According to ISO 22005 traceability is the ability to follow the movement of various foods and animal feeds throughout the different stages of production, processing and distribution. Traceability makes it possible to locate any product anywhere in the food chain. Since traceability contributes to searching out where nonconformity to regulations has taken place it becomes easy to withdraw or recall products if it is necessary. Movement of foods can relate to the origin of the material and processing history.
Traceability consists of two types of movement one is ‘tracking’ and the other is ‘tracing.’ Tracing means to create the history of the product in the food chain and identify where it originated and where its movement went forward. The information can be for a single unit or a batch of food within the supply chain. Tracking on the hand means the ability to be able to identify the destination of a product in a food chain and to follow the path of a specified unit and batch of product as it moves from the manufacturing unit towards the final point of sale, service or consumption. Tracing is a backward movement to the origin while tracking is a forward movement to the destination. This way, food manufacturers know exactly where the nonconformity happened and who it is likely to affect.
Traceability systems should not only be practical to apply but must also be in compliance of the applicable regulation and must work within the defined requirements. Traceability can only be effective if it is
- verifiable
- applied consistently and equitably
- result oriented
- cost effective
Why traceability is standardised
Traceability is standardised because the whole supply chain is inter-dependent and all stakeholders are involved. Since the food chain is very complex there would be no common language without standards. One product can involve several companies from where the ingredients, content and packaging have been supplied. The food chain begins with the origin of the food, ingredients and continues with processing history, definition of the batch, links between manufacturing batches, methods of production, methods of analysis, storage, personnel involved, the entire supply and distribution chain system, etc. Traceability necessitates the establishment of product integrity, authenticity and identification at all the stages including food inspection and certification system so as to build consumer confidence. Another important objective of traceability is to ensure safe food and prevention of unfair trade practices and for these objectives to be fulfilled it is important to have in place Food Safety Management System (FSMS) and record maintenance.
Importance of traceability
Traceability is a tool that is used to
- ensure quality and to also identify what is the problem that is lowering quality
- play an important role in consumer safety as speedy and targeted recalls and withdrawal can be performed immediately
- meet requirement of regulations
- protect the brand image and hence contribute to marketing
Developing a food chain traceability system
If you have to develop a food chain traceability system for your food manufacturing operations then you have to keep the following traceability objectives in mind. Your system for traceability must be such that it
- supports food safety and/or quality
- meets customer specification(s)
- is capable of determining the history or origin of the product
- facilitates the withdrawal and/or recall of products
- is able to identify organizations in the animal feed and food chain that were responsible
- is able to verify specific information about the product
- communicates information to relevant stakeholders and consumers
- fulfils local, regional, national or international regulations or policies
- helps to improve the effectiveness, productivity and profitability of the organization
J.Sridhar says
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