Data-Driven Insights Key to a Resilient Food Safety Future, says LRQA

As the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) 2025 Conference approaches, leading global assurance specialist, LRQA is calling on the food industry to prioritise data-driven supply risk management to ensure future food safety resilience.

Food businesses worldwide are under mounting pressure to ensure supply chain transparency as they navigate changing regulations while also reassessing sourcing strategies and risk exposure in the face of shifting geopolitical and climate change impacts.

Though a vast amount of supplier compliance data is available to support decision making, many businesses struggle to use this data effectively, leaving them vulnerable to compliance failures and operational disruptions despite the time and effort extended to manage supplier risk.

Marking a decade at GFSI, leading global assurance partner LRQA continues to lead the industry in assisting clients tackling the mounting challenges to safe food supply presented by regulatory complexity, geopolitical uncertainty, and evolving sustainability expectations.

At GFSI 2025, Kimberly Coffin, LRQA’s Supply Chain Assurance Technical Director, will highlight how employing advanced data analytics can enable business to transform their one-size-fits-all supplier verification programs to a more effective and efficient risk-based approach to food safety across their supply chain. Using real-world examples from recent work with food and beverage clients, Kimberly will demonstrate how LRQA have assisted global businesses successfully leverage data driven insights to re-set the supplier verification process, better understand where ‘true’ risk exists, and ensure resilience in an increasingly unpredictable landscape.

“Businesses across the food industry are increasingly recognising the fact that they need to be smarter about how they’re using data,” Kimberly explained. “The challenge is identifying the best combination of tools, systems and external expertise needed to deliver the foresight to prioritise resources, protect supply integrity and proactively inform decisions.  As regulations evolve and supply chains become more complex, businesses that embrace data intelligence will be best positioned to maintain compliance and build long-term resilience.”

The GFSI 2025 Conference will take place in Dublin from March 31 to April 3 with Kimberly’s Tech Talk held on Tuesday April 1 at 3:35 pm GMT.

To see more on LRQA’s involvement at the GFSI and register for the conference, see LRQA.com.