Private-label cheese manufacturer now meets mandates for food safety, quality
Atlanta — May 25, 2004 — Berner Foods Inc., a leading supplier of food products, including processed cheese, natural cheese and soy beverages, said it is working with enterprise software solutions provider Ross Systems to comply with government regulations that were introduced to protect America's prepared food supplies.
Using Ross' iRenaissance enterprise software system, Berner said it is working to comply with critical federal regulations and streamline its private-label manufacturing.
To meet increasing regulatory scrutiny from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) — specifically the record keeping and traceability requirements of the Bioterrorism Act of 2002 (BTA) — Berner has implemented a technology infrastructure that it said will help its practices today and serve as a foundation for future opportunities.
As a private-label manufacturer, Berner contends with tight margins, necessitating maximum efficiency, visibility and productivity in its manufacturing operations to ensure profitability. Berner said it implemented iRenaissance as its system of record for manufacturing operations, quality control, supplier management, financials and regulatory management.
Berner now has the ability to trace products and supplies and perform mock recalls to ensure compliance with federal food safety guidelines. The lot traceability, recipe management and quality control applications in iRenaissance provide the data and functionality to maintain and inspect food records, including the source and movement of all raw materials, the process by which product is produced and destinations where all product is shipped. With Ross' solution, conducting mock recalls at Berner has gone from taking an entire day to now taking 30 minutes.
"Ross' iRenaissance helps us comply with strict quality control mandates from regulatory bodies and the expectations of our customers," said Gary Gold, vice president of quality assurance for Berner Foods. "With the ability to immediately determine the disposition of any raw ingredient, throughout production and distribution of all finished products, we are streamlining mock recalls and food safety audits. In addition, the attribute-tracking capabilities in iRenaissance allow us to monitor for quality and ensure we're delivering products that will meet the expectations of each customer."
The Ross iRenaissance solution was designed to serve process manufacturers and especially food manufacturers faced with addressing specific needs such as quality control, regulatory compliance, food safety and profit-margin improvement. The provider's focus on medium-sized businesses also appealed to the Berner team's need for rapid implementation and minimal customization during deployment.
