Archive for the ‘Sourcing Safe Foods’ Category

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Did you know that chickens used to wear sun glasses?

Wednesday, December 7th, 2011

A lot has evolved in animal safety, and chickens don?t wear sunglasses any more, but go back three quarters of a century when my grandfather owned one the largest chicken farms in the northeast and they did and it was also to keep them safe.

According to the Optical Vision Site. – Sunglasses for Chickens! They were invented in 1939 to control cannibalistic behavior of chickens. According to blame it on the voices the sunglasses were held on the chicken?s beak with a cotter pin through the nostrils of the bird.? Chickens are provoked by the sight of blood and will peck at each other, eventually killing off much of the flock. These red lenses prevented chickens from seeing the red blood and calmed their behavior. These have not been manufactured for many years and we do not have any available for sale. These glasses are now considered a collector?s item.

If you want to learn more about the Good Egg Project please visit their website.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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If you?re a seafood buyer I?m sure you are aware of BAP or at least you should be

Friday, December 2nd, 2011

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

To sponsor responsible practices through the aquaculture industry, the Global Aquaculture Alliance organizes the development of Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification standards for farms, processing facilities, feed mills and hatcheries.

This certification for seafood means the facilities that raised and/or processed the seafood adhere to the Best Aquaculture Practices standards for responsible aquaculture.? BAP standards cover the environment, social responsibility, animal welfare, food safety and traceability.

The BAP mark currently appears on packages of frozen and prepared tilapia, shrimp and channel catfish.? The mark contains one to four stars, which represent the level of program participation.? In addition, a certification number is on the right side of the mark indicates where the product was processed.
Best Aquaculture Practices certification has been adopted by major companies in the global food market at the wholesale and retail levels. Top Companies have required Best Aquaculture Practices certification for their shrimp suppliers. Additional companies in the United States, Canada and other countries support BAP in various ways.

For more information on companies that hold this certification, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.??

We look forward to your comments.

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If you’re a seafood buyer I’m sure you are aware of BAP or at least you should be

Friday, December 2nd, 2011

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

To sponsor responsible practices through the aquaculture industry, the Global Aquaculture Alliance organizes the development of Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification standards for farms, processing facilities, feed mills and hatcheries.

This certification for seafood means the facilities that raised and/or processed the seafood adhere to the Best Aquaculture Practices standards for responsible aquaculture.  BAP standards cover the environment, social responsibility, animal welfare, food safety and traceability.

The BAP mark currently appears on packages of frozen and prepared tilapia, shrimp and channel catfish.  The mark contains one to four stars, which represent the level of program participation.  In addition, a certification number is on the right side of the mark indicates where the product was processed.
Best Aquaculture Practices certification has been adopted by major companies in the global food market at the wholesale and retail levels. Top Companies have required Best Aquaculture Practices certification for their shrimp suppliers. Additional companies in the United States, Canada and other countries support BAP in various ways.

For more information on companies that hold this certification, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative.  

We look forward to your comments.

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What’s important to you in the development of your negotiation strategy Part II of II?

Thursday, November 17th, 2011

During yesterdays post we discussed that before you can negotiate effectively you will have to go back to the drawing board and develop a procurement strategy. Once that’s in place negotiation best practices can follow.

Here’s some of what you might consider. Remember this is not how we will negotiate (tactics) this is what do you want for a result set that supports your overall procurement strategy?

Result Thoughts:  What are you looking for from our negotiations?

1. Alternative or additional sources of supply?
2. Better quality products!
3. Lower costs!
4. Where possible products that support a reduction in your environmental foot print!
5. Products and Services that are safe for your associates and consumers!
6. Clear and concise contracts!
7. Elimination of quick deals!
8. A win-win result (define) for your company and your supply partner!
9. Open unbiased treatment of all suppliers during the process!
10. A collaborative process that eliminates stove pipes and supports logical aggregation without maverick buying!
11. Internal subject matter experts (SME) going forward!
12. Standardized specifications and Terms and conditions!

There is certainly any number of items that could be added to this list, but it should get you started. As a result you should have a procurement strategy and a negotiation strategy in place. The next step would be the tactics.

If you’d like more information please contact a SafeSourcing representative.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Ron Southard

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Suppliers; do your handlers, packers and processors have a Food Alliance Certification?

Thursday, November 10th, 2011

Food Alliance provides comprehensive third-party certification for social and environmental responsibility in agriculture and the food industry.

Today, there are more than 320 Food Alliance Certified operations, and over six million acres managed by Food Alliance Certified producers throughout North America.

Food Alliance Certified products include meats, eggs, dairy, mushrooms, grains, legumes, a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, and prepared products made with these certified ingredients.

With clear standards and criteria, Food Alliance certification is a practical, credible, and effective way for farmers, ranchers, and food companies to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability in agricultural practices and facilities management.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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What’s the most cost effective action that companies of all types and sizes can take to help reduce the number of food born or airborne illnesses?

