Experts from Rentokil Initial Working Together With Key Industry Leaders And Food Safety Auditors To Improve Food Safety In Malaysia
- Themed “Innovating Supply Chain Risk Management Through Science And Technologies”, experts from Rentokil Initial demonstrate to the participants just how innovations can help in managing food safety in Malaysia.
- The workshops were held at Spice Convention Centre in Penang and Double Tree by Hilton in JB on the 21st and 22nd of August respectively.
- Kuala Lumpur sessions were held at Le Meridien in KL on 24th of August, 2017.
- Rentokil Initial Malaysia also took the opportunity to launch PestConnect and LED flies control trap - Lumnia, during the event.
Rentokil Initial Malaysia brought together over 200 key industry leaders nationwide, from F&B manufacturing, logistics, warehousing, hospitality, food handlers, pharmaceutical sectors with one objective - to improve food safety in Malaysia. The event was also joined by Health Inspectors from the Ministry of Health.
International news portal were swamped with food recall reports, from contaminated eggs in the European markets to contaminated milk in Malaysia. Food and beverage product recalls can lead to far-reaching consequences, affecting business reputation and profit losses, however, one of the biggest impact in food contamination is how it affects consumers’ health. In 2015 alone, 14,433 of food poisoning cases were reported in Malaysia. These illnesses can be fatal if not treated immediately.
As the market leader in pest control, Rentokil is very committed on improving food trust in Malaysia. Through workshops and partnering with the Ministry of Health (MOH), Rentokil continues to educate key players in food processing, hotels and pharmaceutical industry on the strict compliance to the regulations and health standards to ensure food safety from farm to table as food can be contaminated at any point of the production process. Rentokil also recognises the importance of science and technology integration with pest management.
“The world population is going to reach 8.5 billion by year 2030, and due to globalised supply chain, food safety management has gotten more challenging than ever. Ensuring the supply of safe food products is extremely crucial to protect the public’s health. This is why technology and data transparency are important to mitigate any potential food safety risk in the entire supply chain.” said Carol Lam, the Managing Director of Rentokil Initial Malaysia.
Carol also added, ”In recent years, Internet of Things (IoT) has been the talk of the town on its potential to revolutionise the way businesses operate across the globe. The IoT is currently used most commonly in food industry to track and trace the status of products through the entire supply chain. The other advantage of end-to-end food safety monitoring is, it enables various parties involved from farm to table to quickly identify points of origin if food contamination is discovered. Previously these investigations could have taken weeks or months to complete.”
“At Rentokil, this is something that our Innovations team has been working on over the years. With the right approach, this will ultimately help us ensure that our customers take a much more proactive approach in managing food safety risks across the supply chains. Predicting likely sources of contamination and food-borne disease outbreaks, detecting food safety threats as they happen and implementing control measures before threats can spread. This will improve efficiencies and reduce losses throughout the supply chain. Most importantly, raising standards in food safety and security for consumers.”
Juliana Soo, Regional Technical Director of Rentokil Initial said at the event: “As devices become more connected to transmit and receive data, we hope that our sharing on the importance of data insights and Internet of Things (IoT) allow our customers to understand the importance of big data in an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) for effective supply chain pest risk management.”
She added, ”These innovative technological systems are able to deliver new data insights that enable businesses to identify trends and hotspot areas. It can also provide a real solution to help mitigate risk in the increasingly complex modern supply chains. It is a more proactive approach towards food safety that helps organisations throughout its supply chain risk management”
The innovations that we brought for our customers are based on their needs and according to IPM using the ERDM (Exclusion, Restriction, Destruction, Monitoring) methodology designed by Rentokil to manage pest risks in a holistic manner.
“We are always on the lookout to improve the quality in Malaysian food industry. With the today’s technology, it gives us better understanding of how these pests behave through biological research. Instead of always enforcing strict legislation to these decision makers, we are changing our approach and very excited to work with Rentokil in educating and create awareness amongst the auditors and food industry on the existing food safety compliances,” said Jamilah Binti Salikin, Principal Assistant Director, Pre-Market Approval Branch, Food Safety and Quality Division, Ministry of Health Malaysia.
During the workshop, the participants were also given the first-hand experience on PestConnect, an online connected system, which provides continuous 24/7 monitoring, rapid response and protection against pest, for example rodents. The connected devices automatically detect pest activities and send the data directly to myRentokil, the online reporting system that allows customers to stay on top of any potential risks at their site (s). Tens of thousands of Rentokil’s customers are able to access their myRentokil accounts for analysis and audit support.
On top of that, Rentokil also unveiled its Lumnia, the Insect Light Trap (ILT) with improved LED technology, which is proven effective to attract flies up to 150m2 because UV light is transmitted 40% further with LED strips compared to standard tubes. Lumnia delivers an average of 61% in energy savings, when compared to similar products.
