Global ID Group Introduces HorizonScan Food Risk Monitoring System
Fairfield, Iowa (PRWEB) July 13, 2016 -- Global ID Group is pleased to announce the North American launch of HorizonScan, a Web-based information system that monitors food safety and integrity issues worldwide. HorizonScan gathers detailed reports on a daily basis from more than 70 national inspection agencies involving over 490 food commodities from 180 countries. The system offers customizable alerts on the latest incidents as well as searchable historical data going back over 15 years.
Developed by UK-based Fera Science, Ltd., HorizonScan gives food safety professionals global visibility into a wide range of incidents. Reports on contaminants such as mycotoxins, allergens, microbes, PCBs, heavy metals, pesticides, veterinary drug residues, and dioxins, as well as food fraud and authenticity events are updated daily.
Dr. David Acheson, CEO of the Acheson Group and former Associate Commissioner for Foods at the US FDA says, “Supply chain risk control is not only a new FSMA requirement but is an important part of brand protection in today’s food safety environment. HorizonScan is a great resource to better understand where the risks are in your supply chain, and thus better manage those risks.”
HorizonScan will be featured at the upcoming IFT trade show in Chicago, July 16-19 by Global ID Group subsidiary CERT ID Solutions, Booth #1506. Dr. Miles Thomas, Head of Knowledge Solutions at Fera, will be attending the event and will be available to answer questions about the service and explain how it is benefiting food industry clients in the UK and other countries.
“HorizonScan gives food safety managers a powerful new risk assessment tool,” says Ron Stakland, Global ID’s Vice President of Business Development and Product Manager for HorizonScan. “It gives subscribers a way to “scan the horizon” of the global food commodity landscape, enhancing their ability to identify and avoid potential hazards.”
A hypothetical example might be a food manufacturer that is considering importing peanuts from China. A quick search in the HorizonScan database reveals there has been an upward trend in the incidence of aflatoxin contamination in Chinese peanuts during the past three years, including 78 documented incidents in the last 12 months alone. Armed with this knowledge the manufacturer could prepare an appropriate testing and risk management plan to control this issue. The manufacturer could also use HorizonScan’s Supplier Check function to research which suppliers have a history of reported issues.
As of July 2016, the HorizonScan online database contains over 63,000 incident records and includes 15 years of archival data. Subscribers to the service can search by commodity, type of incident, country of origin, date range, supplier, etc., and tap into a wealth of analytical data, statistics, trend line graphs and original incident reports. In addition, Fera food safety specialists provide an analytical priority/risk rating for each reported incident as well as alerts on emerging issues that could signal the beginning of new trends.
To learn more, please visit http://www.globalhorizonscan.com.
ABOUT GLOBAL ID GROUP
Serving more than 15,000 clients in over 100 countries with a market-leading portfolio of testing, inspection, certification, training and software services, Global ID Group helps companies navigate an increasingly regulated global food economy demanding higher levels of transparency, accountability, safety and sustainability. Global ID Group companies include Genetic ID, FoodChain ID, CERT ID, and CERT ID Solutions.
ABOUT Fera
Fera Science Limited (formerly the Food and Environment Research Agency) is a global leader in food science. It employs more than 500 staff, including 350 scientists at its 80-acre campus in York, UK and has been providing science solutions to the UK government for over 100 years. Now a public and private sector joint venture between Defra and Capita plc, Fera continues to provide critical national capability in plant and crop health, chemical safety in the environment, and food quality, safety and authenticity.
Ron Stakland, Global ID Group, Inc., http://www.globalhorizonscan.com, +1 (641) 209-4556, [email protected]
Share this article