Decrease Risk by Integrating Your Food Safety Testing Program with Your Lab Services
October 05, 2023
Join Deepa Thakar as she shares the contract laboratory perspective on data integration between food manufacturers and 3rd party labs. Working in a laboratory environment for almost her entire career, Deepa discusses how the integration with labs can save time, limit errors and reduce risk.
Video Transcript
TITLE CARD: Neogen Analytics
[Music]
TITLE CARD: Decrease Risk with Lab Integration
TITLE CARD: Deepa Thakar, Digital Solutions Specialist, Neogen
[A screen shows videos of Deepa Thakar and Dan Dwyer speaking.]
Dan Dwyer: Deepa, in your experience what are some of the surprises that users find when they do integrate with their lab data?
[The screen shows someone in a white lab coat and latex gloves writing in a 3-ring binder, pipetting, preparing Petrifilm® Plates, and other laboratory work.]
Deepa Thakar: They don't have to handwrite anything on a sample request form. Handwriting is lot lot more time-consuming than typing something into a computer. Also, less transcription errors. You know, you can fix these things really quickly. The lab gets the samples in and then they're already into their system, so there's no logging in for the laboratory. Sometimes even they come in with labels on them. So all the lab has to do is take them to the into the laboratory for analysis. So now that benefits the customer by getting their samples tested a lot faster and that means, if they can get into the laboratory quicker, they get their results quicker.
[A screen shows videos of Deepa Thakar and Dan Dwyer speaking.]
Dan: What does that difference mean to the lab receiving samples with handwritten labels versus receiving them via electronic source?
Deepa: I don't know about you, but my handwriting is awful. So if the samples come in already typed into a system, I don't have to sit there and decipher someone's handwriting. And if they miss something, then what happens? The lab has to pick up the phone and they have to call the customer. No one has that kind of time. Like QA managers and they're working on the floor, they don't. They're not even at their desk.
[The screen shows someone in a white lab coat and latex gloves thumbing through a 3-ring while calling on the phone.]
Deepa: So here's the lab trying to call the customer trying to understand what they wrote on their SAR form and they can't get a hold of them. So what does that mean now? That means that the samples go sit on hold until we get a hold of the customer delaying the whole process of getting the samples tested.
[A screen shows videos of Deepa Thakar and Dan Dwyer speaking.]
Dan: How is the utilization of Neogen Analytics different from a lab portal?
Deepa: Almost every third party laboratory has their own portal that they provide to their customers at no charge. Once the samples arrive at the laboratory and the lab logs them into their system, the customer is able to see live where in the process their samples take in the laboratory. Some portals may allow you to pull them into an Excel format and maybe allow you to do a little bit of trending. Let's say you decide you're going to move your work to another laboratory. Well you lose all that. You know it's not like you're going to keep that portal and all that data and all of that in that portal you had is gone. You know, because you left that laboratory. Now you're with another contract lab. Where Neogen Analytics is more than a portal.
[The screen shows the home screen of Neogen Analytics. It then flips through other Neogen Analytic screens showing a testing floorplan, results in a line graph and in table format.]
Deepa: It's more like a a a system that helps you manage your workflow. It of course it lets you trend your data as well. It gives you corrective actions. It allows you to pull all types—not just an Excel report—but many different types of reports. It's not just a way a free portal that labs give you to just look at your results live and put them into an Excel format.
[A screen shows videos of Deepa Thakar and Dan Dwyer speaking.]
Deepa: But it shouldn't be confused with what Neogen Analytics can do. If you decide to move to another third party laboratory then we go with you. I mean it goes with you so you don't have to worry about losing all of that data from your first laboratory. Of course, we all want to have healthy food for ourselves and our children, so it's not just speaking as a food safety professional, but just speaking as a mom, you know, you want to make sure that everyone's doing their job. Neogen Analytics does a good job of making sure that you are in control of your facility.
[Music]
TITLE CARD: Neogen Analytics
The digital wave of progress for managing food safety testing and sanitation programs is rapidly growing, as evidenced by the hundreds of facilities that have invested in software and related services. There are many options for food and beverage suppliers to consider when investigating which solution providers to select.
One key consideration is the ability of your testing software solution to link directly with your mix of laboratory services. Whether you utilize external lab service providers, have an internal lab/laboratory information management system (LIMS), or conduct tests using in-facility rapid diagnostic devices, the software you use to identify, select, schedule, and execute your testing program should integrate with your mix of labs and devices. Having such an integration can significantly—and positively—impact risk reduction.
There are two major categories of risk reduction that are addressed through this type of integration:
- “Time-to-Information.” Integration with labs, LIMS, and devices enables you to receive and respond to information much faster than traditional methods. Manually entering information into a spreadsheet or copying and pasting it from a certificate of analysis (CoA) PDF file takes time. Typically, this activity is done in batches, and not immediately when the information becomes available. This can cause a significant delay between discovery of an issue and initiation of remediation. The “time-to-information” that can be accelerated by digitally automated alerts can be the difference between a problem requiring extensive unplanned and unbudgeted cleaning, even full teardowns, and a more immediate clean-in-place (CIP) procedure to alleviate costly actions.
- Human Error. Any process that involves the manual entry of data is not only inefficient and time consuming, but also fraught with the potential for human error. Communication between labs, an LIMS, and devices is a particular area where human error can cause expensive repercussions. Take, for example, the submission of test kits with a sample analysis request form from a food production facility to a laboratory. Are the labels digitally created or handwritten? If the latter, when the lab receives the package, do the lab technicians decipher the handwriting correctly? If they do not, a time-consuming and inefficient call must be made to confirm. What if the lab assumes they have deciphered it correctly and choose not to call? How many false positives—or worse, negatives—are recorded as a result? When the lab results are sent to recipients and entered manually, how many errors are made in recording the diagnostic findings? What is the impact when a result is entered incorrectly.
Neogen Analytics is unique in its approach to integration with labs/LIMS/devices. The system is agnostic, meaning that any mix of diagnostic results from any lab/LIMS source can be integrated. This eliminates the potential for human error and improves “time-to-information,” all as a standard capability.
To learn more about Neogen Analytics and how it can help reduce risk, request a personalized demo.
Category: Food Safety, Consumer Goods, Dietary Supplements, Food & Beverage, Pharmaceutical & Biotech, Microbiology, Pathogens, Environmental Monitoring