With food safety issues becoming ever more prevalent and food scare stories forever taking up valuable column inches, the need for those involved in food production to be aware of safety issues is probably more important than it has ever been. This was a major theme of the Food Facts Forum 2002 which took place in Berkshire and was organised by the e-collaboration solutions company Intentia, in association with IBM
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The conference started by acknowledging that consumers rather than producers are the drivers behind food trends. John Gledhill, food and beverage manager of Intentia Global and the forum’s chairman, cited the development of the organic food sector as one which was consumer-led, with retailers following demand. The development of organic food is also important because it demonstrates the importance which consumers place on food safety, as a number of speakers pointed out.
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To demonstrate the changes in consumer patterns, Wim Jansen, Intentia Benelux Food & Beverage Sector manager, presented recent research into consumer patterns across Continental Europe, showing that old-fashioned segmentation analysis is no longer enough if producers and retailers are striving to understand buying patterns. Instead he said it was important to understand lifestyle trends and to shape marketing plans.
Jansen’s research identified that many consumers have health concerns, while others are well-educated about food issues. He said it was therefore important for producers to focus on health, to label their products clearly with relevant information and to keep in touch with developments in the market.
One issue raised by Jansen which was touched on by other speakers was that of the personal responsibility of consumers – information must be provided on packaging but suppliers cannot be held responsible if, for example, a customer becomes ill from not cooking or handling a piece of chicken correctly. Educating consumers about food safety remains important. Intentia’s Gledhill commented that it was ironic that in some ways, today’s more sophisticated consumers are less able to cook basic foods than their predecessors were because they have less need to, which can have food safety implications.
The next three sessions dealt with various more detailed issues revolving around safety and regulation. The first two were presented by Hugo Byrnes, director of food safety CIES (the Food Business Forum). This group, made up of international food retailers and suppliers, offers various programmes for food experts. One such initiative is the Global Food Safety Initiative, which was launched in May 2000.
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By GlobalDataInternational certification needed, said CIES director
Byrnes explained that the need for the scheme was consumer-led, due to increased interest in food safety issues. While the scheme has no force in law, Byrnes explained that some of its key aims were to implement a scheme to benchmark food safety standards worldwide and to build and implement an international early warning system. He said there was a need for some form of international certification.
This, however, does not form part of the packaging of a product – logos used to show that producers comply with CIES guidelines are used on business-to-business communications and are not presented to consumers. What such certification does guarantee, he said, is that once a product is certified it is regarded as safe anywhere. Such a system is clearly valuable in a global food environment.
Lawyer Maree Gallacher from Arthur Cox then outlined some of the current food regulations in force across Europe as well as a number which will become law in the future. While the level of detail was perhaps unnecessary – for many, there is no need to know food law in detail, while if your work revolves around it you may not need to be told it all again – her lecture served to emphasise the myriad regulations which companies have to bear in mind with food labelling.
Traceability paramount
The remainder of the forum gave practical advice on how companies can deal with the variety of food safety issues that producers and suppliers need to be aware of. Gledhill drew attention to the subject of traceability, as being able to supply the full history of any food item can be important for safety issues, especially if there is ever a need for a product recall. Gledhill’s point was that, rather than having disparate systems for analysing traceability, companies need to have one seamless system which covers all the stages of development, for example where salmon is raised, how it is fed and where it is shipped to.
The final speaker was Mike Bonnici, European forecasting manager for HJ Heinz & Co. His presentation focused on the need to have an integrated system for forecasting, particularly one which can marry up the sometimes optimistic forecasts of marketers together with the more pessimistic projections of sales departments. He said it was especially important to have a system to analyse discrepancies – he noted that it was important if sales were not matching projections to not simply assume that they would at some point catch up. He commented that it was important to be aware of such situations and to address them.
The basic conclusions of the Food Facts Forum were sound and important for all those involved in the food industry – know your customer, know your law and have good systems in place for tracking all elements of the food production process which make use of up-to-date software.
By Hugh Westbrook, just-food.com correspondent
