Executive Summary
Currently, the company management is worried due to the alarming increase in cases of food recalls. Notably, the E. coli outbreak has been affecting various foods sold by the company among them lettuce, leafy greens and beef meat. Worse still, the company lacks the mechanism of identifying the source and the extent of contaminated foods. The company management lacks an appropriate answer on the source of contamination. Actually, the company has faced numerous challenges among them excess waste of foods, difficulties of tracing the source of food, increased administrative costs, inconsistent quality control, poor planning and dispatch issues. In a bid to sort out the afore-listed challenges, the company can resolve to employ the blockchain technology. The technology will enable the organization to influence the quality control process of produce for the better. The technology was employed by bitcoin, in recording transactions made across numerous computers, connected using the per-to-peer network.
Analysis
One of the major problems the company is facing includes lacking the mechanism of identifying the source and extent of contaminated foods, and inconsistent quality control. The company is committed to observing food safety regulations and laws applicable to the global businesses and ensuring high quality and safe foods. According to information released by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 48 million individuals are infected with germs found in contaminated food (Broze, 2018). From that figure, close to 130,000 ends up being hospitalized and 3000 persons end up dying (Broze, 2018). Some of the germs identified by CDC include cyclospora, E. coli, salmonella, and listeria (Broze, 2018). Currently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are handling issues on the outbreak of E. coli, associated with contaminated romaine lettuce.
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One of the solutions to this challenge is ensuring the company has a team committed to food safety compliance, complete with food safety experts in areas where the organization operates. The team will ensure food safety standards are strictly observed. The numerous benefits associated with this approach are in maintaining an effective and progressive food safety system of management (Stanley, 2018). The team will oversee the procedures of handling food. This involves ensuring associates are educated on the important behaviors and practices that prevents the food borne illnesses. The team will be responsible for offering training and education on food safety. This involves providing education to the associated and equipping them with skills to serve clients in a safe manner (Kelleher, 2018). In addition, the team will conduct audits on third party companies. The audits will be conducted on a regular basis, to ensure the industry standards are maintained. However, the use of teams committed to compliance comes with numerous disadvantages. It cannot guarantee accountability, and besides, the experts cannot trace the farm where the produce came from.
The next solution to this problem involves the use of blockchain technology. In order to ensure food leaves the farm and gets on the table of the consumer, the company relies on complex network of numerous interdependent entities. Clients need to know where their food is coming from, but it proves difficult (Kelleher, 2018). Whenever a food safety problem is identified, it is impossible to identify the source of the contaminated foods. In that sense, the company has resolved to employ blockchain technology to ensure food traceability is possible and gives the customers sufficient details on all the products they have bought. The technology comes with numerous strengths. It has the ability to capture information on the farm with a handheld system. It captures all the details at the warehouse, while packing is being done. The technology is a system for keeping records open to users (Kelleher, 2018). Whenever it is fed with information, it is distributed along the chain such that, other computers within the system are notified. In that case, it becomes impossible for any person to falsify the information, given that, any interference is open for all persons to see. The system enhances accountability, and everyone can detect any attempt to doctor information.
Based on the analysis of the two alternatives available to the company, of using a team committed to food safety compliance, and applying blockchain technology, it becomes obvious that, the latter is the most appropriate of use, owing to its accuracy, ease of use and ability to guarantee accountability (Broze, 2018). The technology will enhance the ability of the company in tracing contaminated foods back to the source. In that sense, it will be possible to identify the source of foodborne disease outbreak and take appropriate actions to protect the public.
Conclusion
In overall, the company management is concerned with the quality of food products customers are getting, owing to the rampant recall due to contamination. The analysis shows that, the company has two approaches of solving this menace in totality. Firstly, it can opt to use food safety experts in areas of operations. However, the approach lacks accountability and transparency. In the same vein, it cannot guarantee traceability on the farm that produced the contaminated foods. However, to solve this problem in totality, the organization can decide to utilize the blockchain technology, which will not only guarantee accuracy, accountability, but also enable in tracing the farm where the produce came from.
References
Broze, D. (2018). FDA Considering Adopting Blockchain Technology to 'Track and Trace' Food Recalls. Retrieved from <https://www.cryptoglobe.com/latest/2018/11/fda-considering- adopting-blockchain-technology-to-track-and-trace-food-recalls/>
Kelleher, K. (2018). Walmart Has a New Way to Track E. Coli Contaminated Foods, and of Course It Involves the Blockchain. Retrieved from <http://fortune.com/2018/09/24/walmart-blockchain-e-coli-salmonella-outbreak-lettuce/>
Stanley, A. (2018). Ready to Rumble: IBM Launches Food Trust Blockchain for Commercial Use. Retrieved from <https://www.forbes.com/sites/astanley/2018/10/08/ready-to- rumble-ibm-launches-food-trust-blockchain-for-commercial-use/#77a2a1547439>
