The spice industry has seen a steady increase in demand since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold early last year. According to an article in The Washington Post, this demand is due to several factors, the biggest being that consumers are preparing more meals at home. This trend towards home cooking has led shoppers to reinforce their pantry with herbs and spices and mimic the international flavors they’ve become accustomed to from local restaurants that have been shut down due to the pandemic.
As spice manufacturers adapt to this increasing demand, it’s critical they have the tools in place to ensure proper traceability and compliance measures. Below, we discuss the importance of lot traceability, quality and recall management in the spice industry and how Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software built for food manufacturing can help.
Lot Traceability and Recall Readiness
Like other food and beverage manufacturers, spice producers deal with strict regulations around food safety and recall management. One of the biggest risks to safety in spice manufacturing is contamination. In 2020, for example, Sauer Brand, Inc. initiated a voluntary recall in 31 states across the U.S. due to the potential presence of Salmonella in specific lots of organic parsley the company received from its supplier. Though there were no reports of illness, the recall shed light once again on the importance of traceability and recall management in food manufacturing.
Another critical component to spice manufacturing is the complexity of the spice industry supply chain. The U.S. imports many of its spices from a number of countries, which means that tracking items back to their origin is complicated. Proper ingredient labelling, product quality and resource management are additional factors in ensuring safety in spice manufacturing.
How ERP for Spice Manufacturing Can Help
Spice manufacturers require specific software to run their businesses. By using ERP for spice manufacturing, business leaders can apply lot tracking to all raw materials, ensure quality and be fully recall ready.
Here’s how ERP for spice manufacturing can work to ensure compliance:
1. Lot Tracking
ERP software built specifically for the food industry gives spice manufacturers complete visibility and control over their ingredients. With an ERP, manufacturers can assign lot numbers when inventory is received, used in production, transferred to and from a warehouse, completed in production and shipped to customers. This number, then, can be used in real-time reporting to account for all transactions from the time an ingredient enters a facility until the time it is received by a customer. With this information, spice manufacturers can quarantine materials based on shelf life, allergen risk and point of origin to adhere to food safety compliance rules and regulations.
2. Quality Control
With ERP for spice manufacturing, users can set up strict quality inspections and audits during procurement, monitor processing methods and ensure proper labelling and testing is done during the packaging and distribution process. Lot tracking data within an industry-specific ERP system is used for accurate labelling for all product batches.
3. Recall Readiness
With bi-directional ingredient and product tracking, quality hold management, allergen segregation and robust quality control management, spice manufacturers can ensure they’re fully recall ready. With an ERP for spice manufacturing, users can do the following:
- Generate mandatory, voluntary or mock recalls
- Perform internal, external or work center recalls
- Search for all products and lots associated with a recalled material using traceability functionality
- Provide insights into recalled stock and recalled shipments
- Freeze affected inventory using a special stock status
- Generate CRM calls and print recall letters to follow up with customers who have received recalled products
- Use product data to address potential issues and prevent future recalls
FoodBusiness ERP helps spice manufacturers streamline operations, ensure compliance and manage growth. Built on Sage X3, FoodBusiness ERP is purpose-built for the food industry and offers out-of-the-box functionality built for food and beverage manufacturers. To learn more about how ERP software can help your spice manufacturing business, reach out to us. We’d love to chat.