What do real-time data and up-to-date documentation have to do with cleanliness? When it comes to food safety, it has a great deal to do with cleanliness in fact! That’s why we’ve turned to the power of technology to empower us to serve our clients in their mission to safely serve food to South Africans, from farm to fork.
In order to do that, we use our Electronic Quality Management System (eQMS), a tool designed for our needs that we’ve used for over a decade already. This state-of-the-art software is powered by iLeader, software originally designed for the Red Meat Industry in Australia and then customised for the food industry.
Essentially, it is a central portal that enables us to manage our 140 active sites with a bird’s-eye-view that gives us the whole picture, while still being able to drill down into the site-by-site details. Whether we’re working at a bakery, a mill, a distillery, a poultry farm or a poultry or red meat abattoir, our eQMS helps us monitor the cleaning needs of our clients and enables us to ensure that we consistently meet their audit requirements. That’s because we’re passionate about creating processes and systems that our clients can trust and rely on.
One of the main functions of this software is that it houses all site-specific master cleaning schedules. I’s pretty much the foundation for each site and an essential guide to ensuring a visually and microbiologically clean, audit-ready plant – on time, each and every day. One size does not fit all! Information about what needs to be cleaned, when, the frequency, methods, chemicals and tools are all housed under one roof, with access given to those involved so that everyone is always on the same page. Of course, only those with authorisation can log in to specific schedules, so confidentiality is always guaranteed, giving our clients peace of mind when it comes to compliance regulations, as stipulated by the POPI Act.
Our eQMS also houses all procedure and staff-related documents and is a library of all training documents, each up to date so that all staff are on the same page. Gone are the days where amendments get lost in the mail or new information arrives too late. Now, our staff are always up to speed so that they can efficiently serve each of our sites. The system is also integrated with payroll and is an important tool that helps us manage staff remuneration and benefits effectively.
But it’s no good having all the information at your fingertips if it isn’t used and tracked correctly. Our highly trained staff at each site make sure that we’re in the know by capturing site-specific information that is crucial in verifying that food safety processes have been managed, identifying issues, managing corrective and preventative actions. Plus, this software imprints date-and-time stamps on all captured information, not allowing data to be retroactively captured and upholding the integrity of the data. All of this helps to ease the auditing process and our eQMS is there, at every step of the way.
We take auditing seriously. It’s a vital step in the food processing chain that makes sure that the food standards are always maintained. Each site tracks everything: water temperatures and pressure, chemical concentrations, visual cleanliness, sanitation time and microbiological monitoring time in cleaning, temperature and chemicals used, visual cleanliness and micro-bacterial hygiene. Ecowize follows the highest standards when it comes to food safety and this software aids compliance to these standards and regulations.
Thanks to our eQMS, Ecowize has its finger on the pulse of every customer, with a clear understanding of the ins and outs of each site. It’s just another way that we’re committed to serving the needs of our clients and helping to ensure food safety for the end customer. So chat to us about how our eQMS can help you understand the big picture, without letting go of every little detail that it is made up of.
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