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Health Canada, a tool for buyers in Canada that costs little yet contains a lot.

Tuesday, April 30th, 2013

In Canada, it’s as simple as visiting the Health Canada Website. According to Wikipedia Health Canada (French: Santé Canada) is the department of the government of Canada with responsibility for national public health. Here you can find news releases, speeches, media notices and research a variety of data related to health and food safety within Canada.

Just as a recent post titled  “Buyers; Do you need a great place to research product quality and recall issues” that talked about The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission  the Canadian Government has many tools that buyers can use that also cost nothing. You just have to spend a little time on their site.

Sometimes the best tools are the ones you don’t have to pay for.

If you’d like to learn more about SafeSourcing tools that are free for your use, please contact a SafeSourcing customer services account manager.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Posted in Sourcing Safe Foods, Sourcing Safe Products

WE ARE ALL STRONGER THAN THE BOSTON MARATHON PRACTIONERS OF TERROR!

Wednesday, April 17th, 2013

Today’s post is by Ron Southard, CEO of Safesourcing.

Terrorists beware! WE runners and those that support us are more determined THAN YOU ARE

As a Bostonian borne and bred, the bombing that took place at the Boston Marathon troubles and concerns me as it does many of you. Patriot’s day is a holiday to me. I take it off every year and settle in to watch the race unfold on my PC as I now live several time zones away.

I have a unique perspective on the Boston Marathon having run it 5 times. I have also coached numbers of runners that have participated in numerous marathons including Boston. Running a marathon is not something that one takes likely, and that is why everyone does not run one. Marathons require careful planning and a commitment over a long period of time if one is to enjoy success. Most people have trouble completing the normal goals so marathoners are a unique subset of the runner population. In many cases preparation requires teamwork with a coach, club or individuals you may train with. The results are also highly personal whether it is placing in one’s age group; achieving a new personal record (PR) or just finishing. People have many personal reasons for running such as supporting charities, raising awareness of a particular cause  or just pursuing a healthier life style to name a few.

Bostonians are proud of their heritage, after all the earliest settlers came to our Massachusetts shores in order to seek a more tolerant freedom. To that end, the Boston Marathon is something to be proud off but has a deeper underlying meaning. This is an international event that drew participants from 85 countries in fact a fifth of the registered runners were from these countries. Although the runners did not share a common language, they did share a common voice. That voice if listened to was genuinely interested in how each and every other participant fared in their individual race. You can hear and see it in the finish chutes, the hotel lobbies, and the restaurants before and after the race. You can see the 2:10 runner as interested in the participant that was thrilled to run 4:09:44  which was the exact time of the first explosion. This voice is LOUD, it is united and it says; this is our life, we will not run away, we will not hide and you cannot dissuade us from our passions. We will continue to run,
our families will continue to cheer us on and we will be back. You will not win.

SafeSourcing wishes to offer its condolences to the families as well that the entire global running community that were affected by this heinous event!

RUN FREE! RUN FOREVER! RUN STRONG!

 

Posted in Sourcing Safe Products

Trading with the European Union (EU) Countries.

Thursday, March 28th, 2013

Today’s post is by Ronald D. Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing.

I like to read a lot, most CEO’s do. Some studies say that CEO’s read a minimum of 50 books per year. That certainly does not count the amount of trade periodicals, news media, white papers, blog posts and leisure non book related material I know we also read. After all how else would we keep up with what’s going on in our industries and the world. All of this helps as a foundation to strategic thought that is critical to our company’s evolution.

During my reading, it is probably of no surprise to anyone that much negative has been and will continue to be written about the European Union or EU. There have even been those that question sourcing from EU companies based on the potential for risk.

I thought it might be helpful for those of you that are not aware of who the EU is and why they are such an important source of import to the United States and in fact all of North America

Much of the information below can be attributed to the EU Website.

The European Union is the world’s biggest trader (surprised?), accounting for 20% of global imports and exports. Free trade among its members was one of the founding principles of the EU, and it is committed to liberalizing world trade for the benefit of rich and poor countries alike. The EU simply is committed to free and fair trade

The European Union is made up of the following 27 countries, with some being members since as early as 1952. Another 10 countries are in the process of becoming EU members. The population of the EU is 503,663,601 and unemployment is 11.9% (and we think we had issues in the U.S.)

