human Foods
Regular Price $850, ETP Price $300

April 16, 17, 2020
Basic HACCP Workshop for Manufactures
Regular Price $725, ETP Price $250

May 13, 14, 2020
SQF Food Safety Code for Manufacturing Edition 8.1
Regular Price $725, ETP Price $250

May 15, 2020
Internal and External GFSI Audits Workshop
Regular Price $475, ETP Price $180

June 11, 12, 2020
SQF Advanced Practitioner (Registration will open in Spring 2020)
Regular Price $725, ETP Price $250


CLASSES AVAILABLE at Butte College Training Place

March 3, 4, 5, 2020
FSPCA Food Safety Preventive Controls for Manufacturers
For Price Email: The Training Place

March 27, 2020
PSA Produce Safety Rule
For Price Email: The Training Place

All SQF classes are official, advertised by SQF, and provided by Superior Food Safety a SQF Licensed Training Center. 

All Food Safety Preventive Controls for Human Food classes are authorized and posted by FSPCA, and provided by Oscar Camacho a FSPCA Lead Instructor.

The fees to attend these classes are subsidized through a joint venture between Napa Valley College-Superior Food Safety and funded by ETP-Employment Training Panel Program of California.

PRICE STARTS AT $180.00 + Administrative Fees PER CLASS (See each link below for details)

Please DOWNLOAD, COMPLETE and SUBMIT the forms below to CMonahan@napavalley.edu before you begin the registration process.

Certification Application
Employment Training Panel

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Register Now for February's Foreign Supplier Verification Programs (FSVP)


February 20 & 21, 2020
Foreign Supplier Verification Programs (FSVP)
Regular Price $725, ETP Price $250


Course Description
The FSVP course curriculum was designed by regulatory, academic, and industry professionals and developed in consultation with FDA as part of the Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance (FSPCA). This course will provide participants with the knowledge to implement the requirements of the "Foreign Supplier Verification Programs (FSVP) for Importers of Food for Humans and Animals" regulation of the U.S. FDA. By the end of the course, you will be able to:

  • Understand the underlying purpose of FSVP rule
  • Identify what's needed to be included in your FSVP
  • Develop and implement your FSVP
  • Implement an FSVP recordkeeping system
  • Understand how FDA will oversee your FSVP

The course is taught by Lead Instructors trained and approved by the FSPCA. Upon attending the entire training program, you will receive an official certificate issued by the Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO).

Who should attend?

  • Importers of human and animal food in the U.S.
  • Brokers/Import Agents
  • Facilities that directly import food to the U.S
  • Personnel responsible for the development and implementation of FSVP
  • Food Safety Personnel/Consultant/Auditors
  • Foreign suppliers of food that will be exported to the U.S.

The course fee listed includes Participant Manual, Exercise Workbook, and an official FSVP certificate recognized by U.S. FDA.

Saturday, January 18, 2020

Introduction to the PSA Grower Training Course


Watch this short video to learn about the PSA Grower Training Course.

Registration is now open for Superior Food Safety's 
PSA Produce Safety Rules Class!

Butte College Training Place
Friday, March 27, 2020
1 Day Training Course – 8am-5pm


Description:

Fruit and vegetable growers and others interested in learning about produce safety, the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule, Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs), and co-management of natural resources and food safety. The PSA Grower Training Course is one way to satisfy the FSMA Produce Safety Rule requirement outlined in § 112.22(c) that requires ‘At least one supervisor or responsible party for your farm must have successfully completed food safety training at least equivalent to that received under standardized curriculum recognized as adequate by the Food and Drug Administration.’

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

  • Farms, especially small and medium sized, growing fruits and vegetables that must comply with the Produce Safety Rule that is part of FSMA.
  • Fruit and vegetable growers
  • Farm Operations and Production Managers
  • Farm Quality Assurance Managers and Supervisors
  • Field Managers, Supervisors, and Leads
  • Small and medium size farm owners
  • Produce Brokers, Agents and Distributors
  • Risk Management Managers
  • Government and Food Regulatory Personnel
  • Produce Food Safety and Quality Management Consultants

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Still Time to Register for SQF Food Safety Code for Manufacturing Edition 8.1 - Jan 22 & Jan 23


NAPA: SQF Food Safety Code for Manufacturing Edition 8.1

Wed, Jan 22, 2020 - Thu, Jan 23, 2020
8:00 am - 5:00 pm

Napa Valley College
2277 Napa Vallejo Highway Bldg 3000, Rm 3004
Napa, CA 94558

REGISTER HERE

Description
Attention food manufacturing professionals!
In partnership with Superior Food Safety, Napa Valley College is hosting this timely and important 2-Day workshop on Developing and Implementing SQF Systems Edition 8.1.

