In a constantly evolving supply chain environment, end-to-end traceability enables visibility, at the same time addressing costly, dangerous recalls and building trust among consumers. Little wonder that the global food traceability market, including tracking technologies, is expected to soar at a CAGR of 8.7 percent, reaching expected revenue of $14.1 billion by 2020. Food traceability is fast becoming a norm for all food producers worldwide as a result of consumer demands and new laws concerning food safety.

"Farm-to-fork" or "Farm-to-table" is more than just a catchy buzzword. Food companies face an increasing consumer pressure to deliver food that is safe to eat. Consumers expect unsafe food to be instantly removed from store shelves. Smart companies are aware of the fact that brand integrity and consumer confidence are directly linked to food safety and the ability to track products up and down the supply chain.

Win the race with track'n'trace

A 2009 Civic Exchange Survey found that 77 percent of Hong Kong residents believe unsafe food is the most important personal concern they have for their health and well-being, ranking well ahead of air pollution, water pollution and many other issues. To respond to consumer needs and dispel their fears, three Hong Kong-based companies – AEON, General Mills and Lam Soon – set out to evaluate their existing traceability systems. These three companies partnered with GS1 Hong Kong to review their existing traceability systems using a checklist of control points and compliance criteria known as the Global Traceability Assessment. The assessment is carried out by trained and accredited auditors. It is a key component of the GS1 Global Traceability Solution, which provides companies with a single, interoperable traceability process based on GS1 Standards. Performing a GS1 Global Traceability Assessment allows companies to obtain insight into their traceability system so they can satisfy growing customer expectations as well as meet trading partner requirements and comply with government regulations. Although all three companies had internal systems in place to ensure product safety, this assessment – along with expert advice from GS1 Hong Kong – provided insight into how they could build better, globally recognised traceability systems based on standards to identify, capture and share information. For example, to better ensure product freshness and protect consumers’ safety, GS1 Hong Kong recommended
to AEON that they use DataBar™ BarCodes on individual items of fresh produce, and Serial Shipping Container Codes (SSCC) where products are received. General Mills learned that it can enhance its product traceability by implementing identification on its work-in-progress containers using automatic capturing tools. In the meantime, a trial using GS1 standard-based barcodes is allowing the company to capture production batch and/or expiry lot information to better control and ensure product freshness. As for Lam Soon, GS1 Hong Kong recommended
they improve their product traceability capabilities by identifying raw materials with Global Trade Item Numbers (GTIN) and logistics units such as cardboard boxes with Serial Shipping Container Codes (SSCC).

Improve supply chain efficiency with GS1 Checklist 

Studies found that adoption of food tracking technologies in developed nations such as the United States, Japan and Australia had triggered substantial market revenues. That being said, globalization of the food market has increased the significance of a traceability system even in developing nations that offer opportunities for food traceability suppliers to enhance their market position. Unfortunately, setting up a food traceability system requires huge upfront investment. That proves to be a restraint for the market, as small-time retailers cannot afford extra investments. However, better awareness and technological progress leading to lesser investments are likely to overcome this restraint, thus diminishing the impact on the market in the future. Meanwhile, companies that produce consumer goods splash out on establishing the value of their brands in an attempt to meet the needs of customers. They also do their best to address such issues as regulations and efficiency in the supply chain. GS1 has developed a Global Traceability Programme to support their efforts. The GS1 GTC Programme aims at helping companies to implement traceability according to traceability best practices and GS1 global standards. One of the available solutions, the GS1 checklist is the perfect tool to verify the traceability system of a company and acts as a diagnosis to know if the GS1 System is correctly implemented among the company using the most adequate GS1 Standards (BarCodes,eCom, EPC, GDSN,). Importantly, the Programme being based on the GS1 Global Traceability Standard is technology independent. It allows companies to obtain guidance on complying with major international traceability regulations as well as traceability requirements established by the key quality standards used in the food industry.

Sources: http://www.gs1.org; http://www.packagingdigest.com Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ecstaticist/