1. Austria
2. Belgium
3. Bulgaria
4. Cyprus
5. Czech Republic
6. Denmark
7. Estonia 
8. Finland 
9. France
10. Germany
11. Greece
12. Hungary 
13. Ireland 
14. Italy 
15. Latvia 
16. Lithuania 
17. Luxembourg 
18. Malta 
19. Netherlands
20. Poland 
21. Portugal 
22. Romania
23. Slovakia 
24. Slovenia 
25. Spain
26. Sweden
27. United Kingdom

The goal of the economy of the EU is the creation of the single market and the corresponding increase in trade and general economic activity which has transformed the EU into a major trading power. The EU is trying to sustain economic growth by investing in transport, energy and research, while also seeking to minimize the environmental impact of further economic development. Gross domestic product (GDP) a measure of the economic activity for the period of 2010-2014 is listed below as a percentage change over the previous year with (f) equaling forecast.

1. 2010 2.1% 

2. 2011 1.5% 

3. 2012 -0.3% 

4. 2013 0.1% forecast 

5. 2014 1.6% forecast

This author believes that any global sourcing initiatives should have in the past and should continue in the future to include strong companies with head offices in the EU. It is incumbent on your sourcing team and partners to provide the proper vetting.

If you’d like to learn more about using EU based companies in your sourcing strategies, please contact a SafeSourcing customer’s services account manager. And don’t worry; our applications are multi lingual and being used globally. We don’t have to just do currency conversion and source in U.S. English, the application supports 67 languages including double byte countries.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments

Posted in Business Sourcing, Sourcing Safe Products, Sourcing Strategy

Understanding the Technology of Traceability!

Monday, March 11th, 2013

Today’s post is by Mark Davis; Sr. Vice President and COO at SafeSourcing.

GS1, the global standards body, the FDA, and the USDA are just a few of the organizations that are striving to increase the safety of the food we eat with new standards, processes and regulations.  With recent scares in several food items in the past few years it is no wonder that people are becoming extremely focused  on how to trace our food back to its original source.  In today’s blog we will look at some of the technologies that are helping with this process.

Enterprise Software – There are many enterprise systems out there for warehouse management and enterprise resource management that can maintain the necessary data needed to meet traceability and recall requirements but the key to these programs working for your business is whether or not they have the additional features necessary to track category/industry specific details such as those faced by seafood and meat retailers, wholesalers, distributors and manufacturers.  Companies such as JustFoodERP specialize in tracking meat and seafood by-products during the course of their life, tracking not only down to individual cases, but also providing capabilities such as the Recipe Management module to help track the by-products of the meat and seafood into other products they sell.  By managing catch-weights with a serial number tracking system, solutions like these can ensure best practices for traceability throughout their organization.

RFID – Radio Frequency Identification is not a new technology but continued development of the technology for use in traceability improves daily.  Like a barcode it can contain a unique identifier that will trace the product back to its source.  Unlike a barcode, RFID tags can be secured to be difficult to tamper with or damage, they can be placed in packaging as opposed to outside the packaging like barcodes that must be able to be seen, and unlike barcodes they can be written to and updated as the product travels through the supply chain.  With one scan an RFID tag can provide the appropriate user pages worth of information without having to be connected to an enterprise solution which can be critical when a recall is being tracked.

DNA Sampling – During the major meat recalls in the early 2000’s, DNA sampling began to take shape and developed as an alternative to typical tracing methods at that time.  With a global database of animal DNA it is possible to trace every product and byproduct back the farm or processing point of origin.  Taking DNA samples from the each carcass at the farm or packaging plant, a profile is created and stored in the database.  At any point a new sample can be taken to verify the contents and origin of the meet.  The process is virtually tamper-proof and would eliminate costly barcodes and documents and would also allow retailers and distributors to know exactly which shipments to recall, saving millions of dollars.

For more information about how we can assist you in looking into these technologies for your business, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.  We have an entire customer services team waiting to assist you today.

We look forward to your comments.

Posted in Sourcing Safe Foods, Sourcing Safe Products, Uncategorized

Blood Pressure Accuracy-It Could Save a Life

Friday, January 25th, 2013

Today’s post is by Sarah Kouse an account manager in our procurement center of expertise at SafeSourcing.

When checking your blood pressure in your local grocery store, pharmacy, etc. you may not always be getting an accurate reading. If the size of the arm cuff is too small or too large, it can either over-estimate or under-estimate your blood pressure reading. The same would go with having your blood pressure checked at a healthcare facility.

If you were to receive an inaccurate blood pressure reading, and the error was not caught, you could be putting your life in danger by either not getting the proper dose of medicine for the medical condition, not being prescribed medication when it is needed, or getting prescribed medication for a medical condition that is not even present.

