Holey Parachute, Batman!

Will your parachute work when you need it?

I'm sitting in my office preparing a presentation for an upcoming conference and a great analogy popped into my head. I compare the data gathering of food safety compliance information to the painstaking effort it takes to carefully fold and pack a parachute so that when you need it...IT WORKS!!

Let me explain...Companies spend a lot of time, money and effort documenting food safety data on paper logs. And here is the problem - paper records are inefficient, unreliable and are hard to access.

Your trace and food safety records are there to keep you safe in your hour of need – for example during a recall or an FDA inspection.

Just imagine the time and painstaking effort someone takes to fold and pack a parachute. Next imagine that person jumping out of an airplane and pulling the ripcord in an emergency…only to discover that the chute will not open or the canopy has a large hole in it.

It’s that same sinking feeling many business owners experience during a recall. They have spent all this time, effort and money on a paper system that they believe meets with the compliance requirements and that will keep them safe only to discover their system has a big hole in it.

Gathering paper data is yesterday’s news. Electronic data collection has proven to be the most efficient and accurate way possible to ensure the protection of information.

Food safety data is no exception!