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In the food and beverage business, safety is a top priority. There can’t be any compromises because the results are more than critical – costly penalties, damaged reputations, and illness outbreaks with potentially fatal consequences.
There are numerous examples of such situations. Between 2015 and 2018, Chipotle Mexican Grill, a popular American fast-food restaurant, sickened more than 1,100 people across the United States due to inadequate safety controls and poor monitoring of food handling procedures. As an outcome, Chipotle faced lawsuits, a significant drop in stock value, and a major loss of customer trust. Finally, the company agreed to pay a $25 million criminal fine and implement a comprehensive food safety program to settle charges related to food contamination.
How can companies avoid such scenarios? Short answer: they need to comply with the strict food safety requirements. To do that, they need to find a way to track and manage their data to be able to detect issues early on in the production process and eliminate any risks to the health of their consumers. This is what food safety compliance software is designed for. But which solution should you choose?
At 1LIMS, we help global and local food companies improve their food safety procedures with the help of modern cloud-based lab technology. In this article, we’ll list the main features your compliance software should have, along with specific tips on how to choose the system that will allow you to stay compliant with the food safety standards.
But before that, let’s start with a brief overview of what food safety compliance involves.
Food safety compliance means adhering to regulations that vary from region to region, with the EU having one of the most strict rules on food safety.
Here are some key EU regulations:
Beyond local regulations, international standards introduce global guidelines for hazard control and food safety management. Here are some notable standards:
The existing standards are already difficult to follow, and new requirements are only getting stricter. For example, the FDA recently published a traceability rule, obliging companies to make their food production traceable at each production step. Here’s what it means for food and beverage companies.
Food safety scandals, like the one we discussed with Chipotle, are becoming more frequent. The World Health Organization estimates that each year worldwide, unsafe food causes 600 million cases of foodborne diseases and 420,000 deaths. In response to this, governments are creating new food safety requirements that oblige companies to track better and manage food production.
In 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a final rule on food traceability to speed up the identification and removal of potentially contaminated food from the market. To comply with this regulation that takes effect on January 20, 2026, businesses in the food service industry have to track and maintain detailed records of each product's origin and provide this information to regulators within 24 hours of a request.
Here’s a quick summary of the final rule with the comments of FDA representative:
The Food Traceability List (FTL) includes items such as fresh-cut fruits and vegetables, shell eggs, and nut butter, as well as certain fresh fruits, vegetables, cheeses, ready-to-eat deli salads, and seafood products.
All companies that produce or contain these ingredients have to ensure that their food chain is completely traceable and that food origin data can be transmitted quickly to regulators.
However, achieving full and immediate traceability in food production is easier said than done. There are several challenges that make it difficult for food companies to take control of their data. Let’s quickly observe these bottlenecks.
To ensure full traceability, businesses need to track food from production to the end consumer. Companies have to maintain accurate records to be able to quickly recall products if any contamination issues arise.
But, many companies struggle to keep a clear record of each product because they rely on traditional methods for managing food data. Paper records, Excel spreadsheets, and manual processes make data management chaotic and prone to errors, creating significant challenges.
Here are just several problems that food and beverage companies suffer from:
To solve all these challenges, food companies need to adopt a modern approach to data management. With the right software, companies can simplify compliance, reduce errors, and ensure that they consistently meet food safety standards. Let’s explore the essential features that a food safety compliance solution should have to make data management and audits fast and stress-free.
To ensure food safety compliance, your software solution must include several essential features:
Staying up-to-date with constantly changing food safety regulations is crucial. Your lab software should automatically update regulatory requirements and notify you of any changes that impact your business operations.
A single platform for all compliance-related records allows for easier access and management of data. Such a centralized solution ensures that all departments are on the same page, eliminating the risk of mistakes or missing information.
Every company has its own processes and requirements. Lab software with customizable workflows allows businesses to adapt the system to their specific needs, making it easier to integrate into existing operations.
