Food Product Tracing Technology Capabilities and Interoperability

In September 2011, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asked the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) to execute product tracing pilot projects as described in Section 204 of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). IFT collaborated with representatives from more than 100 organizations-including the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, state departments of agriculture and public health, industry, and consumer groups, as well as not-for-profit organizations-to implement the pilots. The objectives of the pilot projects were 1) to identify and gather information on methods to improve product tracing of foods in the supply chain and 2) to explore and evaluate methods to rapidly and effectively identify the recipient of food to prevent or mitigate a foodborne illness outbreak and to address credible threats of serious adverse health consequences or death to humans or animals as a result of such food being adulterated or misbranded. IFT conducted evaluations to determine the impact of currently available technologies, types of data and formats, and the data acquisition process, as well as the use of technology on the ability to follow product movement through the supply chain. Results from the pilots found inconsistencies in the terminology, numbering systems, formatting, legibility, and occasionally the language that sometimes required IFT to contact the submitting firm to gain clarity, thus increasing the time required to capture data before any meaningful analysis could begin. However, the pilot participants appeared to have many of the tools and processes in place which are required to allow the capture and communication of critical track and trace information (such as, key data elements) at critical points of product transfer and transformation (such as, critical tracking events). IFT determined that costs associated with implementing a product tracing system can vary widely as determined by numerous factors: the size of the firm/facility, the method of product tracing already in use (manual or electronic), and the range of each firm's capabilities to implement or improve its product tracing system, to name a few. IFT found that there are several areas (such as uniformity and standardization, improved recordkeeping, enhanced planning and preparedness, better coordination and communication, and the use of technology) in which industry improvements and enhancements to FDA's processes would enable tracebacks and traceforwards to occur more rapidly. IFT developed 10 recommendations for FDA to consider for improving the state of system-wide food product tracing. The recommendations outlined in the report will enable FDA to conduct more rapid and effective investigations during foodborne illness outbreaks and other product tracing investigations, thus significantly enhancing protection of public health.

From Satellite to Supply Chain: New Approaches Connect Earth Observation to Economic Decisions

Understanding how information facilitates consumer trust in food safety: the cases of Australian and Taiwanese consumers’ perspectives

The use of smart contracts and blockchain tokens to implement a consumer trustworthy ingredient certification scheme for commingled foods, i.e., recipe based, food products is described. The proposed framework allows ingredients that carry any desired property (including social or environmental customer perceived value) to be certified by any certification authority, at the moment of harvest or extraction, using the IGR Ethereum token. The mechanism involves the transfer of tokens containing the internet url published at the authority’s web site from the farmer all along the supply chain to the final consumer at each transfer of custody of the ingredient using the Cricital Tracking Event/Key Data Elements (CTE/KDE) philosophy of the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT). This allows the end consumer to easily inspect and be assured of the origin of the ingredient by means of a mobile application. A successful code implementation of the framework was deployed, tested and is running as a beta version on the Ethereum live blockchain as the IGR token. The main contribution of the framework is the possibility to ensure the true origin of any instance or lot of ingredient within a recipe to the customer, without harming the food processor legitimate right to protect its recipes and suppliers.

13 - Legal Requirements and Regulation for Food Traceability in the United States

In the digital economy, the volume, variety and availability of data produced in myriad forms from a diversity of sources has become an important resource for competitive advantage, innovation opportunity as well as source of new management challenges. Building on the theoretical and empirical foundations of the traditional manufacturing Supply Chain (SC), which describes the flow of physical artefacts as raw materials through to consumption, we propose the Data Supply Chain (DSC) along which data are the primary artefact flowing. The purpose of this paper is to outline the characteristics and bring conceptual distinctiveness to the context around DSC as well as to explore the associated and emergent management challenges and innovation opportunities. To achieve this, we adopt the systematic review methodology drawing on the operations management and supply chain literature and, in particular, taking a framework synthetic approach which allows us to build the DSC concept from the pre-existing SC template. We conclude the paper by developing a set of propositions and outlining an agenda for future research that the DSC concept implies.

Mobile systems and devices including Android are vulnerable to the effects of software aging which are manifested in performance degradation during long run-time. It is important to identify efficient system and user interface metrics for detecting and counteracting the software aging effects. The aging metrics used in researches of the Android operating system do not take into account the aging processes in user applications. Therefore, this paper discusses two new graphical user interface metrics that allow to track performance degradation and user applications response time: Frame Draw Time and Janky Frames (dropped or delayed frames). Test framework was implemented to perform stress testing of mobile applications in the Android operating system, to collect system state data during stress test performing and to map obtained raw data into time series. Calculated time series are used for further analysis and study of system and graphical user interface metrics. The considered metrics have been compared to the previously used Android Activity Launch Time metric and RAM usage metrics. Practical results have shown that Frame Draw Time and Janks Frames metrics provide data, which can be useful in most scenarios of mobile application using. Therefore, it is proposed to use the two new metrics in combination with other previously used metrics to detect aging trends in the system state and to study the phenomenon of software aging in general. It is noted that the Frame Draw Time metric value can be mapped to states with determined thresholds for transition between these states. These states and thresholds provide the possibility of developing mathematical models based on Markov chains or forecasting the time to aging-failure using regression methods. The need of further study of the correlations between Frame Draw Time metric, Janky Frames metric and metrics of memory usage by different system processes has been identified. Thus, the expediency of using the proposed metrics in future studies of the aging phenomenon in the Android operating system is substantiated, in particular, the effectiveness of the proposed metrics could be checked for different mobile use cases and for different types of mobile applications.

