Dive Brief:
- Metabiota Inc. aims to expand the food and beverage industry's usage of big data and comprehensive risk analytics through its new Food Risk Insights platform, which the company announced at the International Association for Food Protection’s annual meeting Tuesday.
- Metabiota is partnering with Ancera on an initiative that will bring together Metabiota’s analytics and Ancera’s near real-time diagnostics to improve the safety and performance of the food supply chain worldwide.
- Metabiota also unveiled a new food risk team that includes industry veterans, public health and veterinary experts and data scientists.
Dive Insight:
Using data analytics to reduce safety risks and improve supply chain efficiencies is not a new concept, but the growth opportunities in food and beverage are massive.
As recalls become a growing concern and the costs of recalls for manufacturers rise, having verifiable, quantitative and data-backed strategies to assess safety risks and identify and implement cost-effective solutions is paramount.
Metabiota has already proven itself in this area. Foster Farms utilized Metabiota's data analytics tools while the company was recovering from a 2014 salmonella outbreak that sickened 600 people in 29 states and Puerto Rico. As a result of the changes and the salmonella control program the company developed, Dr. Robert O'Connor, senior vice president of technical services at Foster Farms, received a 2015 Food Safety Innovation Award from NSF International.
Aside from safety, packaged food manufacturers are also moving to make their supply chains more efficient to save on operational costs and reduce environmental impact. Big data collected and analytics applied throughout the supply chain could cut back on costs enough to restore investors' confidence despite sales declines in several packaged food categories.