Food safety compliance software should offer easy-to-access training resources, including tutorials and customer support, to help each staff member quickly become proficient in using the new system.
1LIMS, an intuitive platform for lab data management, combines all these features, allowing food companies to achieve full traceability of their procedures. Whether it’s tracking sample data, managing reports, or controlling key metrics on the food production sites, 1LIMS is designed to streamline processes and ensure compliance at every step.
Numerous food companies have already adopted 1LIMS, speeding up their quality control processes and improving traceability. Based on their experience, we collected the main practical tips on choosing the right food safety compliance software.
Below are five practical tips to help you select the best software, along with real-life examples from companies that have successfully implemented it.
Implementing new software can be challenging, especially when it comes with a complex interface that takes months to get used to. The food safety software should have an intuitive interface that all team members, even the most technology-hesitant ones, can easily adopt. Look for platforms that offer a user-friendly design, don’t require long training, and provide comprehensive support for a smooth transition.
For instance, 1LIMS’ design is simple and laconic, allowing laboratory employees to intuitively understand and get used to it. When Zweifel, a leading producer of chips and snacks in Switzerland, decided to adopt 1LIMS, they had some hesitations on how the staff that earlier used only paper-based documentation, would adapt to the new system. But their concerns didn’t come true – the transition to 1LIMS was smooth, even for non-tech-savvy staff.
Manual data entry will inevitably lead to human mistakes and errors. The software you choose should automate routine tasks like data entry to speed up data management and avoid mistakes in reports.
1LIMS achieves this by integrating with laboratory devices, external service labs, ERP systems, and other lab software. Thanks to this centralization, Micarna, a leading meat producer in Switzerland, significantly reduced data entry time and experienced a 50% increase in sample throughput. If, before implementing 1LIMS, managing incoming samples took from three to five hours each day, with 1LIMS, this process takes just two hours.
Food safety audits can be stressful if data is scattered or difficult to retrieve. Good compliance software should allow you to store and access all necessary documentation in a centralized way and pass audits without complications.
With 1LIMS, Micarna’s compliance audits became smooth and fast. No more stressful sifting through papers or Excel spreadsheets, now laboratory employees can retrieve any report in just two clicks, which greatly reduces the time spent on audits.
Fragmented data and lost samples can significantly hinder food safety management. It’s crucial to select software that provides a clear tracking system for samples across the entire production process.
Zweifel, a leading Swiss snack manufacturer, often had to deal with lost samples and locating lab results, as data was scattered across various paper documents and multiple Excel spreadsheets. With 1LIMS, they successfully solved this problem, centralizing all their data on a single platform and tracking samples in real-time. Now an employee can quickly scan a QR/barcode label and see all the item info on their screen through the 1LIMS platform.
Administrative tasks like sending, signing, and validating results can take hours each day, distracting lab managers from more important tasks. Convenient compliance software should include a quick report creation feature and result validation so that all relevant parties will have quick access to each sample result.
Micarna, like many other big food companies, struggled to oversee testing and result validation across all their 23 facilities. 1LIMS has helped speed up the interactions between the stakeholders by providing access to a shared data platform and generating QR codes for each lab item. Now all parties can access sample information in real time, shortening the time required for result validation.
By following these tips, you can pick the right food safety software for your business. Choose the solution that combines simple and laconic design with practical features like barcode scanning, sample tracking, and automated report creation to achieve stress-free compliance with the latest food safety standards.
The food and beverage industry is one of the most complex ones in terms of safety compliance. Regulations are getting more stringent to ensure that production on the market is safe to consume. This, in turn, puts great pressure on food manufacturers, making them consider numerous aspects of food safety at each stage of production.
To efficiently track and manage each product, food companies need to adopt modern solutions, designed to handle specific challenges of food production. Make sure to adopt an intuitive, yet efficient system that streamlines all work processes from sample management to report and result validation.
If you are looking for a food safety compliance solution and thinking about whether 1LIMS will suit your laboratory needs, book a free demo and see 1LIMS in action with no strings attached.
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