Within the last month the FDA instituted two food recalls because of incorrect product labeling.
Raw Seafoods, Inc. recalled its Wegmans Ginger Salmon and Wegmans Salmon Terriyaki due to an unlisted wheat allergan in the product.
Lindt & Sprungli, Inc. recalled one lot of its Lindt Excellence 85% Cocoa chocolate bars because the actual product contains milk and soy, potential allergens.
Many times problems like this can be tracked back to errors in production labeling. In a typical food production environment-
- Orders come in and produced
- Counted and Inspected
- Information typed into production labeling system:Use by, freeze by, lot number
- Labels added to products, cases and pallets
Labeling Errors Cut Into Profits
But sometimes somewhere along the production line an ingredient in the product is forgotten or mislabeled or product warnings aren’t added, resulting in costly errors that aren’t caught before the product ships. Sometimes the errors are caught in production but even then, the cost can be quite high, depending on when the error is caught.
In other instances, entire rolls of labels have to be scrapped because of errors found after printing.
Not only is the mislabeled product subject to potential recalls, misprinted labels will need to be scrapped, resulting in increased production costs and delayed shipments.
The Answer: ERP Driven Labels
The answer is ERP driven labels. In this environment instead of using a separate system, Labeling is integrated into the ERP system itself-with all pertinent information, including ingredient listings, size and weight, lot control numbers, total items produced and governmental requirements passed automatically to the labeling system.
Advantages of ERP system driven labeling include:
- Mission critical labeling: incoming shipments, production, inventory
- Eliminates manual data entry errors
- Dynamic item master and production driven
- Reduces number of labels templates and complexity
- Ensures consistent label compliance
Input errors are reduced or eliminated, label waste is drastically reduced and labeling compliance is dramatically improved.
A number of our food clients have implemented ERP driven labeling systems with great success. The integrated system allows them to not only pull all the necessary information directly from the ERP system, it also integrates required MSDS data, allowing for complete control from order to shipment and delivery.
The result is a higher ROI and better margins for food manufacturers through increased automation, integration and reduced labeling production costs. And just as importantly, food recalls caused by improper labeling can be eliminated.
It’s a situation no food and/or beverage wants to be caught in but luckily there is an answer to help you avoid the problem and increase your margins at the same time.
Is your food business struggling with labeling issues and increased manufacturing costs? The food experts at Technologies International, Inc. can help. We’ve been providing innovative solutions for food manufacturers and distributors for more than 25-years. Call us today at (909)-614-1416 or e-mail us at sales@tech-intl.com and let’s talk about your needs
