Process monitoring for the Australian meat industry - a comparative industry trial

AMPC 2017-1068 Process Control Monitoring – Is There A Better Way proposed a revised, improved Product Hygiene Index system for the beef, sheep and pork industries, which is straightforward, focused on “testing what is sold” and compliance with Australian requirements, has 11 KPIs, each of which is linked with an Alert based on a moving window and has a red/green traffic light dashboard updated in almost real time. This project will test the utility of the proposed PHI system and also generate data to validate the Alert criteria through a comprehensive industry trial involving twelve establishments from the beef, sheep/lamb and pig sectors. Outcomes for the industry include reduced costs for compliance, microbiological testing and Meat Hygiene Assessment. The project represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to amend a twenty-year system which has progressively become more onerous and expensive for the industry, without providing any information on food safety aspects.