Although it appears that outbreaks of foodborne illness are increasing these days (partly due to extensive media coverage), they date back to the Stone Age. Based on historical accounts, researchers at the University of Maryland have traced the first recorded case to Alexander the Great’s death from typhoid in 323 B.C. Other notable victims of food poisoning include British author Rudyard Kipling, pioneer American...

Written by SmartSense | July 4, 2018 | Food Safety

News broke yesterday that Amazon will purchase PillPack, a delivery pharmacy that sorts medication by dose. Amazon’s entry into pharmacy with PillPack and food service with Whole Foods is a great thing for IoT companies. Amazon has used technology to reinvent online shopping and is doing the same thing in pharmacies and supermarkets. Incumbent competitors will need to aggressively adopt IoT sensor technologies, such...

Written by SmartSense | June 29, 2018 | Pharmacy Safety, Food Safety, Connected Facility

The number of foodborne illness cases in recent years has been on the rise, frequently caused by preventable mistakes. In addition to having significant consequences to brand perception, these incidents have quantifiable impact on brand value.

Written by SmartSense | June 27, 2018 | Food Safety

As we covered in an earlier post, consumer groups who are upset about the unresolved outbreak of E. coli related to romaine lettuce have demanded that failures in the FDA traceability process be repaired before the end of the year. In this follow-up post, we’ll take a closer look at this process as required by the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) passed in 2011.

Written by SmartSense | June 22, 2018 | Food Safety

Food safety programs are broken. They are largely paper based, and lag behind technological innovations realized through wireless sensors and digital checklists. Every year, roughly 1 in 6 people (or 48 million people) get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die of foodborne diseases. Many of these incidents are easily preventable, but companies who lack a modern food safety solution are not doing all they can...

Written by SmartSense | June 20, 2018 | Food Safety

In our recent post outlining the widespread outbreak of E.coli originating from romaine lettuce, we noted that the FDA has been unable to identify how or where the contamination occured in the supply chain. Since mid-March, more than 200 people across 35 states have become ill – and at least three have died. This outbreak is only one of the two outbreaks linked to leafy greens in the past six months whose source of...

Written by SmartSense | June 12, 2018 | Food Safety