A practical web‐based tracking and traceability information system for the pork products supply chain

Abstract

Pork is the major dietary animal protein source of Chinese. The concerns on pork quality and safety have urged the China Administration to establish a tracking and traceability system for animal product safety through legislation. Based on analysis of the factors that affect pork products quality, including inputs (vaccines, fodder, additives and veterinary drugs) and key control points during swine feeding, slaughtering and retail process, this study has developed a practical application platform consisting of a bar‐code based data identification system, a data‐record keeping system, correlated databases, and a data query interface. This application platform can meet the government's regulation and consumer demands by enabling the pork quality data to be collected and uploaded from different processes, and through inquiries interface terminals and a final splitting product tracing code, the safety information of the final farm and corresponding individual pig can be retrieved. The designed systems have already been deployed in Tianjin's two farms, with their associated abattoirs and retail supermarkets, indicating the methodology and its technical solution are applicable, and can be used to monitor the pork products supply chain from the farm to the dinner table.