Business Continuity In Food Sector
28/04/2011
Natural calamites, criminal activities and man made disasters can leave your business in turmoil along with loss of brand reputation. Planned response to a crisis can help businesses to minimize the impact of supply chain disruptions. BS2599 certification by LRQA can help you to remain resilient and protect you brand reputation.
A month after the Great Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami and the ensuing events at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, the Japanese Government is making a concerted effort to protect the country’s multi billion dollar food industry. Japanese food exporters have an enviable reputation as high quality providers and in parts of Asia some buyers are willing to pay top dollars to get the best produce from Japan. In the light of the potential for radioactive contamination, the Japanese government is doing its utmost to ensure food safety is not compromised and systematic sampling is conducted to ensure that contaminated food is not sold to the public.
Foreign governments are also not taking any chances as some put import restrictions on produce from the prefectures suspected of being affected. Some Japanese food exporters are required to provide a certificate of radioactive safety by their customers. It is pertinent to note that food safety is not the only area of concern. Major disruption to infrastructure, transportation as well as factory damage from the disaster has severed supply chains. As a consequence, many food importers and Japanese restaurants abroad will not be able to obtain their food supply. Japanese restaurants in Hong Kong and Singapore are worried about their long term viability as some of them do not have an alternative supplier to provide them with fresh produce of the quality required.
In 2011 the World experienced 3 major incidents - flooding in Australia, earthquake in New Zealand and now earthquake and tsunami in Japan. In the case of flooding disaster in Australia, distributing fresh produce even several weeks after the flood was a challenge. Damaged roads and infrastructure made it impossible for food wholesalers to remain in business. Subsequently some of these businesses closed down as they struggled to survive.
To ensure that businesses can remain resilient, some companies in the UK have created contingency plans to prepare for adverse circumstances and disasters. Major British insurers, critical public infrastructure organisations and several utilities companies have adopted an internationally known standard, BS 25999 to ensure that their business risks can be minimised and they can continue business within a short time frame.
Of course, complying with the standard does not infer any immunity from problems. The events in Japan were of an unprecedented magnitude not anticipated in risk assessments, nor can it guarantee that business can function normally after an incident, . However, the standard will provide a framework for businesses to be prepared to deal with a range of unexpected events that will threaten its sustainability or existence. For example, food importers in Singapore or Hong Kong may identify potential alternative suppliers in the event of natural disaster so the continuity of supply will not be disrupted.
As incidents can cripple any business, major multinationals are not taking chances and they are insisting their supply chain to be certified to BS 25999. Insurance companies are also requesting clients to be certified to BS 25999 to mitigate unexpected risks and to remain resilient during difficult times.
LRQA has certified a number of British companies in the UK to BS 25999 and if you wish to learn more about business continuity standard, please contact us.