Designing and Developing a Meat Traceability System: A Case Study for the Greek Meat Industry

Abstract

This research paper investigates the importance of traceability in the meat industry. It explains that the global market’s intense competition and consumers’ increased expectations have forced companies to implement electronic traceability systems to improve efficiency, reduce errors, and mitigate incidents and fraud. The meat industry is facing increased consumer awareness and concern about food quality and safety. Consumers are extremely sensitive to food production conditions, and traceability can help companies increase consumers’ trust. This work describes the design and implementation of a customized traceability system, developed using the Agile method, for the local meat industry. For the needs of the project, advanced and innovative information and communication technologies and tools, such as cloud computing and the Internet of Things, were also used. The main problem that this research aims to address is the lack of transparency in three phases: transparency within the industry’s internal processes, transparency in the life of the animal from the moment of its birth, and transparency towards the consumer. The objectives of this research are twofold. First, we aim to digitize the Greek meat industry. Concurrently, we intend to create a traceability system that will generate important data, thereby providing valuable information for all stakeholders.