Neogen Analytics - Learnings from IAFP, Part 3

TITLE CARD: Neogen Analytics

[Music]

TITLE CARD: Learnings from IAFP 2023 Pt. 3

TITLE CARD: Joe Heinzelman, Food Safety Digital Solutions, Neogen

[A screen shows videos of Joe Heinzelman and Dan Dwyer speaking.]

Dan Dwyer: Joe, at the IAFP session that you hosted in July this year, multiple stages of maturity for food safety organizations, with regard to their views on food safety data, was outlined. Did the panel discuss the unique challenges of smaller organizations as they look to improve their food safety data maturity?

Joe Heinzelman: A great question and, thinking back to the panel, one of the things that was really pretty interesting was, one, the constituents of the panel was intentionally selected and invited from what they bring to the table. And one of those was Dr Nicole Martin from Cornell. A lot of her her work was around small dairy manufacturers, extension work at her university, and how do they engage with those organizations and understand what they're doing and how to improve upon them.

[The screen cuts to a clip of the panel discussion. Joe Heinzelman stands at a podium. Five panelists are seated at a table beside him. Dr Nicole Martin of Cornell University holds a microphone and is speaking.]

Dr Nicole Martin: Not just what technology are you using they're probably still going to use you know sort of more of a basic approach in most cases but how can we capture other things that are happening so we really get the most out of that data when we have a positive and and be able to actually interpret that data.

[A screen shows videos of Joe Heinzelman and Dan Dwyer speaking.]

Dan: Joe, did the panel discuss the importance of organizational alignment with regard to food safety data?

Joe: Yeah. We certainly did and I think Fabiana really did a good job. [Fabiana], who's a Global Expertise Manager at Unilever, talked about having the alignment around food safety data and the impact that it can have on both the organization's success, which means bringing in additional stakeholders, and making sure that the people that need to be a part of that decision-making process are part of that decision. So you lead to good decisions and align decisions in terms of the outcome that needs to occur within a food safety operation activity.

[The screen cuts to a clip of the panel discussion. Joe Heinzelman stands at a podium. Five panelists are seated at a table beside him. Fabiana Guglielmone holds a microphone and is speaking.]

Fabiana Guglielmone: So, the stakeholders is all around supply chain: the engineering team, the maintenance teams, the—everybody—the purchasing, the people that are making and buying equipment or buying ingredients. All must have the same approach and the same understanding what is happening because they will make the decisions. Okay, we will need to invest in this. We will need to improve that or not. If we don't explain they will make the wrong decision.

[A screen shows videos of Joe Heinzelman and Dan Dwyer speaking.]

Dan: Joe, did the panel offer any advice to organizations looking to improve their utilization of their testing data?

Joe: Yeah, I mean, I think every single one of the people on the panel had a lot to contribute specifically on advice and recommendations ranging from practical dashboards to the culture. I think one of the things that really stood out to me was not what to do but what not to do. So Dr Tim Buisker talked about what are we doing, or what should we stop doing that we're doing, or mistakes that are being made. He specifically called out sampling and testing with intent around an expected or possible outcome.

[The screen cuts to a clip of the panel discussion. Joe Heinzelman stands at a podium. Five panelists are seated at a table beside him. Dr Timothy Buisker, Founder and Principal Data Scientist at Smart Data Solutions, holds a microphone and is speaking.]

Dr Timothy Buisker: If you're sampling, if you're testing, have a plan! Have a plan for what you are doing with that data. That data should be driving your decisions. If you're looking at all of that data that's coming in and you're making your decisions based on other factors, then why do you have that data? Come up with the sampling plan. Like when you're talking about sampling and testing, it's something that lots of people have expertise in so probably you should consult an expert who can help you determine the best way to do this so that you can fit that into your actual decision-making. I mean, that's really what it comes down to is: I'm making a decision between A and B. What pieces of information are going to help me make that decision more smartly?

[A screen shows videos of Joe Heinzelman and Dan Dwyer speaking.]

Dan: Joe, did the panel discuss what the next steps are for the industry as it relates to the utilization of data?

Joe: Yeah, Dan. Yeah, I think Dr Bismarck Martinez covered it well who's a senior scientist from Del Monte.

[The screen cuts to a clip of the panel discussion. Joe Heinzelman stands at a podium. Five panelists are seated at a table beside him. Dr Bismarck Martinez, Senior Scientist at Del Monte, holds a microphone and is speaking.]

Dr Bismarck Martinez: Automation is definitely a thing of the future. Being able to automate multiple tasks. Right now, we personally consider that as an important task to be able to bring all of the results, put the data together, and then being able to right now provide feedback—and a good feedback—to the managers. But, you know, I think that the automation is extremely critical because we're handling a large amount of data.

[A screen shows videos of Joe Heinzelman and Dan Dwyer speaking.]

Dan: Changing culture can be challenging. Joe, what are some of the things that the panel discussed that they would do in order to address the culture around food safety data?

Joe: Yeah, Dan. You know, I think Dr Jespersen really kind of did a good job at tackling some of the pragmatic and appropriate steps to take in the opening sets of slides and the five stages of a maturity model. You know, I think some of the K.P.I.s around that might be investing in different types of digital and automation platforms or defining K.P.I.s for different groups that are related to food safety and making sure that those metrics and K.P.I.s drive their appropriate type of food safety behavior that they're expecting.

[The screen cuts to a clip of the panel discussion. Joe Heinzelman stands at a podium. Five panelists are seated at a table beside him. Dr Lone Jespersen, Principal and Founder at Cultivate S.A., holds a microphone and is speaking.]

Dr Lone Jespersen: I would build environmental monitoring data outputs into the reports that business success is being evaluated on. So if your board and executive look at a financial report every month, then I would have an environmental monitoring component in there or whatever the risk measure of food safety that is relevant for you. I would put it into—we talked about dashboards before or whatever the operational dashboard is for frontline supervisors—I would put in element of environmental monitoring into that and then I would celebrate the heck out of finding stuff! I would make sure that this is a celebratory moment when something is found and so that everybody knows that that's what we're striving for.

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TITLE CARD: Neogen Analytics