IBM Case Studies Stopping life-threatening contamination before it starts revolutionizes food safety

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	Stopping life-threatening contamination before it starts revolutionizes food safety IBM

Stopping life-threatening contamination before it starts revolutionizes food safety

IBM

Technology Category	Analytics & Modeling - Big Data Analytics Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
Applicable Industries	Food & Beverage
Applicable Functions	Quality Assurance
Use Cases	Food Safety Management Predictive Quality Analytics
Services	Data Science Services
Challenge	Each year, more than two million people die due to food-borne illnesses, and the world discards more than USD75 billion worth of food. For food distributors such as US-based Mars, Incorporated, food recalls cost at least USD10 million each. Mars didn’t have a way to test its thousands of food ingredients, so its response to pathogens was mainly reactive. Read More
About Customer	Established in 1911, Mars, Incorporated sells candy, packaged food and pet food all over the world. Its offering include such well-known names as Snickers, M&M’S, UNCLE BEN’S Brand rice and Pedigree pet food. The business is headquartered in Virginia and employs more than 75,000 people worldwide. Read More
Solution	By sampling thousands of microbes present in normal food ingredients and using complex algorithms to analyze this massive amount of data, Mars is establishing a baseline for determining what conditions might lead to contamination. Armed with this information, food manufacturers worldwide can anticipate and stop contamination before it reaches the public. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Big Data Analytics

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration

Applicable Industries

Food & Beverage

Applicable Functions

Quality Assurance

Use Cases

Food Safety Management

Predictive Quality Analytics

Services

Data Science Services

Challenge

Each year, more than two million people die due to food-borne illnesses, and the world discards more than USD75 billion worth of food. For food distributors such as US-based Mars, Incorporated, food recalls cost at least USD10 million each. Mars didn’t have a way to test its thousands of food ingredients, so its response to pathogens was mainly reactive.

About Customer

Established in 1911, Mars, Incorporated sells candy, packaged food and pet food all over the world. Its offering include such well-known names as Snickers, M&M’S, UNCLE BEN’S Brand rice and Pedigree pet food. The business is headquartered in Virginia and employs more than 75,000 people worldwide.

Solution

By sampling thousands of microbes present in normal food ingredients and using complex algorithms to analyze this massive amount of data, Mars is establishing a baseline for determining what conditions might lead to contamination. Armed with this information, food manufacturers worldwide can anticipate and stop contamination before it reaches the public.

Impact #1	For Mars, this solution represents an opportunity to save more than USD10 million for each product it shields from contamination.
Impact #2	It can also have a huge impact on world health by reducing the number of lives lost to foodborne illness and by making it simpler and easier to keep our food supply free from contaminants.
Impact #3	Lastly, the solution can reduce the amount of food the distributor and other companies must discard yearly because of the suspected or confirmed presence of pathogens, thereby helping combat hunger and boost the world’s economy.

Impact #1

For Mars, this solution represents an opportunity to save more than USD10 million for each product it shields from contamination.

Impact #2

It can also have a huge impact on world health by reducing the number of lives lost to foodborne illness and by making it simpler and easier to keep our food supply free from contaminants.

Impact #3

Lastly, the solution can reduce the amount of food the distributor and other companies must discard yearly because of the suspected or confirmed presence of pathogens, thereby helping combat hunger and boost the world’s economy.

Benefit #1	Potential savings of more than USD10 million for each product shielded from contamination.

Benefit #1

Potential savings of more than USD10 million for each product shielded from contamination.

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Overview

Stopping life-threatening contamination before it starts revolutionizes food safety

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit