Development of an Evaluation and Decision Support Method for Food Safety Management along the Supply Chain

Food industries need to establish very high quality and safety standards in response to consumer expectations and to face possible critical health consequences. Nowadays, there is a growing demand to extend food safety control to the entire supply chain, with the aim of granting prompt interventions to improve health safety. With this motivation, an evaluation and decision support method for risk management is proposed. Its objective is to extend the control of food safety from the single node of the supply chain of a food product to the entire supply chain, overcoming the concept of mere traceability, obtaining an increase in food safety in the face of more extended and globalized supply chains and more timely and targeted interventions, with consequent less production losses and reduction of waste. The proposed methodology seeks to include the assessment of entire supply chain (from cradle to gate), through two phases: 1) semi-quantitative risk analysis techniques and 2) efficiency indicators or KPIs related to safety processes. The methodology is validated through the application on a hazelnut-based products industry. The identification of the potential hazards was developed along the entire supply chain, trying to point out the critical factors which favor contamination and to define the KPIs. This process returned the critical points in which prevention and intervention measures will be required, to manage and control contamination risks. The methodology has demonstrated to be valid for identifying potential hazards and critical points and recognizing the possible factors that constitute a threat along the supply chain. The next step of this work will consist of the installation of sensors in the critical points identified to monitor the KPIs defined; these measurements will make possible further improvements in the methodology and guarantee greater safety for companies and consumers.