Traceability: The Basic Idea

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 – February 1, 2010Posted in: Fisheries Study

INTRODUCTION

Traceability is widely promoted as being desirable and a requirement in modern agriculture, driven predominantly by current concerns over international food safety scares (Opara, 2003; Zaske, 2003). The increasing global trade of foods and animal feeds has to be channeled in right directions to guarantee product safety, transparency and the protection of consumer health. According to this fact the European Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 lays down the common principle for implementing traceability systems in product supply chains (Schröder, 2008). However, seafood is a highly perishable food item which is increasingly global traded so that a lot of particular conditions and difficulties more have to be taken into account compared to other food products (Schröder, 2008). EU is the biggest market for Bangladesh shrimp exporters. Currently shrimp export of Bangladesh facing a number of key issues and constrains, among which traceability is the most important (Kamal, 2007). This industry suffers from serious inefficiencies and is exposed to critical social and environmental risks. In July 1997, the EC imposed a ban on export of fishery products from Bangladesh, due to inadequate infrastructure, sanitation, inspection, and quality control laboratories (BQSP, 2006). Exports to EU were resumed as a result of actions taken by GOB, but significant problems remain. Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) was conducted a series of workshops for the fish processing industry to create awareness about traceability (Infofish.org, 2007). Bangladesh requested the European Communities to provide more technical and financial assistance, mainly in the fisheries and livestock sectors.  The European Communities arranged a training program for technical personnel in France and Indonesia. The inception phase of the programme started on January 2006 and was implemented from July 2006 (Infofish.org, 2007). United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) is providing support to bring the fish inspection and traceability capability of Department of Fisheries and the private sector up to a level to meet EU and USA standards. (Infofish.org, 2007). However, the shrimp sector of Bangladesh still faces challenges to trace out in right directions to guarantee product safety, transparency and the protection of consumer health of the importers.

TRACEABILTY

Traceability is the ability to trace, follow, and identify UNIQUELY a product unit or batch through all stages of production, processing and distribution.

Traceability is a verifiable method of conducting product identification from the growers, through all the steps in the supply chain, up to the retailers an eventually customers. Traceability comprises two components, tracking and tracing. Tracking involves monitoring a product and all its inputs through a steps and agents along the supply chain. Tracing is the reverse and involve following a product from any point in the supply chain back to its origin.

It needs to show the path of that unit or batch through all the intermediate steps of the production flow and the supply chain. The International Standards Organization (ISO) defines traceability as:

“The ability to trace the history, application or location of that which is under consideration when considering products this can relate to the origin of materials and parts, and the processing history.”

Notermans S. and Beumer H., 2003 suggest that a traceability system has the following components.

Supplier traceability, ensures that the source of all raw materials/ingredients can be identified from the records and documentation.

Process traceability, ensures the ability to identify all ingredients and process records for each individual product by the factory.

Customer traceability, ensures that the customers for all products can be identified.

Types of Traceability

There are two categories of traceability that are commonly discussed under the same heading of traceability:

Internal traceability: relating to the traceability of a product and the information relating to it, within the company or factory.

External traceability: which relates to product information that a company either receives or provides to other members of the supply chain.

In both cases, traceability concerns only the ability to trace things, i.e. the specific product should be able to be identified and linked to the related records.

The Need for Traceability

Globalization of the fish industry in terms of sourcing raw materials, processing and marketing has resulted in demands for increased traceability of products. This is due mainly to the increased length of the supply chain providing more opportunity for fishery products to either lose quality or gain the potential to cause harm to the consumer. In order to ensure both the quality and safety of products, more information concerning the sourcing and processing of the products needs to be communicated throughout the supply chain and ultimately to the consumer. The followings are the role of traceability in the food industry:

  • Enables safety: prevents food incidents when hazards occur, the process to trace the product back to the source of the hazard (recall) is more efficient and simplified if the partners involved in the chain have organized records and make them available on demand. This will lead to the identification of all the potentially harmful products, prevent or minimize any harm to consumers and avoid the negative public opinion about a specific product that usually results in a reduction of sales.
  • It helps the industries to improve their quality management and process monitoring: traceability is an integrated concept; it is integrated with other systems like HACCP and quality related and production management systems which have similar data. While other systems are process oriented and proactive, traceability is product oriented and reactive. The quality and production management systems tend to monitor products attributed and take corrective action to make sure the products are safe and not out of standards while traceability reacts by recalling unsafe and out of standards products from the market.
  • Improves production: implementation of traceability systems, although costly to implement, can also be an economic benefit to the producer. By linking information through the chain, it is possible to build the history of the product (harvesting area, processing, ingredients and additives, storage, transportation…) and create a feedback loop to improve product quality, yield, condition, and delivery, therefore guaranteeing food safety and quality for the consumers. Traceability information can show all trends regarding production which will make it easier for the producer to make necessary decisions for the purpose of improving production.
  • Addresses concerns of food-terrorism or tampering with the food supply chain.
  • Optimizes the supply chain: based on historical data, it enables members of the supply chain to identify sources of problems quickly and rapidly.

PRODUCT LABELLING

Product information is linked to an actual container of product through container labelling. Containers must be labelled or marked with a product identifier through which associated information contained on paper forms or in computer databases can be found. Without container labels, the verifiability of product identity is lost. Labels may also contain some or all of the product information to be passed to the next partner down the chain. At the harvester level, there may be circumstances where it may not be practical to affix a label to the product or container, such as when an entire boat load of fish is pumped directly into a processing plant. Fisheries where this might occur include herring, salmon and hake. In these cases, the hold of the vessel could be labeled.

An example of a label containing all the necessary product identifier information is given in

Figure 1. This box label was obtained from Marine Harvest, a salmon aquaculture company.


