Technology

The digital revolution in QSR food safety

Even the most organized restaurant systems can be baffled by all the legal and health regulations required around food safety. Digital tools take the tricks out of that, serving as your brand's right arm in the daily battle against foodborne pathogens.

Photo: iStock

January 22, 2021 by Charlie Piper

With one in six Americans falling ill each year to foodborne diseases, QSRs are always working to make food safety a top priority. On a federal level, the introduction of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) in 2011 established a shift in the food industry from responding to foodborne illnesses to preventing them. Today, food industry operations must not only comply with the FSMA, but also adhere to all local health and safety protocols.

Over the years, technology has helped step up safety standards. As supply chains have become more sophisticated, new protocols emerged for shipping both fresh and frozen foods. Tracing technology, complete with RFID data and bar codes, help establish appropriate expiration dates. Likewise, in cases of food contamination like E. coli, these capabilities can trace food back to its original source where the core contamination can be addressed and eliminated.

The Internet of Things is the latest technology framework that promises to bring us all further down the road to safer food. By combining intelligent sensors with wireless networks and data analytics, new food safety systems are emerging that provide greater insights into how the food industry handles and tracks its inventory.

Digital checklists

A growing number of restaurants are adopting fully digitized checklists. A combination of wireless technology and readily available mobile devices allow teams to access and complete checklists and compliance forms. At the same time, managers can monitor these tasks and complete their own tasks via a manager playbook.

A comprehensive digital checklist app should include the following checklists:

• Operational compliance.
• Food waste-tracking.
• Equipment calibrations.
• Temperature management.
• Food safety compliance forms.

The process of completing digital checklists forces restaurant employees to change their behavior in ways that ensure food safety. By tracking people, place and time, these lists give managers better visibility into which employees are complying with food safety requirements and which are not.

Consequently, managers can step in and make changes or provide more training. At the same time, employees get immediate feedback when they fail to perform a task, which makes them more likely to improve

Overall, the implementation of digital checklists enables restaurants to achieve higher completion rates, more efficient operations and better customer experiences.

Automated temp-tracking

On the technology front, mobile applications extend to portable sensors that enable line workers to quickly and accurately upload food temperatures. Temperature-monitoring can be performed by employees on individual food items, or automated through custom-designed sensors. Both options provide management visibility into food quality and consistency.

Automating the process of checking and recording food temperatures in all applicable locations within an individual restaurant can go a long way toward improving accuracy, safety and food safety compliance. Both digital checklists and remote monitoring help restaurants pass health inspections and audits. And their appeal is made even greater by the fact that they provide on-demand reporting and forms at any time and anywhere, a big improvement from the days of digging through paper-based manager playbooks to find the required information.

About Charlie Piper

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