Farmison & Co explains how they are always audit ready
Michelle Kennedy, Chief Operations Officer at Farmison & Co, explains how its granular digital traceability, delivered in seconds, keeps the auditors happy.
When founders John Palagi and Lee Simmonds set up Farmison & Co 2011, it was with the purpose of giving home cooks access to the very best of British produce, normally destined for international restaurants.
By building a new type of supply chain, working with traditional farmers, Farmison & Co created an innovative model to supply its meat directly to consumers.
In April 2019, Farmison & Co embarked on a digital transformation project to implement a robust, enterprise-wide, best-in-class set of solutions.
Following six months of carefully evaluating ERP and MES solutions, the company selected SI.
One of the key measures of success for the digital transformation project has been the company’s ability to produce exemplary audits on demand since the SI system has gone live.
Now, after years of dealing with paper-based traces, Farmison & Co is always audit ready and able to deliver swift, accurate and seamless traces whenever the auditor calls.
As Michelle Kennedy, Chief Operations Officer explained, “Since our processes have been digitised by SI, we’re confident that whenever we’re asked to run an audit, we can deliver it well within the timeframe.
“At Farmison & Co, we label every individual primal. When you walk into our fridges, every single piece of meat – whether it’s packed, primal, or exposed – has a full SI label on it. It’s best practice, but it’s not common practice within the meat industry. “Most companies still rely on shelf or dolav labelling, rather than taking the time to individually label items.”
“Since our processes have been digitised by SI, we’re confident that whenever we’re asked to run an audit, we can deliver it well within the timeframe.
Michelle Kennedy, COO, Farmison & Co.
Traceability delivered in seconds – Be audit ready
As an example of just how well the digital traceability works, in February 2021 Farmison & Co was audited by STS, who were acting on behalf of The National Trust. Working in partnership with the trust, any deer that are culled at this Studley Royal Deer Park are butchered by Farmison & Co, and the finished products are then supplied back to The National Trust to be sold in its restaurants.
“STS’s auditor wanted to be shown every step in the traceability and asked for the trace to be run against a pack of venison sausages. “Thanks to the traceability that our SI system provides, using the trace ID and batch code that’s clearly shown on the finished product label, the trace took a matter of seconds to complete,” explained Michelle.
“After that, we carried out the required checks and presented the data back to the auditor within 45 minutes, compared to the industry requirement of four hours,” explained Michelle. “We also visualised the huge amount of data behind these products, by taking the key information and converting it to a graphic, so the auditor could see every stage.”
“Thanks to the SI’s traceability, using the trace ID and batch code on the finished product label, the trace took a matter of seconds to complete”.
Michelle Kennedy, COO, Farmison & Co.
Bi-directional traceability on individual primals
“To demonstrate the strength of our bi-directional traceability, we ran an additional trace against a beef product, right back to the farm. After all, nothing is more complex, trace-wise, than accounting for everything that’s derived from a beef carcass when it’s butchered.
“The speed, accuracy and trace detail really impressed the auditor. She stated that, in the 30 years she’s been auditing within the meat industry, this was the first time she had seen individual primal traceability.
“The auditor said that on many occasions she’d challenged these standard practices only to be informed that it either “couldn’t be done” or “it’s not practical and it’s not feasible”.
This was the first time she’d seen it in practice, and she was “over the moon”! She knew it could be done, and it was reassuring to see it in practice at Farmison & Co.”
“in the 30 years she’s been auditing within the meat industry, this was the first time she had seen individual primal traceability.”
commentary from STS auditor
Pet food traceability
“Again, as we label and scan everything, any by-product that’s destined for pet foods, also has built in traceability. It’s something that I point out whenever I meet with an auditor. We can provide the traceability tickets for every item that’s collected in a dolav.
“When the report was returned, as well as being very complimentary about our forward and back-to-farm traceability and best practices, it also highlighted the overall hygiene standards across of the plant and quality of Farmison & Co’s management.”
Find out how Baird Foods Services, thanks to SI’s (Systems Integration) end-to-end digital traceability and real-time data capture at every process point, now delivers full audit results in seconds not hours, including mass balance production details.
Exemplary audit standards, each and every time
“More recently we’ve been audited by the FSA, RPA (Rural Payments Agency), SALSA and Harrods, and each time we’ve been able to deliver to the same exacting standards”.
“Moving forward, we’ll be building mass balances into our traces, and we know that this is a strength of the SI system. And, as we’re keen to utilise the solution in the very best way, we’re taking advantage of regular training opportunities with SI.”
However, we’re not complacent; it’s something we practice all the time and we’re constantly running traceability exercises. Ultimately, no matter how good the system is, there’s always the opportunity for human error unless people are properly trained and skilled up”.
To find out more about SI’s market leading bi-directional digital traceability expertise, visit https://sifoodsoftware.com/software/audit-management-software/ or contact info@sifoodsoftware.com.