Revolutionising Compliance and Auditing in the Food Industry with Digital Catapult

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In this podcast we speak to Ellen Moorehead and Scott Grant about ubloquity’s Innovative Leap with Digital Catapult and McColgan's Quality Foods.
ubloquity, a frontrunner in distributed ledger technology solutions based in Banbridge, Northern Ireland, is helping transform data management in the food industry.
Our flagship paVe platform is not just a tool; it's an innovative approach to upholding the integrity of critical data in supply chains in an increasingly complex world.
The Digital Catapult project aimed to revolutionise the way critical data is captured, verified, and stored on ubloquity’s paVe platform. Our goal was to establish a secure chain of custody, demonstrating compliance with set auditing standards.
Armed with a £100,000 Digital Catapult grant, our six-month journey focused on capturing critical data from its source, ensuring its security on a distributed ledger, and granting access to key stakeholders. These included the data originator (a food testing lab), the compliance coordinator (the factory’s food safety technical team), and the retail customer or their independent auditor.
The Challenge:
Traditional compliance and auditing methods in food manufacturing are often manual, time-consuming, with processes that are at risk of human-error. Ellen Moorhead from our project team explains, "Our objective was to address the cumbersome and potentially error-prone process of data management in the food industry."
The ubloquity Solution:
Our tech team, led by Scott Grant, developed a solution based on a distributed ledger system. “We introduced a system to digitise and secure the entire data journey, from the laboratory to the final audit,” explains Scott. “This approach streamlines the process and guarantees data integrity and transparency.”
Key Features of Our Solution:
- Efficiency: Automated data ingestion reduced manual entry time, leading to operational efficiency.
- Transparency: The introduction of an immutable audit trail fostered unprecedented trust among stakeholders.
- Cost-Effectiveness: The project aimed to demonstrate up to 30% cost savings due to the streamlined processes.
Ellen elaborates on the project's impact, "We transformed static, manual processes into dynamic, digital ones, reducing human intervention and enhancing data reliability." Scott adds, “Our system provided real-time, immutable data access to various stakeholders, revolutionising compliance in the food industry.”
Real-World Application and Future Scope
Our project's success was evident in practical applications. Ellen says, “Consider the lab result process – previously managed through emails and manual spreadsheet entries, now automated and securely stored on our platform. This saves time and resources and minimises potential human errors.”
Looking to the future, Scott sees vast potential: “What we’ve achieved with McColgan’s is just the beginning. The possibilities for enhancing compliance and audit efficiency are immense and span various industries and sectors, not just food.”
Conclusion: Pioneering a New Era in Data Management
Our Digital Catapult project with McColgan’s is a testament to ubloquity’s commitment to driving innovation for practical applications. “We’re not just innovating; we’re pioneering a new era of trust and efficiency in data management,” says Ellen.
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