Food Traceability
Supply Chain Visibility
Food safety relies heavily upon visibility throughout the supply chain – from suppliers to primary production, processing, manufacturing, transportation and distribution to retail or food service.
Increasing product visibility in the food supply chain means having more detailed and accurate product information, and improves the movement of goods in real-time. This allows businesses to be more responsive to change and improve business operations, such as inventory management and replenishment.
Product Identification Technology
GS1: Founded in 1977, GS1 is an international not-for-profit association that develops and implements global standards to improve product visibility in the supply chain. The GS1 System is the most widely-used supply chain standards system in the world.
GS1 provides ecommerce, traceability and bar code standards, enabling its members to efficiently manage operations both upstream and downstream. Certified bar codes bring benefits not only in enhanced food traceability but also provide industry compliant, globally accepted bar codes required by many major retailers.
New challenges to tracking and tracing products in the supply chain have spurred innovations in the field of product identifiers, building on the standard bar code and enhancing the amount of data that can be stored. Resulting improved efficiencies in purchasing, receiving and inventory control bring cost savings and deliver value to customers. Newer versions of product identifiers developed by GS1 can store much more specific information, in addition to significantly accelerating the food recall process with enhanced product visibility.
Electronic Product Code (EPC): EPC tags are different from barcodes in how specific they are. They denote individual products with a unique serial number, whereas barcodes only identify groups of products. So rather than have a barcode common to all cans of Coke, every single can of Coke has a unique serial number. Information from EPC tags can be linked to secure databases and accessed remotely from any location where there is an internet connection, giving easy and convenient access to product information.
EPC tags were developed by EPCglobal, Inc.a joint venture between GS1 (formerly known as EAN International) and GS1 US (formerly the Uniform Code Council, Inc.). The EPCglobal Tag Data Standard is an open standard, freely available for download from the EPCglobal Inc. website.
Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID): RFID tags can be scanned with a reader, which can then transmit and report the information to a remote database that is accessible via the internet – a product’s location, condition and status is provided in real-time. RFID tags are being used across many sectors as a highly efficient and accurate way to trace a food product from its origin and throughout the supply chain. The value of the technology is evident, and major retailers are identifying the potential for increased efficiency.