SaaS may save lives

If you eat food, this may interest you.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration reports that last year there were 320 food-related recalls by companies in this country. By March of this year we had topped 400. The result of foodborne illnesses is that more than 325,000 individuals in the United States are taken to the hospital each year and at least 5,000 of them die.

A big part of the problem once a contaminated food source has been identified is to track it through the supply chain to where the food has been distributed. Think back to all of the food-poisoning scares you've read about in the media. Officials seem to run around with their hair on fire until all of the tainted products have been found and removed from potential consumption. That takes a while.

But maybe things will speed up a bit. Last week iTradeNetwork Inc. of Pleasanton, Calif. unveiled its Food Safety Traceability Resource Center, which tracks where the stomach ache-inducing goodies have been distributed.

What makes iTradeNetwork a good source for the data? Well, according to Mark Barnekow, executive vice president, his company serves more than 5,500 distributors who deliver food to more than 250,000 restaurants, retailers and other outlets in the U.S. The companies use iTradeNetwork's SaaS offering to order and track their goods everyday, so it's the ideal place to discern where potentially harmful products have been shipped.

"We can leverage the network and the data to help make recall efforts more efficient." He says.

Barnekow contends, "We have the safest food industry in the world." And he hopes the new, free service will make it even safer.