Knowing the facts and all the information related can ensure accuracy and, in this case, potentially save lives. Having the right product in your business is extremely important too. Not only to ensure you are providing a product that provides a customer that accuracy to help them get in control of their health, but to make sure the product meets all of the health requirements and certifications, while getting the best price possible.

Many suppliers will offer better pricing on Blood Pressure Machines for companies that sign a contract of a longer duration. For example, the pricing would be lower for a contract of eight years opposed to four years. After weighing out all of the options, it could save you money and be more cost effective in the longer run to have a product for a longer duration.

There are many details involved in making sure you offer your customers the right product while paying the best prices possible when selecting a product in this industry. Please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative to assistance you with your sourcing needs today.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments

Posted in Sourcing Safe Products

Pallet Theft!

Wednesday, December 12th, 2012

Today’s post is by Debbie Wilcox, CPSM and Vice President of Sales & Marketing at SafeSourcing.

A recent NPR radio segment estimated the value of stolen recyclable plastic at $500 million per year. Items often targeted include plastic pallets, milk crates, bread racks and similar items.

Southern California is an area of the country highly affected by pallet theft however it can happen anywhere and it is a nationwide problem. Thieves target warehouse and grocery store loading docks, where pallets and milk crates are often found. They take the stolen items to local recyclers where the going rate is about fifteen cents per pound. The plastic is then used to make new pallets and crates.

In November of this year, a California dairy, Rockview Farms, estimates the cost of stolen milk crates has totaled up to $1.5 million per year. In 2010, Trader Joe’s announced that $2 million worth of plastic pallets had been stolen in an 18 month period. Albertsons and the US Postal Service have also acknowledged theft of plastic pallets.

So, what can you do to deter thieves from taking your recyclable plastic? You can add ownership markings or stamps onto the pallets and containers, institute inventory controls and safeguard items rather than leave them outside overnight. There is also a website that can be used to notify law enforcement and recyclers about missing items: www.ScrapTheftAlert.com.

ScrapTheftAlert.com is a free theft notification website that has been used by police to send detailed descriptions of stolen items to recycling centers and law enforcement within a 100 mile radius of the crime. Upon validation and review, alerts you post are broadcast by email to all subscribed users and remain active for 30 days. The system also facilitates communication by scrap recyclers to alert police when they are offered suspicious materials at a scrap yard.

If your business has experienced pallet and container theft, take steps to mitigate it. Report theft to authorities and consider using the ScrapTheftAlert.com network.

If you need assistance in purchasing new or replacement plastic pallets or crates, contact SafeSourcing to get the best price possible. What other steps have you used to reduce plastic container theft in your organization?

We look forward to and appreciate your comments

Posted in Sourcing Safe Products

How does your organization verify the qualifications of your organization’s data destruction service providers?

Friday, December 7th, 2012

Today’s post is by Ryan Melowic; Director of Customer Services at SafeSourcing.

NAID AAA Certification verifies regulatory compliance, policies, and security for Mobile Shredding Services, Plant-Based Shredding Services, Computer Recycling Services, and IT Asset Management Services in many countries around the world.  NAID AAA Certification’s foundation is their Security Specifications, which cover over 20 areas of operational and security requirements.  These specifications outline requirements for Particle Size, Transportation, Record Keeping, Access Control, Training, Employee Background Checks, and many more.

It is your organization’s responsibility to ensure that your data destruction providers follow required Policies and Procedures.  Some examples of the different policies and procedures are.

1.Red Flags Rule
2.Financial Service Modernization Act Safeguards Rule
3.FACTA Final Disposal Rule
4.HIPAA
5.Regulation S-P Privacy of Consumer Financial Information

If you like to learn more about the SafeSourceIt™ Supplier Database and our list of supplier certifications, please contact a SafeSourcing customer services representative.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Posted in Sourcing Safe Products, Strategic Sourcing

So what has really changed in Washington?

Friday, November 16th, 2012

That line is from a previous post by this author in February of 2009 titled Change comes to Washington. Well, not so much it appears.

I guess that open to review does not necessarily mean change. We all review things all of the time, but unless we take action by making a decision, nothing changes. In this case inaction can lead to illness and death.

