Although the food and beverage industry has been slow (ahem reluctant) to accept innovations in compliance processes, this new how-to introduces efficiency and accuracy by way of COA management.
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to The artificial intelligence (AI) hype is real. You’ve seen the stories, maybe experimented with a chatbot or two. But do you really buy in to the latest and greatest this technology has to offer? While it can be tempting to discount some of more outlandish claims—revolutionizing sandwiches, really?—its promise for compliance in the food and beverage (F&B) industry needs to be explored. Because AI-driven compliance isn’t a fad, it’s next in the evolution of better public health and safety.
The time for manual reviews, comparisons, and bottlenecks is over
Now we’re going to say the three words everyone in supply chain loves to hear: certificates of analysis (COAs). These essential documents verify the quality, safety, and composition of every ingredient that passes through your facilities—with verification being a key part of the process. How do you ensure that the COA of a shipment received matches your specifications? Too many teams spend hours manually cross-referencing lot-level, supplier-provided details with their internal specs trying to make sure nothing slips through the cracks.
But this approach isn’t scalable or sustainable. Relying on individual reviews for every single COA that passes through the organization creates bottlenecks, burnout, and leaves too much room for error. Especially when your people are often sifting through spreadsheets, PDFs, or even printed documents, to ensure they’re referencing the latest versions that come in a variety of supplier formats. While we could go on about this tedious work, changes are you’ve already experienced the inefficiencies and hidden costs for yourself.
A closer look at how AI is reshaping COA workflows
As AI becomes more embedded in F&B operations, its potential to revolutionize COA management is impossible to ignore. Yet, the first step to assessing its abilities is to overcome the skepticism that surrounds it—particularly in the food and beverage industry. Detractors argue that our processes are too complex for technology to grasp. Others view is as a potential threat, rather than an operational partner.
In spaces like quality assurance, regulatory affairs, or supplier management, they’re right to distinguish between the deep knowledge and hard-earned intuition their established teams can offer. To be clear, there is no substitute for human judgment in complex, high-stakes decision-making. But AI, when applied correctly, can relieve people from grunt work that bogs down compliance workflows. Amplifying the strength of your team as they do their best work.
Free your team to focus on what matters most
With this resource, you’ll gain the knowledge to modernize outdated processes and future-proof your compliance strategy. Including insights on:
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How to address lingering skepticism surrounding AI with key stakeholders
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How to distinguish newer technology from more traditional options, like OCR, and why that matters
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Real-world applications of how AI tackles material variability, one lot at a time
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How to calculate the ROI of upgrading your brand’s COA processing and management
A SNEAK PREVIEW: CHAPTER 1
Manual COA processing is holding you back—here’s why
The COA is one of the most important documents in the F&B industry. It acts as a blueprint for quality verification, confirming —lot by lot—whether incoming raw materials meet the rigorous safety, health, and regulatory standards needed for production. From ensuring allergens are properly labeled to verifying nutrient contents, COAs are the backbone of material compliance. But as vital as these documents are, the way they’re managed often tells a different story.
For many manufacturers today, the process for managing COAs remains locked in the past, still reliant on manual methods to review. Teams spend hours cross-referencing specifications against supplier-provided details, sifting through spreadsheets, PDFs, or even printed documents. It’s tedious work, prone to mistakes, and poses hidden costs that go beyond time and efficiency losses. Worse, this dependence on people-power alone makes it harder for businesses to scale or keep pace with regulatory demands.
This chapter examines the high costs and inefficiencies of manual COA processing, unpacks the skepticism toward AI adoption, and makes a compelling case for purpose-built AI as the next frontier for compliance transformation.
The high costs of manual COA processing
Manual COA processing might seem manageable on paper, but the closer you examine the process, the clearer the inefficiencies become. Reviewing, analyzing, and comparing COAs to specifications is far from straightforward, especially when dealing with the volume and diversity of materials that F&B manufacturers handle daily.
Time-consuming tasks: Reviewing COAs requires a level of precision that takes time, especially when discrepancies are found. For manufacturers dealing with hundreds of COAs monthly, this process can become a full-time job for multiple employees.
Prone to human error: Even the most detail-oriented employees are not immune to mistakes. Given the often dense and unstructured format of COAs, small errors are inevitable. Forgetting to flag a shipment that falls slightly out of spec or missing an undeclared allergen in a raw material can lead to massive problems, from consumer safety issues to regulatory violations.
Scalability constraints: As businesses grow, so does the number of materials they need to process. Manual processes can’t keep up, especially when you’re trying to review every lot, every day.
Hidden costs to talent and focus: Skilled quality and compliance professionals end up spending their valuable time on repetitive, lowvalue tasks rather than strategic work. This not only impacts team morale but also delays improvements that could benefit the business more broadly.
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