How do I find out how much product a food plant loses to spoilage?

Start with the flow of product. Ask for purchase records, production records and shipping records for the same period. The gap between ingredients in and finished product out is the sum of normal trimming, spoilage and error. Some loss is built into the process, so ask the owner what they consider normal and why.

Next, ask where the spoiled product is recorded. Check the books for inventory write-offs, and ask how often stock counts are done and who does them. Look in the bins and discard area. Ask about customer returns and complaints, because those can show a quality problem upstream. Ask your accountant how the losses show up in the numbers.

Find the causes. Does spoilage come from equipment failures, poor stock rotation, long hold times, or overproduction? Ask whether temperatures are logged and whether any breakdown caused a big loss. Check whether the plant orders more than it uses. A plant that can say why it loses product, and has a fix underway, is in a better position than one that shrugs. Talk with the staff who handle stock. If the plant tracks nothing, that is itself an answer. It usually means the loss is not being managed, and a new owner would be starting from nothing when trying to reduce it.

Key takeaways

• Compare ingredients in with product out for the same period.
• Check write-offs, returns and discard records.
• Ask what causes the losses and whether anything is being done.