Contract with Exponential-e lays ground for data exchange between Food Standards Agency sites and meat industry
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has begun to set up a new networking infrastructure for the submission of food safety documents from around 220 abattoirs nationwide.
It has contracted cloud and network provider Exponential-e to develop the infrastructure, which will use fibre and ADSL links to connect the abattoirs with the FSA’s main sites in York, Cardiff, London and Belfast.
Work has begun on the implementation, which also involves the provision of a centralised intranet.
Exponential-e said the network will enable FSA inspectors to access and submit data on meat quality that is critical to the management of the food chain, and that it will be scalable to meet current and potential future data requirements.
A spokesperson said it is currently talking with the agency about other services to support its operations.
Food chain integrity
Phillippa Tasselli, head of IT services at the FSA, said: “Working with Exponential-e, we’ve been able to put in place an architecture that will mean our inspectors can file important documentation in a timely manner that ensures the integrity of the food chain.”
“Whilst we’ve implemented this new infrastructure to meet our current needs, the environment in which we operate is pretty fluid.”
She added that the agency believes it will have a future proof networking platform in place when the implementation is complete.
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