Traceability in agro-industries
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Contents
2 • Defining Traceability in food and agricultural products
• Importance of Traceability in food and agriculture
• Traceability system
• Effectiveness of traceability systems
• Information requirement for traceability systems
• Implementation of traceability system
• Traceability tools and technology solutions
• Challenges in implementing traceability solutions
Traceability in food and agricultural products
- Food safety
- Traceability as a risk management tool
- ‘one-step-back-one-step-forward’
- origin of food and feed ingredients and food sources
- The International Organization for Standardization:
“ability to follow the movement of a feed or food through
specified stage(s) of production, processing and
distribution”
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Traceability in food and agricultural products
1. Trace the flow of materials (feed, food, their ingredients, and
packaging);
2. Identify necessary documentation and tracking for each stage of
production;
3. Ensure adequate coordination between the different actors
involved;
4. Improve communication among the involved parties;
5. Improve the appropriate use and reliability of the information,
effectiveness, and productivity of the organization.
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Importance of Traceability in food and agriculture
- Food safety and identification
More trade
- Verifiable safety and quality
- Better risk management
- Shorter response time Food
- Minimum trade disruption by More players
safety
targeted withdrawals and
quality
- Reduced recalls 50-95%
(Sparling & Sterling, 2005)
Fragmentation/
specialization
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Importance of Traceability in food and agriculture
- Prevention instead of reaction to food safety concerns
- Reduced product losses due to product expiry
- Lower inventory levels
- Improved branding and customer confidence
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Traceability system
- Characteristics of traceability systems
- Identification of product and ingredients
- Information collection
- Information sharing
- Breadth, depth, and precision
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Traceability system
Conceptual framework of food traceability system
Source: EQM Bulletin, 2015
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Traceability system
Conceptual framework of food traceability system
Source: EQM Bulletin, 2015
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Effectiveness of traceability systems
- Complete tracing across the supply chain
- Readily accessible information
Factors affecting the effectiveness of traceability
- Supply chain structure and organization
- Destination of a product;
- Identification of traceable lot unit;
- Time needed to trace a product;
- Credibility of traceability method;
- Data identification methods and data standardization;
- Integration of a traceability system with other systems;
Legislation on traceability 10
Information requirement for traceability systems
- Food receipt
- Food type and food source
- Food recall
- Firm identification, Production records, Volume or
quantity of products manufactured or supplied, Batch
or lot identification (or other markings), Where
products are distributed, Any other relevant
production records. 11
Implementation of Traceability system
Set in place a
Assess internal
project
capacities
• Company, sector,
supplier profile,
customer • Data generated by • Company goals • A team with an
requirements, the organization and resources administrator, working
regulatory during production, match with external methodology,
requirements customer relations, schedule, budget and
traceability reporting
• Internal and marketing, and requirements • Pilot testing
external needs accounting
• Assess the
• Data and robustness of the
parameters of system and
traceability periodically review
the system sensitivity
Define the context Bring together the
and assess the internal and the
needs external
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Developing traceability procedures
- Step 1: Create an operations diagram
- Step 2: Write-up the instructions
to be followed as procedures
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Sample process flowchart
Source: Establishment of a traceability system, Handbook,
COLEACP
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Example of traceability data capture
Source: Establishment of a traceability system, Handbook, COLEACP
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Traceability tools and technology solutions
- Manual systems
- Accuracy, reliability, and consumer confidence issues
- Technological solutions
- Product identification, information capture, analysis,
storage and transmission of data, overall system
integration
- Such systems include hardware such as measuring/
sensing equipment, identification tags, and labels
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Examples of traceability tools and labels
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Examples of traceability tools and labels
- Barcodes
- Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID)
- Wireless Sensor Network (WSN)
- E.g., temperature and humidity sensors
- Blockchain
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Challenges in implementing traceability solutions
- Costs
- Skills and implementation
- Multiple requirements
- Traceability within the framework of food safety
management systems
- Challenges faced by developing countries
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Thank you
