| No: 18 | June 2008 |
| Food Traceability
The identification of the origin of feed and food ingredients and food sources is of prime importance for the protection of consumers, particularly when products are found to be faulty. Traceability facilitates the withdrawal of foods and enables consumers to be provided with targeted and accurate information concerning implicated products. Traceability is becoming a method of providing safer food supplies and of connecting producers and consumers. Recent diseases such as bovine spongiform encephalitis (BSE) and the questions concerning genetically modified organism (GMO) mean systems that enable control of each link in the food chain have become particularly relevant. What Is Traceability? ISO (International Organization for Standardization), which develops voluntary international standards for products and services, defines traceability as the “ability to trace the history, application, or location of that which is under consideration.” Traceability can be defined as the history of a product in terms of the direct properties of that product and/or properties that are associated with that product once these products have been subject to particular value-adding processes using associated production means and in associated environmental conditions. The information concerning relationships at origin may be used upstream in the supply chain (e.g., in the ordering process to define the requirements of an ordered product), or downstream (e.g., in delivery processes to specify the characteristics of products). Additionally, the information can be used for reporting purposes, either in the supply chain or for third parties.The Regulation EC/178/2002 contains general provisions for traceability (applicable from 1 January 2005) which cover all food and feed, all food and feed business operators, without prejudice to existing legislation on specific sectors such as beef, fish, GMOs etc. Importers are similarly affected as they will be required to identify from whom the product was exported in the country of origin. Unless specific provisions for further traceability exist, the requirement for traceability is limited to ensuring that businesses are at least able to identify the immediate supplier of the product in question and the immediate subsequent recipient, with the exemption of retailers to final consumers (one step back-one step forward). Firms have three primary objectives in using traceability systems: improve supply management; facilitate trace back for food safety and quality; and differentiate and market foods with subtle or undetectable quality attributes. The benefits associated with these objectives include lower cost distribution systems, reduced recall expenses, and expanded sales of products with attributes that are difficult to discern. In every case, the benefits of traceability translate into larger net revenues for the firm.A product traceability system requires the identification of all the physical entities (and locations) from which the product originates, that is to say, where it is processed, packaged, and stocked, and so this includes every agent in the supply chain. Nowadays technical and operative resources available are fundamentally alphanumerical code, bar code, and radio-frequency identification (RFID). Referenceshttp://www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves/April04/Features/FoodTraceability.htm http://ec.europa.eu/food/food/foodlaw/traceability/index_en.htm Regattieri, A., Gamberi, M., Manzini, R. Traceability of food products: General framework and experimental evidence. Journal of Food Engineering, 81 (2007), 347–356. |
