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Food safety isn’t what it was five years ago. New regulations, evolving industry standards, and emerging processing technologies create a constant need for adaptation. But here’s the challenge—most food businesses are so focused on daily operations that keeping up with compliance changes and continuous improvement often takes a backseat. The same team managing production can often need helping hands with tracking the regulatory world and implementing the necessary updates. That’s where a trusted partner becomes critical—bridging the gap between compliance and innovation, ensuring businesses don’t just keep up, but stay ahead. ASC Consultants provides the critical external oversight food businesses need to maintain the highest standards of safety, quality, and compliance. Specializing in fractional QA support, ASC goes beyond traditional consulting by actively assessing internal processes, conducting internal audits, and implementing improvements with speed and efficiency. Their experienced, hands-on, collaborative approach ensures that companies meet regulatory requirements while driving continuous improvement in their food safety programs. By providing expert guidance and supplemental resources, ASC helps businesses strengthen their internal monitoring systems and adapt to evolving industry standards with confidence. “Consumers expect safe and high-quality products, and we add the most value by helping businesses validate their processes, analyze data and implement lasting, organization-wide programs,” says Adrienne Steele, CEO and Founder of ASC Consultants. The company provides comprehensive services within the FDA-regulated and food service industries, specializing in documentation, implementation, and risk mitigation. With teams on the ground in Texas, New York, and California—including Los Angeles—it understands wholesale manufacturing, food service, and commissary operations. Their expertise lies in implementing protocols and programs focused on environmental monitoring, sanitary practices, and hygienic review gap assessments. Investors and companies alike rely on ASC’s services to strengthen quality departments and enhance overall food safety. Beyond compliance, ASC focuses on the human element in food safety, ensuring that teams understand the ‘why’ behind protocols. Their highly trained professionals integrate seamlessly into client operations, offering support in product development, new line validation, and regulatory adherence. By delivering reliable, efficient, and well-structured programs, ASC empowers clients to focus on core business priorities while maintaining excellence in GMP and GFSI compliance. This client-centric approach begins with pre-interviews and gap assessments to identify priorities, deliverables, and timelines. Through this initial phase, the company builds trust, shares its working methods, and evaluates the client’s programs. Following the assessment, ASC develops a structured roadmap and recommendations report tailored to objectives in R&D, GMP-to-GFSI transitions, quality management, or facility openings. The highly structured onboarding process includes clear responsibilities, target dates, and milestones tracked via completion reports and KPIs for transparency. It also assists clients in developing and reporting quality KPIs to measure success, ensuring effective implementation and alignment with goals.
Globally, pest management remains a major concern for food production, storage, and processing facilities. Traditional pest control methods often rely on periodic manual inspections, leaving time for insects to infest and cause damage between checks. Even thorough inspections may fail to detect pests hidden inside stored products without invasive sampling, increasing the risk of undetected problems. Moisture presents another challenge—high humidity can quietly promote mold growth and spoilage, yet many pest control systems fail to track these environmental factors. Delayed detection allows infestations to spread, driving up food loss and cleanup costs. Even fumigation offers limited reassurance, as confirming its success can be difficult. Frequent manual inspections increase labor costs, while skipping them heightens the risk of pest issues. Recognizing the need for smarter solutions, AIVision Food has developed SmartProbe—an advanced AI-powered system that revolutionizes pest control through real-time detection, monitoring, and automated alerts. Designed for early insect detection and environmental tracking, SmartProbe minimizes food loss and operational costs while reducing manual intervention. SmartProbe offers two types of probes: one for in-product detection and another for airspace monitoring. Both monitor pest activities, moisture levels, temperature variations, and chemical hazards, helping prevent infestation, mold growth, and aflatoxin risks. Equipped with wireless sensors, cameras, and cloud connectivity, SmartProbe captures insect images, analyzes data, and sends live alerts via its dedicated app, enabling swift action to prevent infestations. The system’s environmental monitoring capabilities also help safeguard inventory during storage, processing, and transportation. Fumigation-proof and equipped with both Wi-Fi and offline modes, SmartProbe allows instant data downloads for easy reporting and analysis. AI-powered probes are transforming pest management by providing continuous, real-time monitoring that reduces reliance on labor-intensive inspections. Traditional methods often require manual checks that may overlook early signs of infestation, resulting in costly product losses and mitigation. “With 24/7 monitoring and AI-driven insights, SmartProbe empowers food facilities to detect pests early, reduce product loss, and improve food safety—all while cutting labor costs and enhancing efficiency,” says Dr. Zhongli Pan, founder and CEO of AIVision Food. One notable advantage of these probes is their ability to detect both insect presence and unfavorable environmental conditions like excess moisture and temperature, which can accelerate mold growth and compromise food safety. By combining cameras, sensors, and AI technology, the probes identify insect types, count their numbers, and alert facility managers when intervention is required. This proactive approach minimizes the risk of undetected infestations.