Through the California Employment Training Panel (ETP), Napa Valley College is able to offer a discount of $475 to qualified companies. Click on the following link - https://tinyurl.com/ybf76a6a and complete application to see if your company is eligible for an ETP discount (please note that an ETP 104 form must also be completed for each attendee from your company). After your forms are completed, please send all forms to Valerie Bible (707) 256-7250 / VBible@napavalley.edu. Once you are certified, you will receive the code to register for the ETP pricing of $250. If you are already ETP certified and need a code, please contact Valerie Bible (707) 256-7250/VBible@napavalley.edu.

SQF Code, Edition 8.1 introduces a new approach for assessing individual food industry sectors with customized requirements in separate, stand-alone codes: Food Safety Fundamentals, Primary Production (Produce), Manufacturing, Distribution, Food Packaging, Retail, and Quality.

Attend this two-day course offered by Napa Valley College.

Course Description:

  • Promote an understanding of the SQF Code.
  • Create a knowledge base to facilitate the successful implementation of an SQF System and understand the process for aligning with FSMA regulatory requirements.
  • Show how a HACCP-based approach manages food safety and quality hazards in an operation.
  • The SQF Food Safety Code for Manufacturing applies specifically to Food Sector Categories 7-22, 31-34 and includes Modules 2 (Systems Elements) and Module 11 (Food Safety Fundamentals for Food Manufacturing).
  • Designed to provide current and new SQF Practitioners, Sr. Management, Production Personnel, and their team members with the tools and knowledge to develop and maintain their SQF food safety management system and understand the process for aligning with FSMA regulatory requirements


Who Should Attend?
SQFP, Food Safety Professionals, Sr. Management, Suppliers, Food Safety Auditors, Support Staff. Two Day Course: Wednesday, January 22nd and Thursday, January 23rd from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM each day. Price Includes event registration, morning and afternoon snack breaks, lunch for both days, course materials and certificate of attendance.

Questions? Contact Charlie Monahan at 707-256-7254 or cmonahan@napavalley.edu.

All training events require a minimum number of students and, therefore subject to cancellation 48 hours in advance of the training event. Registered students will receive an email at the time of cancellation. All fees are refundable up to 24 hours before the training event.

Sunday, January 12, 2020

On-Site Private Classes in English & Spanish and Consulting Services


Classes Available in English & Spanish and Consulting Services

WE OFFER PUBLIC AND ON-SITE TRAINING CLASSES:
  • HACCP Workshop
  • Implementing SQF Training - Version 8.0 - English and Spanish
  • FSMA Preventive Controls for Human Foods
  • FSPCA For Human Food Compliance
  • Produce Safety Rule Training Official Program
  • SQF Quality Systems For Food Manufacturers
  • Internal and External GFSI Audits
  • Crisis Management
  • Gluten-Free Certification Program
  • SQF Advanced Practitioner Course
  • Prerequisite Programs

WE ALSO OFFER:
Food Safety Consulting Services

We offer On-Site private classes in English and Spanish. Please email us for a quote: info@superiorfoodsafety.com

Thursday, January 9, 2020

Registration for February's Foreign Supplier Verification Programs (FSVP) is Open - Sign Up Today!!


February 20 & 21, 2020
Foreign Supplier Verification Programs (FSVP)
Regular Price $725, ETP Price $250


Course Description
The FSVP course curriculum was designed by regulatory, academic, and industry professionals and developed in consultation with FDA as part of the Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance (FSPCA). This course will provide participants with the knowledge to implement the requirements of the "Foreign Supplier Verification Programs (FSVP) for Importers of Food for Humans and Animals" regulation of the U.S. FDA. By the end of the course, you will be able to:

  • Understand the underlying purpose of FSVP rule
  • Identify what's needed to be included in your FSVP
  • Develop and implement your FSVP
  • Implement an FSVP recordkeeping system
  • Understand how FDA will oversee your FSVP

The course is taught by Lead Instructors trained and approved by the FSPCA. Upon attending the entire training program, you will receive an official certificate issued by the Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO).

Who should attend?

  • Importers of human and animal food in the U.S.
  • Brokers/Import Agents
  • Facilities that directly import food to the U.S
  • Personnel responsible for the development and implementation of FSVP
  • Food Safety Personnel/Consultant/Auditors
  • Foreign suppliers of food that will be exported to the U.S.

The course fee listed includes Participant Manual, Exercise Workbook, and an official FSVP certificate recognized by U.S. FDA.

Monday, January 6, 2020

MANAGING A COMPLEX PRODUCTION RUN WITH ICICLE: A CASE STUDY WITH THE CHAI COMPANY

Superior Food Safety has partnered with Icicle Technologies Inc. to bring Icicle, a smart food manufacturing software, to the food & beverage and the growing industries.


