CALF_News_December_2018_January_2019

26 CALF News • December 2018 | January 2019 • www.calfnews.net the significant economic loss as well. Blockchain technology allows for source identification of a product to go from days or weeks down to seconds. According to Laughlin, there are currently millions of products on the blockchain, with more requests coming in daily, and not only for fresh prod- ucts, but ingredients as well. They are tailoring blockchain technology to trace things like food temperature, meat aging, consumption trends and shelf life, all resulting in spoilage reduction and other applications. “In some regards, this food safety issue is the spark for the bigger issue of supply chain, visibility, waste and distribution,” Laughlin said.“The problem of food safety that we are solving will be the impetus of how to feed the world. Block- chain technology will help us figure out distribution problems, supply issues and waste issues.” Q & A: After the initial thoughts from the panelists, Belk opened the session for audience Q & A, which further explored the issue of mitigation and response. Q: In reference to the recent outbreak in Fort Morgan, it looks like the product was out on shelves in May and is likely already consumed. Does this technology help with that – and other outbreaks – and if so, how? Dorn: Yes, the technology it will help as it will allow us to remove product that is the source of the outbreak long before we can identify what caused it. It pre- vents us from recalling an entire indus- try and removing product that is not affected. We pull the product causing the problem and then find out why. Almanza: Traceback will shorten the time of recall, and that is important, but when dealing with FSIS and CDC, we need to get the medical system improved so that doctors and labs and hospi- tals will report illnesses or symptoms consistently. Q: In outbreaks where it’s already hap- pened, what are the tools coming through innovation that can help us to prevent them from occurring to begin with? Almanza: The responsible use of animal drugs is key. We need to be less focused on the dollar and more on focused human health. We need to pay attention to what we are feeding and be smarter about that. The return on investment of these technologies is very positive and immediate because you only need one outbreak to make it pay for itself. Dorn: Using technology has resulted in workers taking more pride in what they do, raises the bar for the harvesters so that they do better work and stops incidences from happening. It also allows us to not decimate an entire industry. There are other efficiencies that will be generated from these innovations. We have clients who look at these technolo- gies as a way to extend their work in progress (WIP). With a supply chain/ distribution solution that comes from using these innovations, they can sell fresh product before it ever hits the docks. That is not small – that may be $1 million a day for some producers. Laughlin: We continue to invest a lot of money in research that will innovate. We now have a modifier that allows us to see E. coli , and we are getting to the point where we can answer the questions that are asked. The technology is getting more affordable and accessible, and now it’s more a case of the imagination and how to implement a technology. It’s not a business problem, but a case of bridging the imagination. Sometimes it is com- plex in getting the different stakeholders to align, but the value is there. Q: While there are many opportuni- ties for improvement, has our food supply ever been safer? Almanza: Every day, our food supply gets safer. We’ve never seen the num- bers lower than they are today for E. coli O157, but how do you say that to a family whose loved one has just died? There is always room for improvement. Dorn: The rest of the world envies what we do because of what we do and how we do it. The pride that the U.S. farmer/rancher takes in their production is what makes a difference. Even the field workers take pride in what they do so that the consumer gets the best product possible. Q: How do we apply these safety meth- ods to foreign-sourced foods and new products that have little history with food chain stakeholders? Laughlin: We are beginning to apply metrics and analytics to blockchain data and, by using artificial intelligence (AI), you can tell if the data is being artificially inputted or manipulated. As we start to use standards and capture data early on, we begin to understand patterns based on the life cycles of products. By using the history of learned patterns, we apply that to the data and machine learnings, and we can see bogus patterns. Almanza: Every country has a differ- ent platform for their data systems, and getting one to speak to another is not always easy, but food safety is not some- thing we need to be proprietary about. CSU AG INNOVATION SUMMIT Continued from page 25