SALINAS, CA - As hundreds gather to see technology tied with agriculture, iFood Decision Sciences is adding to the platform with the launch of a new, on-trend method to collect and log important food safety and quality control data easily and with mobility.

Because now there’s an app for it.

“This new app is an enhancement to our existing system that allows food safety and quality control personnel increased mobility and ease when collecting data using an Apple or Android tablet,” Diane Wetherington, CEO of iFood Decision Sciences, said, according to a recent release. “Because these devices use either Wi-Fi or cellular data, they can be used in places where an Internet connection is not available or is spotty.”

Called iFood Decision Science’s--The Toolbox, this mobile method allows farm personnel to quickly complete field and harvest assessments required under both the stringent food safety regulations of today and third-party audits.

Available for download just in time for the ongoing Forbes AgTech Summit, which kicked off in Salinas, CA, yesterday and continues through today, The Toolbox is in line with the event that serves to smartest minds from both the high-tech and global agricultural industries.

“We are very excited to be unveiling this new app during the Forbes AgTech Summit,” said Wetherington. “We encourage interested companies to stop by the Innovation Showcase for a demonstration.”

“Technological solutions like our new app can help produce businesses simplify the burdensome task of documenting food safety data required of today’s fruit and vegetable farmers,” continued Wetherington. “The goal of all iFood Decision Sciences software solutions is to put our customers in control of their data so they can get back to the business of producing food.”

The company noted that other options for the app include conducting evaluations in packing, processing, or cold storage facilities for both food safety and product quality purposes. For field operations, the app allows companies to customize their food safety audit questionnaire according to specific Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). Other capabilities include:

• Automatically recording exact date and time when information is entered
• Allowing users to record real-time photos of situations present in the field
• Noting when any SOP is found out of compliance and allows users to specify what corrective actions were taken  

Away from the field, options for facilities are also included, allowing a company using the app to customize evaluations for their own food safety procedures, as well as create product quality metrics. It can record data for items like product testing with targets specific to an individual commodity and/or variety, monitor temperature and store photos at time of shipment, and much more. If that isn’t enough, the company added that all data can be input and read in either English or Spanish.

“So many of our fruit and vegetable clients tell us their food safety personnel are spending as much as 60% of their time collecting and recording food safety data,” Wetherington said. “This leaves little time to focus on the more important job of managing risk and enhancing product quality.”

Users must have an account, set up for them by iFood Decision Sciences, before they can utilize the new app. For those not attending Forbes AgTech Summit and wanting to look into the app, you can learn more by going to www.idsfoodsafety.com.

iFood Decision Sciences