I don't want to speculate as to the reason why the specific incidents happened but the concept of traceability, knowing what has gone into the food, how much and where from cannot have been effective in these cases.
What do I think will happen next?
A greater focus on traceability from the retailers and third party auditors certainly. Will this prompt manufacturers to start thinking seriously about adopting electronic records? Maybe. I think it's the time to raise the question again. Two concerns I have though I felt have never been addressed completely. Firstly there is ensuring that the person recorded as completing the tests was the person doing it. We all know as technical people that a security code or password has a lifespan of a week at best before someone knows it who shouldn't. The second is the quality of result you get out is equal to the quality of the work put in. This can be helped by good design of systems to prevent actions being taken if results aren't entered.
Certainly we need to move away from the pallets of paperwork generated which are slow, cumbersome and difficult to audit.
It's worth a revisit internally but this applies to everyone. Irrespective of how good your own quality systems are, you are only as strong as your suppliers. Perhaps it's time to revisit that raw material risk assessment?
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