Our friends at The Chai Company, Director of Operations Simon Lam and QA Manager Barbara Jedrzejewska, were kind enough to sit down with us and discuss how they solved some of their operational efficiency challenges by going digital and creating a centralized data hub for vendor management, inventory, food safety, and quality assurance with the Icicle food manufacturing software.

Meet The Chai Company

Most chai makers use artificial flavorings to produce that rich spice flavor we know and love about chai, but The Chai Company raises the bar higher. They create chai concentrates with slow-brewed, natural, organic, raw ingredients in small batches so they can manage consistency – with no flavorings, extracts, or powders necessary and no chemical aftertaste. The concentrates are then strained, sweetened, acidified, and pasteurized to assure food safety and extend shelf-life.

All these steps take time – more than most companies would want to commit to production – and satisfy the brand’s mission of creating a healthy, natural product that everyone can appreciate. Cafes, restaurants, and regular consumers simply mix the concentrate with other liquids, like hot water or steamed milk, to create their drinks. The higher level of quality and safety – bolstered by SQF certification – makes the Chai Company stand out, but it also creates more challenges for them.

The Challenge: Inventory, Vendors, And Food Safety Were All Tracked On Paper Behind the scenes, the Chai Company’s production system is rather complex, with a single production run that involves their primary production facility, multiple co-packers to handle other aspects of production like packaging, and four warehouses (two in the US, one in Canada, and one in the UK). Each warehouse has its own management system and process. The manufacturing paradigm is necessary to meet the company’s high standards, but it is a lot to manage – especially with a limited number of employees to run the show.

Some of the challenges were in the little things (if an ingredient arrives from a supplier that is not the manufacturer, which of the labels should be scanned for their own production?) while other aspects were much more difficult. One of the biggest things the Chai Company was looking to change was the way they handled their documentation. Everything was kept on physical documents. Some things were scanned into the cloud, some things were inserted into Excel spreadsheets. Most of it was kept in folders in the office. This made audits, supplier certifications, and recalls exponentially more laborious.

“When it came to recalls, it was a lot of going through papers instead of having a program calculate what we had and where it had gone. There were also a lot of human error mistakes that made things even harder, like writing a ‘9’ where it should have been a ‘4’.” — Simon Lam, Director of Operations

The Chai Company needed a way to streamline their recordkeeping and documentation if they wanted to be able to continue growing while maintaining their high standards. The paper system had worked when they were just starting out, but it couldn’t scale with them. It was too static, too disjointed, and bound to physical folders – and it just wasn’t going to cut it for their business.

Implementing Icicle: Creating a Central Data Hub of Food Safety and Production

Icicle was recommended to the Chai Company by Karine Lawrence, a consultant who was working with the Post-Farm Food Safety and Traceability Program. They quickly saw Icicle as the fastest way to solve the problem of their disconnected records. After seeing it in action, they took the plunge without needing to evaluate other possible software providers.

The implementation process wasn’t only about solving the Chai Company’s challenges. Icicle had never been used by a business with such a complex manufacturing paradigm before. The Chai Company folks need special functions like the ability to ship between different facilities within the context of the same production run. Their small batch approach, which helps ensure the highest quality, means that they use the product produced by the small batches to make yet more products, meaning that their production run is also not linear like most companies. These complexities meant that the Icicle team had to do a bunch of development in order for the Chai Company to seamlessly integrate Icicle into their production.

“We were already SQF certified so we didn’t really want to adjust our system to Icicle. We wanted Icicle to adjust to us. And we were pretty impressed with how that turned out.” — Simon Lam, Director of Operations

Implementation began with entering the Chai Company’s database of customers and suppliers into Icicle. They then worked with the Icicle team to set up all their recipes and their HACCP plan and create tailored templates for their various processes. They continued to adopt other Icicle features, quickly moving to production checks, quality checks, sanitation procedures, and more into Icicle. Most recently, they adopted pest control reports and parts of Icicle’s maintenance management as well. They even found use for features that they hadn’t anticipated, like First Aid Reports.

While some of the employees had a rough time remembering how to insert all the data into Icicle correctly at first, the custom templates and easy-to-use interfaces eventually smoothed out those issues.

“Icicle’s team has been really responsive to our enquiries. If we’ve had any problems, we can get help and it’s quickly resolved. The customer service is great!" — Barbara Jedrzejewska, QA Manager

The Results: Fast Vendor Management, Remote Access, and Easy Audits The Chai Company is still a multi-facility operation, but that’s not much of a challenge these days. The implementation of Icicle has transformed many of the ways Simon and Barbara used to keep records organized, gather data from across different facilities, and monitor their production. And Icicle has delivered compounded results:

