The recent recall of chili sauce and other products by Castleberry's Food Co., in Augusta, GA., shows how information can be the friend of consumers and companies alike. From the first reports of people getting sick to initiating a recall and then widening that recall, information from the factory to the consumer is required.

For example, information from the grocery in the form of a Kroger Plus Shopper’s Card account contains a record of purchases, including a possible recalled product. The next time the card is used, the user is alerted to the previous purchase with instructions on how to check the lot number of the product and what to do if it’s on the recall list. When you are dealing with the health and safety of the public, information is your ally in times of trouble, protecting your customers, your brand image and even your bottom line.

With some of the disease scares that have hit the meat producing industry, it’s sometimes a good idea to be able to trace a product all the way from the grocery shelf through the meat packer to the farm, and maybe even to a particular herd of cattle. Fortunately, there are tools in general use that will allow companies to accomplish much, if not all, of this goal. Starting with bar codes and radio frequency identification (RFID) on the input side, a complete solution includes database software, analytics and human intervention.

Mike Hader is director of Information Technology at Odom’s Tennessee Pride, in Madison, Tenn., and says that not only is detailed information critical, but so is the time required to report. “We’re a meat producer,” says Hader, “and we’re governed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for some of the track-and-trace requirements. At our
Little Rock , Ark., plant, we bring in live animals and process them. Under the rules, if there’s a product safety issue that comes up, we have to do a lot of tracking. Information on the sourcing and distribution of a lot must be available in a detailed report within two hours. And the time frame keeps growing shorter.”

The challenge is getting information into the system. Hader uses an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system from Alpharetta, Ga.-based Infor Global Solutions. The system, which tracks production lots with a “where-used” field, requires a lot of control over inbound ingredients. Says Hader, “We make sandwiches at our Dickson, Tenn., plant using meat processed by our
Little Rock plant. We also purchase bread, egg patties and cheese. All are lot-controlled from their respective manufacturers and tracked in our system. We have to record where each lot came from and which outbound lots they were in. We use bar coding as input into the ERP system. When we bring out the meat, we scan the lot number. It’s recorded as an input and reported as part of the finished goods.”

RFID someday

Speaking about future technology, Hader predicts, “Eventually we’ll embrace RFID for all of this. Theoretically, this technology would remove labor from the process. Another benefit would be reducing errors introduced into the system, either by keying in data or in scanning the bar codes. But these systems are still pretty young. There are issues with read rates and how to assure a successful read. Tag prices still need to drop, too. Then there is the problem of scanning near metal, but even more important are problems induced by high moisture content. On the other hand, remember that it took 30 years for bar codes to make it to the consumer part of the chain.”

The real benefit of RFID, notes Hader, is that it would be more finite than a bar code system. “You want to narrow down any recall, so if you can get more granularity with your process and determine that any irregularity is confined, then you can reduce your cost of recall.”

The Infor ERP system was installed in 1999 as part of a “Y2K” project, and then upgraded in 2004. It enables creation of production lots used for both incoming material and outgoing product. The system does historical tracking of both work-in-process and finished goods. The quality group “owns” the lot control portion of the system. It is charged with doing microbiology testing at specific stages. A lot will be placed on hold while testing is occurring, and the ERP system won’t allow a further action until the hold is
lifted. Upon shipping finished goods, information gathered includes how many lot numbers ...