Fig. 1. Product label for BC farmed salmon product

PRODUCT IDENTIFICATION (ID) CODES

The main role of internal traceability is information management. Each product batch is assigned a specific identification code, which is then advanced through a processing operation alongside that particular batch. The success of this system relies on the integrity of each batch being maintained throughout the whole processing chain i.e. the product ID is transferred with the product during processing. This can be done in a number of ways, depending on the level of technology available.

Using the Product Identification and Traceability Tool

Product Identification and Traceability Functions:

User can identify a product uniquely in terms of product identification, manufacturing order number, process order number, lot number, and inspection order number in all stages of manufacturing. It also links each component element, whether material, process, measuring gauge or personnel to any related activities for final output or traceability.

Unique product identification and lot number.

Association with applicable drawings, specifications, revisions and quality records.

Traceability to personnel performing quality activities.

Traceability to measuring instruments, gages and tools that are used during the production process

Item numbering is a system of identifying products by giving each one a unique number. In the table bellow paper we are going to describe the EAN UCC bar code numbering system. The system provides for global uniqueness and overcomes problems in confusion, duplication and misinterpretation because all of its users follow the same coding rules.

Bar Code Steps

Coding Requirement

Define What will be Encoded and in What Order

At this early stage you must decide what information needs to be put into the bar code. Often, a mandate references guidelines that have been reviewed and approved by a specific industry or standards setting organization.
Machine Readable Language

In Bar Code Language this is called a Symbology

A bar code is a graphic representation for numbers or alphabetic characters. Typical bar code images are made up of a pattern of lines and spaces or light and dark areas. The graphic symbols represent data characters as well as some control characters.

Encode Data

Create the Bar Code

Bar code symbols may be produced on demand at the production facility or you can purchase pre-printed bar code labels from a printing bureau that has bar code experience.
Quality Control

Verify the Data

Bar code verification is the bridge between creating the bar code image and successful scan accuracy rates. A verifier will inspect and report on bar/space widths or light and dark areas and check other characteristics of the image for scanning ease and accuracy.
Apply Markings

Directly Mark Items or Apply Preprinted Labels

Bar code symbols may be produced in a variety of ways: by direct marking, as with laser etching or with ink jet printing; or, more commonly by imaging or printing the bar code symbol onto a separate label and then applying the label to the product.

Decode Data

Scan the Bar Code

This function is performed by a scanner and an interface controller called a decoder. The light source in the scanner reflects the information in the bar code by “translating” dark and light images into the appropriate data.
Transmit Data

Communicate the Decoded Data to the Computer

Data communications is the key link in implementing an automatic identification system. Decoded data is transmitted to the computer.

Data Usage

Use the Data

The host system receives the information and uses it for a different purpose. This may be: inventory control, manufacturing process control, shipping & receiving, quality control, automated re-ordering, electronic commerce, etc.

IMPLEMENTING TRACEABILITY IN THE FACTORY

Since a company is required not only to operate a traceability system, but also provide evidence to demonstrate that this is the case, it is essential that the system is documented in a traceability plan.

In the majority of factories, elements of a traceability system will already be in operation as part of other company producers such as purchasing, marketing, quality assurance etc. The first step in establishing a documented traceability system is therefore to analyze the current procedures and operations to establish what elements are already present and identifying where any breaks in the transfer of traceability information occur.

For clarity the term “operation’ will be used to describe any activity that may be carried out by a company as part of its daily routine, this may include process steps, management activities, purchasing sales etc.

Purchasing Order/Invoice Delivery

Documents

Reception


QA records



Filleting records


QA records

Temperature

Freezing records




QA records


QA records


Stock records


Transport records

Sales records

Fig. 2. Flow Diagram of the Recording Process of Factory Operation

CONCLUSION

Indeed traceability is an important tool for offering fresh and high qualified products and could be the answer to the increasing worldwide trade of fishery products. The precondition is the implementation of effective traceability systems which collect and pass useful information along the product chain in a compatible and connected way by using new developments of information technology. The development of reliable and sensitive methods for traceability has achieved a growing progress in the last few years. For the future there will be a steadily need of more specific and sensitive methods which allow a better characterization of fishery products. International projects could crucially advance these developments.

REFERENCES

Bangladesh Quality Support Programme (BQSP), 2006. Fisheries. Retrieved on August 09, 2009. url: http://www.bqsp.org/fisheries.php.

Derrick, S. and Dillon, M., 2004. A Guide to Traceability within the Fish Industry. Humber Institute of Food and Fisheries.

Infofish.org, 2007. Agencies Involved in Quality and Safety of Fishery Products. Retrieved on August 09, 2009. url: www.infofish.orgfishtradenetqualsafebgd.html.

Kamal M., 2007. Bangladesh Quality Support Programme (BQSP): Implementation Strategy of Traceability System in Shrimp Value Chains in Bangladesh. Retrieved on August 09, 2009. url: http://www.bqsp.org/newsletter4_1.php.

Notermans S. and Beumer H., 2003. Traceability of Animal Feed. In LEES M.ed, Food Authenticity and Traceability, Cambridge UK: Woodhead Publishing, 2003, pp 518-553.

Opara L.U., 2003. Traceability in agriculture and food supply chain: a review of basic concepts, technological implications, and future prospects. Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment, 1: 101–106.

Schröder U., 2008. Challenges in the Traceability of Seafood. J. Verbr. Lebensm, 3 (2008): 45 -48.

Zaske J., 2003. Mechanization and traceability of agricultural production: a challenge for the future. System integration and certification. The market demand for clarity and transparency-part 1. Presented at the Club of Bologna Meeting, 16 November 2002, Bologna, Italy. Agricultural Engineering International:
The CIGR Ejournal, 5: 1–15.

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