Dive Brief:
- About 42.1% of respondents of a Deloitte poll said they expect the government's scrutiny of product safety to intensify into the next year. But only 15.1% admit to being fully prepared to handle a product safety or quality crisis.
- Deloitte experts recommend that manufacturers take "a centralized, collaborative and analytics-enabled approach to effectively manage product integrity," which "can help companies identify and respond to emerging issues more quickly," Don Mays, Deloitte Advisory managing director of product safety and quality with Deloitte & Touche LLP, said in a statement.
- More than one-third (34.6%) said they promote product safety and quality management by employing predictive analytics technologies. However, only 5.6% consider their use "advanced."
Dive Insight:
Deloitte might have something to gain from promoting the use of predictive analytics technologies. But it's difficult to argue that the collection, analysis and application of insights derived from big data won't play a role in preventive food safety efforts going forward.
Large sets of operational data can enable manufacturers to better spot problem areas and risky situations with ingredients sourcing, management and processing. Big data can also inspire the solutions to the problems it helped the manufacturer identify, such as by providing proof of what's worked in the past or proof of what hasn't.
Predictive analytics can also help manufacturers mitigate some of the financial and reputation costs of a recall, which can climb upwards of tens or hundreds of millions of dollars if manufacturers are unable to rein it in. Having more data available can also help manufacturers be more transparent about the recall process, because the more data and insights the company has, the more they can pass along to the consumer.