China Moves on Food Safety

I just returned from a trip to Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou to support the launch of Infor Process Essentials, a suite of ERP, supply chain, event management, and enterprise asset management solutions, for the Chinese market. China is one of our fastest growing markets and this was an important launch for Infor. China’s domestic process manufacturing industry is massive, and while we already have a number of customers there, the new capabilities and localization features address some needs for manufacturers in the Middle Kingdom.

China’s domestic market reflects some of the same trends that more industrialized countries faced a few decades ago, but at a greatly accelerated pace. There is a huge emerging middle class in China that has discretionary spending power, and they are demanding fresher products and more choices. This growth has led to some problems in food safety, which have shaken confidence for consumers both at home and abroad.

This month China rolled out a new food safety law, which has safety and recall standards and requires producers to list all additives. This is meant to protect consumers and China’s brand as a food producer. I’m no geo-political expert, so I don’t know how effective the government will ultimately prove at enforcement, but it’s undeniably a step in the right direction. Here’s what I do know: Food safety is challenging, and getting more complex every day. With increasing time pressures, regulatory complexity, and consumer requirements, it’s become more important than ever for companies to integrate quality and compliance into all aspects of their business to minimize the total cost of quality and compliance.

In China, this means implementing systems and quality processes that ensure product quality extends all the way to the retail shelf. Things like:

• Material quality—Complete definition and enforcement of non-allowable attributes and required attributes. Processes for supplier audits and supplier enablement.
• Integrated quality and HACCP capabilities—Full lot/sublot track and trace, shelf-life, and “best by” capabilities, and active HACCP monitoring and enterprise critical control point issue mitigation.
• Cold supply chain infrastructure and processes—More investments in cold storage and trucking.
• Forecasting—Producing the right products and reducing unsalables.
• Planning and scheduling—Planning to make more profitable proximity decisions and scheduling to react to disruptive events.

These are just a few of the processes that Chinese companies are coping with. While many of these companies are lagging behind in food safety, they are by no means alone in playing catch-up. The recent salmonella-tainted peanuts issue in the US showed us the importance of vigilance and that every company must take responsibility. The good news is that companies that make these investments in food safety, protect not only their brand and consumer health, but also realize increased profitability.

Posted by Rory Granros, Product Marketing Manager, Process Industries

Comments

[Jethro]

Infor's strategy, dedicated efforts in China shows Infor's great confidence and concern in China Market. Infor will benefit from the economy development of China.

[FMJohnson]

Hi, a very interesting post. Do you see parallels between food manufacture safety and pharmaceutical manufacture safety? For example, they're both process manufacturing and both would seem to share the same product quality bullet points you listed.

Is China implementing similar or more stringent regs on pharma manufacture? And here in the states (or elsewhere), do food makers have to provide materials declarations or closely manage their materials data?