Fortifi delivers cutting-edge automation solutions for food production, seamlessly integrating robotics, machinery and software to optimize every stage of processing. Enhancing efficiency, food quality and sustainability, it minimizes waste, reduces labor demands and improves safety. Tailored solutions empower clients to drive productivity while prioritizing environmental responsibility in food processing. The future of food production is seamless, intelligent and sustainable, and Fortifi is leading the transformation. With a full-lifecycle approach to automation, it integrates robotics, AI-driven machinery and advanced software to optimize every stage of food processing. From farm-fresh ingredients to packaged perfection, Fortifi ensures speed, quality and resource efficiency. Its singular focus on food solutions sets it apart from other providers, offering a global presence in every aspect of automated food processing. It delivers all the essential components and ensures they work together seamlessly to drive efficiency and innovation in food production. Fortifi approaches food processing automation from a 360° perspective, identifying early-phase needs, designing entire plants, supplying machinery and tools, installing and commissioning production lines, providing field service and retrofitting existing systems. Taking full ownership of automation processes, it enables food producers to optimize their operations while maintaining high levels of safety, precision and quality control. Its expertise spans red meat, poultry, dairy, seafood and produce, understanding the distinct challenges of each sector. “We understand the importance of responsive customer service, innovation and high-quality solutions in helping our customers achieve their operational goals,” says Massimo Bizzi, CEO. As food producers face mounting pressures to increase output while minimizing waste, labor shortages and rising operational costs, automation is no longer a luxury—it is a necessity. Fortifi’s solutions streamline production lines, reducing manual labor, improving workplace safety and increasing overall efficiency.
Riaz Ahamadeenulie, VP of Quality/Food Safety & Regulatory For North America, Oatly
Steve Hammond, Food Safety & Quality Assurance Professional, Sandridge Crafted Foods
Suzanne Finstad, Vice President of Food Safety and Quality Assurance (FSQA), Tyson Foods
Jenna Kouri, Technical Business Development Manager, Nutrition, Batory Foods Inc.
Samantha Barstow, Director of Food Safety and Quality Assurance, Noodles & Company
Next-Gen Food Safety Solutions
The future of food safety and quality assurance lies in the integration of intelligent systems that enhance transparency, accuracy and efficiency across the production line. With growing consumer expectations, evolving regulatory standards and complex global supply chains, technology is reshaping how the food and beverage sector maintains integrity, from farm to fork. At the core of this growth are a gamut of tech trends. SmartProbe technology is emerging as a vital component in this transformation. These advanced sensors offer real-time data collection on key parameters such as temperature, pH and humidity during processing and storage. Its precision enables immediate corrective actions, reducing waste, preventing contamination and ensuring compliance with food safety regulations. When paired with AI and machine learning, SmartProbe systems can identify patterns and anomalies in production, offering predictive insights that support better decision-making. These technologies help manufacturers respond swiftly to potential issues, optimize processes and reduce operational costs without compromising on safety or quality. This edition of Food and Beverage Tech Review explores how advanced food safety solutions are reshaping the future of the industry. Featured thought leaders include Steve Hammond, a food safety and quality assurance professional at Sandridge Crafted Foods, who emphasizes that a successful food safety program depends on policies, leadership and building a shared culture of responsibility at every level of a food manufacturing organization. Adeniyi Odugbemi, global director—food safety at ADM, highlights the critical role audits and inspections play in strengthening food safety standards across food manufacturing facilities. We hope this edition, showcasing the Top Food Safety and Quality Assurance Consulting Company 2025, Top SmartProbe Technology 2025 and Best Food Processing Solution 2025, provides valuable insights into how food and beverage technology is setting a new global benchmark for safety and quality assurance.