Take the Food Safety & Security Test Start Self Assessment
Food & Beverage production requires protection!
Because of their limited ability to assess food safety consumers put their trust in brands and regulatory practices. The responsibility for a high-quality and safe product rests with the manufacturer.
To meet increasing regulatory requirements, food and beverage manufacturers are increasingly relying on automation equipment and its monitoring by industrial control systems (ICS). But do they also keep an eye on the risks? With version control and change management that meets the legal requirements and with an end-to-end cybersecurity concept, automated food & beverage production can be protected against dangers in the production and factory environment.
Food Safety Standards
The food industry is under strict observation by consumers and authorities alike. In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sets binding standards for food products entering the market. Title 21 CFR Part 11 outlines the regulations of the US Food and Drug Administration for electronic records and electronic signatures. In Europe, the specifications of "Good Manufacturing Practice" (GMP) serve as quality standards. In EU GMP Annex 11, the European Commission regulates the requirements for computerized systems.
Ralph Klemme
Sales, AUVESY GmbH
Watch out, Food and Beverage manufacturers!
If you are not able to fulfill requirements of electronic signatures and documentation for your automated production, don’t get caught by the FDA!
Defense in Depth (IEC 62443)
In 2014, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) added ISA / IEC 62443 Industrial Automation and Control Systems (IACS) to help food and beverage manufacturers better protect themselves from cyber attacks. The standards follow the "Defense in Depth" approach. "Defense in depth" can be thought of like a castle: Different lines and defense, usually arranged from the outside in, protect against intruders and other threats. In each zone, a target level of protection is set. This reduces the complexity of a risk analysis for the entire facility. Then, organizations can evaluate the functions of each zone and the channels between zones easily. By combining the assessment of the functional and organizational measures in a two-dimensional matrix, a protection level can be assigned to each field.
Dirk Thielker
Sales, AUVESY GmbH
Change Control & Audit Trails
An audit trail is a quality assurance tool used to control and record changes in production processes. With audit trails, the focus is on monitoring changes and deletions made by users. That way, any changes made to processes are comprehensive, controllable, and completely visible.
versiondog records audit trail information about:
- Users - a User ID is linked to any creation, modification, or deletion of data.
- Events - any deviation from defined parameters or tolerances is considered an event.
- Dates and Timestamps - the time and date of an event is automatically recorded for any action.
- System and Device information - a log file with device and system name, IP addresses, and sessions is readily available.
| Georgios Theodoridis Sales, AUVESY GmbH | Keep in touch with Georgios |
Quality Management with HACCP and Batch Reporting
Food manufacturers also use quality management systems to identify a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) in addition to the standard regulations outlined by the FDA and GMP.
HACCP helps to minimize risks in food production and avoid product recalls. For example, a quality managment practice like running a batch report ensures complete traceability of changes to recieps.
To follow HACCP, a multitude of documents must be kept on hand.
versiondog offers the posibility to have these documents approved with the "four-eyes-principle" and allows them to be centrally stored along with the actual project data for the automated production devices.
| Jan Bakhsh Sales, AUVESY GmbH | Keep in touch with Jan |
White Paper
Audits in industrial automation
This free white paper explains the best way to approach such an audit, what exactly is involved, and what are some of the potential pitfalls?
Web demo
versiondog live
It will only take 30 minutes of your time to find out how versiondog can help you increase the productivity of your production facilities.
Checklist
Data protection
This free checklist helps you to identify and increase data protection for your automated production.
Data Management that brings Safety and Security to your Production
As a complete, centralized data management system, versiondog provides Food and Beverage companies with safeguarded data, proof of quality, project documentation and change management for the entire production facility at the click of a button.
Webcast on Demand
In our 45-minutes webcast “Version Control and Change Management for Automated Food & Beverage Production” Georgios Theodoridis gave an overview on how food and beverage manufacturers can benefit from version control and change management software. Watch the recording and learn how versiondog enables you to meet legal requirements for food safety and cybersecurity as well as how to reduce production downtime and manual work while improving process quality.
Through your registration you will get access to watch the recorded webcast on demand.