  • Inventory management is smooth and streamlined. The team can easily track ingredients, products, transactions, and other specific logs from any location (including four different warehouses) via the centralized Icicle app without having to find and pull up specific scanned or physical documents. They also get to see the movement of their products in real-time.
  • Supplier certifications are always up-to-date. Before Icicle, Barbara had to constantly revisit her certification folder to check what needed updating, like expiry dates, and it was a big burden for her and the QA department. Now she can easily look up certificates in the Vendor Management database and copy/paste the information that needs to be updated for the supplier, who then knows exactly what she needs.
  • No more human errors. Reading handwritten notes and reports wasn’t always easy, and sometimes the notes were simply incorrect. Now all the necessary information is recorded digitally and often automatically, so this is no longer a concern. Icicle even makes some common errors impossible; for example, if an ingredient isn’t available, you can’t record it as consumed during that production run.
  • Employees can do their work better. While the transition from writing everything down on a clipboard had its moments, by using Icicle, employees on the floor can ultimately benefit from the big picture – like the ability to see production forecasts – and are able to provide more oversight during production itself. Managers like Barbara, who are often overloaded with work, can benefit from the ability to automate a lot of their tasks and trend reports to keep ahead of the game.
  • Managers can monitor production remotely. Frequent travel used to make it harder for Barbara and Simon to keep up with QA schedules and procedures, but now that they can track those things from anywhere, they’re always informed and in touch with what’s going on at the facilities – and they can catch problems quickly, before they become big problems.

“All of us love the fact that we can access all the production and QA information from anywhere in the world. This is really needed because we are a small company – sometimes, we just don’t have a backup and we need to get involved. Even 20 minutes when you’re away is very valuable.” – Barbara Jedrzejewska, QA Manager

Like we’ve shown, The Chai Company must manage a lot of information to meet their high standards. They also have multiple certifications that all need different information: organic, Kosher, and SQF. The benefits of Icicle were clear from the start, but they really shined when it came to managing information – especially when the audit came around. There was no shuffling through dozens of documents trying to find the right ingredient. It was all right there in Icicle, with the traceability history fully available.

“The first time the auditor came, I remember that the process seemed a lot easier. The information was readily available and it made it so much smoother and easier to provide that stuff right away, without having to look it up.” — Simon Lam, Director of Operations

In the future, the Chai Company looks forward to using more of Icicle features, including accounting and IoT integration that will simplify their work even more. They see opportunities to take advantage of Icicle’s IoT infrastructure with Bell Canada by automating monitoring for things like the temperature in freezers, pH levels, and quantities of sugar.

“Overall, we are very happy with Icicle and would recommend it to other companies. It’s great when it comes to having the things we need on-hand and resolving problems quickly.” – Barbara Jedrzejewska, QA Manager

With a central data hub that simplifies vendor management, traceability, food safety, quality assurance, and more, The Chai Company is thriving as an ultra-efficient company. We’re thrilled to watch them grow and evolve further, and we’ll be there to support them along the way.

Article Source: https://icicletechnologies.com/2018/10/30/managing-complex-production-run-icicle-case-study-the-chai-company/

Friday, January 3, 2020

New Year, New Classes - 2020 Classes Available for Registration!


CLASSES AVAILABLE at Napa Valley College

January 22, 23, 2020
SQF Food Safety Code for Manufacturing Ed. 8.1
Regular Price $725, ETP Price $250

January 24, 2020
Internal & External GFSI Audit Workshop
Regular Price $475, ETP Price $180

February 20, 21, 2020
Foreign Supplier Verification Programs (FSVP)
Regular Price $725, ETP Price $250

March 18, 19, 20, 2020
FSPCA/PCQI Food Safety Preventive Controls for Human Foods
Regular Price $850, ETP Price $300

April 16, 17, 2020
Basic HACCP Workshop for Manufactures
Regular Price $725, ETP Price $250

May 13, 14, 2020
SQF Food Safety Code for Manufacturing Edition 8.1
Regular Price $725, ETP Price $250

May 15, 2020
Internal and External GFSI Audits Workshop
Regular Price $475, ETP Price $180

June 11, 12, 2020
SQF Advanced Practitioner (Registration will open in Spring 2020)
Regular Price $725, ETP Price $250


CLASSES AVAILABLE at Butte College Training Place

January 17, 2020 *NEW DATE
For Price Email: The Training Place

January 29, 30 and 31, 2020
For Price Email: The Training Place

All SQF classes are official, advertised by SQF, and provided by Superior Food Safety a SQF Licensed Training Center. 

All Food Safety Preventive Controls for Human Food classes are authorized and posted by FSPCA, and provided by Oscar Camacho a FSPCA Lead Instructor.

The fees to attend these classes are subsidized through a joint venture between Napa Valley College-Superior Food Safety and funded by ETP-Employment Training Panel Program of California.

PRICE STARTS AT $180.00 + Administrative Fees PER CLASS (See each link below for details)

Please DOWNLOAD, COMPLETE and SUBMIT the forms below to CMonahan@napavalley.edu before you begin the registration process.

Certification Application
Employment Training Panel