Digital hygiene platform strengthens audit readiness for food manufacturers

Food and beverage manufacturers can demonstrate compliance with hygiene standards quickly and accurately, with instant access to cleaning records through an updated digital hygiene management platform from Kersia UK.

Gateway 2.0 enables hygiene teams to manage cleaning procedures digitally, while Gateway AC 2.0 – an extension to the platform – allows tasks to be scheduled up to 12 months in advance and accessed on mobile devices on the factory floor.

Operatives can record cleaning in real time, add photographic evidence and digitally sign off completed work, creating a central record that can be retrieved for audits and customer assurance.

Darren Saunders, technical services director at Kersia UK, says the platform has been redeveloped in response to the growing volume of hygiene documentation required across food and beverage manufacturing.

Mr Saunders says: “Maintaining accurate, up-to-date paper records is time-consuming and prone to inefficiencies.”

Gateway 2.0 allows multiple cleaning tasks to be selected and signed off together, while individual tasks can be signed off by operatives and verified through an inspection process.

“Once that information is captured digitally, you can start using it to identify trends, such as how long cleaning is taking and how often tasks are being completed,” Mr Saunders explains.

“This can identify opportunities to improve efficiency and performance or highlight where further training may be needed.”

Improved use of digital data is actively being considered as part of changes to food regulation. The Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) Future of Food Regulation programme recently identified[i] greater use of data and strengthened intelligence sharing as one of its proposed outcomes.

Mr Saunders says food manufacturers are already seeing increasing demand for accessible digital records from customers and auditors.

“If an auditor asks for evidence that a piece of equipment was cleaned six months ago, you can find it immediately,” he says.

“Gateway tells you what was cleaned, who completed the task, who verified it and when it was signed off. With paper records, finding the same information can take significantly longer.”

Kersia’s hygiene technologists support customers with system set-up and training, alongside ongoing technical guidance.

Mr Saunders adds: “Our team works closely with customers to make sure the system works for their site.”

The team is also considering how AI could help review and improve cleaning programmes in future.

“Our goal is to help hygiene teams spend less time on administration and more time improving processes and performance,” he says.