Traceability:Challenges

From TraceFood

For chain traceability to happen, relevant data must be recorded, in some physical or logical way attached to the product, sent to next link in suitable format, and read / recorded there upon arrival. There are unsolved problems related to each of these tasks:

Recording of data	A lot of recording is currently done in each link of the food industry, but there is little harmonization of naming, methods and measurements.
Attach data to product	Attachment is normally done through printing information on label or in accompanying documentation. If data is to be re-used, a globally unique ID is needed as key, not only for product type, but also for batch or trade unit. Product types already have internationally agreed upon standard codes (GTIN), but these are mostly used on retail packaging. Companies normally use their own proprietary codes to identify batches and trade units. Standard codes do exist; the candidates are GTIN+ (GS1 code, extension to the existing GTIN product type code, compatible with current systems, in practice carried on a GS1 128 bar code) or EPC (new electronic product code, in practice carried on a RF-ID chip), but currently they are rarely used.
Send information	Today some data are put on the label and in accompanying documentation. A better system is if data is keyed to the unique identifier, and an electronic message in standard form (XML) is sent.
Receive information	This is the weakest part of the link today. Because the received data (on label and in accompanying documentation) is in a form and with an identifier that is only meaningful to the sending company, most of it is ignored. Our studies show information loss of 80-95% from one link in the chain to the next (measured in number of parameters lost).

To address these challenges, there are some generic Research and Development (R&D) tasks that need to be carried out (however, solutions for some of these challenges are presently under work):

• Standard (or widespread implementation of existing (GS1) standard) needed for globally unique identification of production batches, not only of product types.
• Standards / harmonization needed for parameter names and values in and between different food sectors.
• Standard needed for how to exchange food traceability information electronically; how to ensure that all information about origin, processes, measurements and transportation routes, collated from many different sources, are available at the press of a button.
• Development of infrastructure to disseminate this information, both to industry and to the consumer.
• Development of methods to verify those recordings that can be verified.
• Investigation into which parameters are relevant to pass on to the consumer, and the effect this has on purchase decisions

Many of these challenges are addressed in the TraceFood framework: TODO: add links to solutions