Tuesday, October 18th, 2011

I was reading USA TODAY (I do this every day). I love their Snapshots at the bottom of each section. Today’s front page USA TODAY Snapshot was titled Has news coverage on airborne/foodborne illnesses prompted you to wash your hands more by Rachel Huggins and Veronica Bravo.  The snapshot sites Bradley Corps Healthy Hand Washing Survey and indicates that 54% of those surveyed said NO and 46% said YES.

Personally I find these results disturbing. Just think about how often you shake someone’s hand and then think about what they were doing in the 15 minutes before you met. Maybe Howie Mandel has it right by just doing the fist bump.

If the answer to this survey were 100%, it would be interesting to see what the impact on these types’ illnesses would be. As a result, this author will continue to write about food safety and strategies that companies can take to reduce them

Go wash your hands.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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Are you developing sustainable strategies with your office supplies purchases?

Thursday, September 22nd, 2011

Toner products are a great example of an opportunity to use a sustainable resource. At present, you are probably just buying toner products because you need them. Have you actually taken the time to look at more environmentally focused toner solutions?  

It’s a safe bet that your company is using laser printers. You may even have a thoughtful blue paper recycling container near the copier or even near every printer. You may even use recycled paper. The next step is a logical one; use environmentally friendly soy based ink for your laser printers.

SafeSourcing’s opinion is that the two best environmental reasons to use soy based ink are as follows. One, soy ink does not emit VOCs or volatile organic compounds. Two, soy ink is not petroleum based.  In a nut shell, you will be replacing a product based on a non sustainable source with one that is.

If you still need more reasons to switch? Assuming that you are already recycling paper, you will be glad to learn that soy based ink is said to make recycling the paper quicker and easier. Also, this option opens you up to new sources of supply. The next time you run an e-procurement event for toner, you will have more options, greater price compression and another notch in your environmentally friendly tool belt.

Once done with this project, you need to brag about it so that other companies take notice and follow your lead. If you have implemented the full array of green printing mentioned in this blog, you have earned the right. Your customers will be happy to hear that you have made the right choices.

If you would like to learn more about environmentally friendly practices for your business, please visit www.SafeSourcing.com and check out our blog archives and our sourcing wiki both full of useful information. 

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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How do your buyers and category managers keep up with all of the product and safety recalls?

Friday, September 16th, 2011

The amount of information we are all required to be aware of today is simply mind boggling. As such a simple and effective tool that looks at the many sites providing this information and consolidating it in one location is your best bet to event try and stays aware of this information.

Most organizations like the USDA, FDA, EcoLogo, Kosher Council and the Consumer Product Safety Commission all offer RSS feeds of their most recent recalls and alerts. At SafeSourcing we consolidate over 50 of those companies so that you don’t have to. When you reach our site, the RSS fed alerts and recall section is located in the top right hand corner of the page. If you had been logged on to our system today you would already know that the listeria outbreak associated with cantaloupes has already killed four people and has spread to multiple states. What is listeria you ask? Visit the SafeSourcing Wiki to learn about many procurement related terms.

Are you aware of the Tylenol recall?

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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ECOLI!! “There is a lot more to an article than just its title.

Wednesday, July 27th, 2011

In most of my reading I try to relate the article to what else is going on in the world and try to understand how those pressures apply to the article I’m reading.

As a case in point; I was reading the USA TODAY MONEY section where the main article was titled “Only 1 deadly strain of E.coli is illegal” by Elizabeth Weise. As was the case for this author, I’m sure you are trying to figure out what the article is about, because shouldn’t all E.coli or more accurately conditions that cause E.coli to spread be illegal?

In any case according to the article there are a half dozen or so potentially deadly strains of E.coli but in the Untied States, companies are only required to test for one. That one is E.coli 0157:H7.

How we fix this issue is a real conundrum since the United States legislature does not seem to have this (food safety) as a significant issue, but then again they don’t seem to be able to agree on anything lately other than arguing with each other and wasting time.

At least we know now that 17% of the E.coli that could kill us is tested for. I’ll leave it to you as to whether or not that’s a good batting average.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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ECOLI!! ?There is a lot more to an article than just its title.

Wednesday, July 27th, 2011

In most of my reading I try to relate the article to what else is going on in the world and try to understand how those pressures apply to the article I?m reading.

As a case in point; I was reading the USA TODAY MONEY section where the main article was titled ?Only 1 deadly strain of E.coli is illegal? by Elizabeth Weise. As was the case for this author, I?m sure you are trying to figure out what the article is about, because shouldn?t all E.coli or more accurately conditions that cause E.coli to spread be illegal?

In any case according to the article there are a half dozen or so potentially deadly strains of E.coli but in the Untied States, companies are only required to test for one. That one is E.coli 0157:H7.

How we fix this issue is a real conundrum since the United States legislature does not seem to have this (food safety) as a significant issue, but then again they don?t seem to be able to agree on anything lately other than arguing with each other and wasting time.

At least we know now that 17% of the E.coli that could kill us is tested for. I?ll leave it to you as to whether or not that?s a good batting average.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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