Quality and laboratory leaders in the food industry are under increasing pressure to improve their testing programs due to rising food safety alert notifications, exposed supply chains, and accelerating reformulation cycles.
According to the report, testing programs become complex over time, with layers of tests added in response to past incidents, customer requests, and formulation changes.
Nia Owen-Cortez, Vice President of Quality Assurance at Mondelēz Europe, notes that “due diligence will always be a necessity… but the meaningful shift is in the growing need to build more probability-based testing programmes.”
The report examines how leading manufacturers are moving beyond static, retrospective spot-checks to build data-led, predictive testing strategies.
It provides guidance on rationalizing testing programs, eliminating redundancy, and aligning testing spend with current risk profiles.
Industry leaders, including Darshana Desai Mestry from Pladis UK&I and Tola Alade-Lambo from McCain Foods, share their perspectives on strategies for overcoming challenges such as low concentrations and complex matrices.
The report also covers how to equip laboratory and QA teams with the analytical speed and confidence needed to make informed decisions on a busy production line.
By adopting predictive testing strategies, food manufacturers can identify emerging hazards earlier, accelerate batch decisions, and prove the return on analytical investment.
Quality and laboratory leaders must reassess their testing programs and consider how they can be improved to deliver proactive operational confidence as the food industry continues to evolve.