Free supply chain guide now available online
The report “Vulnerabilities in the food chain – a stakeholders guide”, was published last year in print form as a limited edition but is now freely available on-line, Hilde Cnossen, project manager at TNO told FoodProductionDaily.com.
TNO, an independent research body from the Netherlands, helped compile the EU-funded project along with ten partners from Europe and Brazil. The 82-page guide examines the dynamics of chemical and microbiological risks in the food supply chain and provides advice on evaluating and prioritising risks.
The Sigma Chain project focuses on the vulnerability of food chains through the contamination of products that sometimes goes unnoticed in the chain due to the limited exchange of specific information, said TNO. The report was compiled after evaluation four separate food chains over a three-year period. Experts examined chicken and salmon as long geographical chains, milk powder as a batch mixing chain and drinking water as a fast contamination chain. The guide limits itself to how chains fit together.
The document is divided into two parts: a description of the system as a guide and a number of articles containing relevant background information on international legislation, consumer behaviour and governmental decision-making.
“We now hope the guide will reach more of the food industry by becoming available on-line,” said Cnossen. “We want food processors, particularly small and medium-sized ones, to think about where their weaknesses may be. The guide is about taking a whole chain approach and looking further than their own premises."
Download the guide by clicking on the following link