I was watching the news last night and caught some of FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg’s comments during testimony regarding the contaminated steroids shots from the New England Compounding Center that has made over 400 people sick and resulted in 32 deaths. This brings back bad memories from four and five years ago regarding salmonella outbreaks. Although it appears to me that this situation should be more controllable. During questioning, it was curious to me that the FDA wanted to deflect ownership of the problem to a State organization. This even though there have been inspections by the FDA and a desire to close this facility for as much as 10 years. Where is the ownership here? Where is the executive that steps up and says there is a problem that needs to be fixed ASAP?

Food and Product Safety was supposedly a priority during the 2008 election campaign. It should have been during the 2012 campaign and yet more Americans have died while hundreds of others have been become sick.

In my post from February of 2009, I stated that over 550 people have been taken ill and as many as eight people had died from a salmonella outbreak. That was the 2nd largest outbreak in decades trailing only the prior year’s outbreak associated with tomatoes and peppers which affected over 1000 people. So here we are four years later, and our government is arguing over who is responsible. That makes me sick and is not the kind of change we deserve.

If you’d like to learn more about sourcing safe products, please contact a SafeSourcing customer services representative.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Posted in Sourcing Safe Foods, Sourcing Safe Products

Food Prices to Source in 2013!

Tuesday, November 13th, 2012

Today’s post is by Mark Davis; Sr. Vice President of Operations and CTO at SafeSourcing

2012 brought the Midwest one of the worst droughts since 1936.  The drought coupled with other affected sources of food throughout the world has Rabobank, a leading agricultural investment house predicting massive increases in food prices by June of 2013, specifically in meat and dairy products where shortages in feed will require farmers to greatly reduce their livestock inventory leading to shortages next year.

With so many companies being dependent on the cost of food in their offering, increased food costs will lead these companies to make other adjustments in their business to help balance the increases out.  Today we will take a look at a few of the strategies companies will be using in 2013 to help control their costs.

Re-evaluating all vendor deals – As vendors begin to enter 2013 and begin to think of how they can begin to balance out upcoming food price increases they will have to begin examining all of the current contracts and agreements they have in place especially those that are getting ready to expire in the next 6 months.  Many of these agreements have been in place for several years and have the potential to be improved even if the incumbent ends up winning the business.

Repair Vs. New – In a recent article on the Foodservice Equipment and Supplies website results of a survey to operators in the industry, 68% of the respondents stated that rising food costs would limit their ability to buy equipment and 98% stated that they repaired instead of purchased new equipment in 2012.   With a move to repair instead of replace, many companies will be searching for quality companies who can make the repairs they need in a timely manner in a way that will not cost them more money than purchasing new equipment would have.

Product mix – Another thing that will change for suppliers in 2013 will be a re-evaluation of the product mix that they offer their clients.  As prices of some products increase, leveraging other that aren’t increasing as much will be a key for many companies and understanding the companies that offer these products will be a key to changing their mix in a way that continues to satisfy their own customers.

Energy Saving Measures – Along with food costs, fuel costs are always one of the most watched indexes on the market as the ups and downs of that market affect so many things.  As food prices climb in 2013 companies will look to reduce another of their major costs by looking in energy saving measures, services and products that will help them manage their expenses.  Many companies will look to fuel saving equipment, 3rd party energy reduction consultants, and energy savings policy changes to help them reduce this expense category.

When faced with uncontrollable expense/cost increases learning how to reduce costs in other ways is a critical piece of successful business.  For more information on how SafeSourcing can help you with this process, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.  

We look forward to your comments.

Posted in Sourcing Safe Foods, Sourcing Safe Products, Sourcing Strategy

Hey Retailers! Receipt paper, a great product to source!

Wednesday, November 7th, 2012

Today’s post is from Brad Westfall a SafeSourcing Account Manager

Is your receipt paper contract running out and are you getting ready to source out receipt paper?   There is one big thing that you must consider before you renew your contract; how safe is your current receipt paper?

The main type of receipt paper, used in adding machines, cash registers and credit card terminals is thermal paper. With this paper in use at most stores, you wouldn’t think something that you handle everyday as a customer would cause grave health and environmental concerns? That is where you would be wrong.

Some thermal papers are coated with BPA, or Bisphenol which is a colorless organic compound that is used to make different types of plastics and used to coat thermal paper. In 2010 the FDA warned against it use because of its increased cancer risk.

SafeSourcing can help with sourcing any of your thermal paper products with many BPA free vendors in our database. With our recent events, we have saved our customers over 35 percent on contracts for BPA free thermal paper. Contact a SafeSourcing customer service representative to source your safer products today.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Posted in Sourcing Safe Products

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