Running a successful supermarket or grocery store is tough. Profit margins are notoriously slim, customers can be difficult to please, and overhead can crush cashflow. One of the most potentially daunting aspects of food retail, however, is the risk of making guests sick through spoiled or contaminated food.

Consider two restaurants. Both serve the same kind of food, both have friendly staff and are in an excellent location. But one is full of customers and the other nearly always empty. Why? The answer to this riddle is their letter grade: one has an A, and the other a B.  

The 5 trillion dollar food industry takes safety exceptionally seriously.  Customer health and safety depend on rigorous, continuous protocols. Mistakes have devastating financial and cultural consequences for these companies.

Guest Post by: Rosalinda Cerna, MPH, CP-FS, EHS

Environmental Health and Safety Manager, Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services

It is estimated each year that one in six Americans (about 48 million people) gets sick of foodborne illnesses. Each year, 128,000 people end up hospitalized and the annual cost of foodborne illness is around $152 million. With recent events at Chipotle, Blue Bell, and Dole Foods amongst others, food safety has become a very high profile issue. The growing cost and risks around foodborne illness-related incidents has led the food industry to seek out more effective ways of approaching food safety.

MeWe is delighted to announce that our CEO, Manik Suri, will be presenting at the 2nd Annual Civic & Gov Tech Showcase in Sacramento, CA on September 22, 2016, hosted by Innovate Your State. The Civic & Gov Tech Showcase is an opportunity to connect civic minded entrepreneurs, government leaders and potential investors to showcase innovation and encourage collaboration and support of new technologies to improve government.

Guest Post by: Rosalinda Cerna, MPH, CP-FS, EHS

Former Environmental Health and Safety Manager, Whole Foods Market

In my twenty years as a food safety professional, one of the constant challenges I have come across is maintaining accurate monitoring logs. If there’s one excuse I always hear, it’s “I just did not have enough time to fill out the log.” Traditional paper-based logbooks don’t provide enough transparency or accountability to ensure this critical step in the prevention of foodborne illness is followed through in the most accurate and efficient manner.  

This article was originally posted in Food Quality & Safety magazine. You can read the full article here: http://www.foodqualityandsafety.com/article/quality-assurance-with-mobile-technology 

The term “food safety” generally refers to practices used in food handling, storage, and preparation that preserve the quality of food while preventing contamination and spread of foodborne disease. People at every stage of the food supply chain work hard to prevent food from becoming affected, but this can still happen in many ways. Some food products may already contain parasites or bacteria, while others get contaminated during the packaging process. All types of food can become contaminated, but red meat, eggs, poultry, cheese, dairy products, raw sprouts, fish, and shellfish pose a higher risk.

This article was originally posted in Food Manufacturing magazine. You can read the full article here: http://www.foodmanufacturing.com/article/2016/01/using-mobile-software-food-safety-palm-your-hand

News about food safety seems to be everywhere lately. Every day, there’s a story about a salmonella outbreak or a company having to recall products due to possible contamination. In 2015, there were 420 recalls, market withdrawals and safety alerts for food products according to the FDA. Why is this the case?

The following article was written by MeWe CEO Manik Suri and appeared in Food Safety Tech Magazine on December 7, 2015.

Summary: Food companies should use technology to improve their food safety operations, helping keep customers safe and satisfied.

News concerning the safety of food seems to be everywhere these days. Why is this the case?

I’ve been buying the fresh spinach dip at Trader Joe’s for years.

I love it — along with almost everything else at my local TJ’s in Cambridge, MA. Recently, I learned more about the history of this amazing spread. It’s made by a local food manufacturing company called Bombay Duck — a small 10-person operation based in Acton, a suburb 30 minutes outside Boston. They also make the fresh veggie wraps and falafel sandwiches sold at TJ stores around the area.