Globally, the pharmaceutical sector is one of the top performing high-technology sectors. This coupled with the involvement of multitude of wholesalers and retailers in the supply chain makes the sector attractive for forgers to produce and distribute counterfeited drugs. In order to improve patient safety and supply chain efficiency, Ethiopia has prepared a strategic plan for the implementation of pharmaceutical traceability. However, little is known how different stakeholders perceive and could react to this initiative. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess stakeholders’ perceptions on the needs, challenges and concerns of implementing a traceable pharmaceutical supply chain system. Managers (n = 137), who are presumed to play critical roles in decision making in the pharmaceutical sector were surveyed by administering questionnaires. Data were collected from August to September, 2017 and analysed using descriptive statistics. Almost all stakeholders (96.4%) agreed on the importance of having a national level tracking and tracing system for pharmaceuticals. Their reasons were: to combat counterfeiting, theft and diversion of products (92.4%); to gain supply chain efficiencies (88.5%); to improve inventory management (86.9%) and patient care (74.4%). However, they were concerned about the high start-up and operational cost (61.1%), integration and interoperability (61.3) of the existing supply chain with a traceable system, data security, getting qualified contractors or service providers (66.5%). Overall, there is a positive perception and support for the implementation of pharmaceutical traceability system in the supply chain. However, concerns such as integrating traceability with the existing supply chain system, cost, and data security, need to be resolved through continued discussions, adequate preparation and phase-based implementation.
 Keywords: traceability, stakeholders, survey, pharmaceuticals, Ethiopia

Food processing plants and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) need an excellent and reliable traceability system to ensure that consumers are well protected from consuming unsafe food. The traceability systems are being implemented by different food industries all around the world including Malaysia. This study aims to determine the implementation status of traceability system among food processing plants and SMEs. Another important goal is to identify the Critical Traceability Points (CTPs) in food processing and SMEs’ supply chains. A survey involving 17 processing plants and 53 SMEs from Kelantan, Malaysia, on the traceability and product recall system was conducted. The findings revealed that the food processing plants and SMEs are interested in implementing traceability system but they lack information and capital to carry out the system. Receiving (χ2=0.51; df=1; P<0.05) and dispatching (χ2=9.66; df=1; P<0.05) were identified as the CTPs in food processing plants and SMEs. Only 52.9% of the participants had implemented or were interested in implementation of traceability system. Several factors resulting in the lack of traceability implementation are due to time limitation, no perceivable benefits to the company’s economy and lack of clear policy guidance and support from government.

From catch to plate

Purpose Concerns surrounding food safety traceability have increasingly become a critical issue as modern consumers place greater emphasis on food quality and sustainability. This growing interest is fueled by heightened awareness and the necessity for informed decision-making regarding food purchases. Consumers are now more attentive to the production processes, environmental impact and ethical implications of the supply chain, highlighting the importance of traceability systems in fostering sustainable practices. This study aims to explore consumer and supply chain stakeholder perspectives on halal food traceability systems, focusing on their impact on sustainability and consumer trust. Design/methodology/approach This research is based on data collected from 262 Indonesian halal food consumers, analyzed using the PLS-SEM methodology. To deepen the analysis, additional exploratory techniques were applied. This study stands out for its focus on understanding consumer acceptance and preferences concerning sustainable traceability systems for halal food in Indonesia. Furthermore, it identifies key factors that influence the adoption of sustainability and traceability practices among these consumers. Findings The study revealed significant relationships between traceability systems, halal supply chains and sustainability practices in shaping consumer acceptance and preferences. While consumer types did not directly influence acceptance or preference, their role was mediated by robust traceability systems. Hypotheses testing confirmed the positive impact of traceability systems on halal supply chains (ß = 0.668, p < 0.000) and food sustainability (ß = 0.344, p < 0.000), highlighting their role in ensuring compliance, enhancing transparency and fostering consumer trust. MGA results demonstrated notable gender and age differences in consumer attitudes, with middle-aged consumers (41–50 years) placing greater importance on traceability for acceptance and sustainability. Practical implications The results illustrate that implementing effective traceability systems and maintaining a halal-compliant supply chain are essential drivers of consumer behavior in Indonesia, particularly within the Muslim community. Conversely, in non-Muslim regions, these factors are given comparatively lower priority due to differences in awareness levels and cultural emphasis. Originality/value This research sheds light on the vital role of halal supply chain and traceability systems in Indonesia, where a predominantly Muslim population creates unique economic and cultural conditions for these practices. Traceability systems are also more cost-effective in Indonesia compared to nations where non-halal production leads to higher operational costs. Using MGA, the study uncovered key insights, such as the preferences expressed by male participants and the higher importance placed on traceability by respondents aged 41–50. These findings contribute valuable academic and practical knowledge to stakeholders in the halal food industry and provide a solid foundation for future research.

The components of a food traceability system

At present, halal awareness is related to food quality, both in Muslim countries and non-Muslim countries. Food safety and quality assurance of food integrity, including food safety, health, nutrition and quality. The concept of halal includes process control, packaging, storage and delivery. All activities involved in the supply chain, especially food, the question is whether the integrity of halal food products can remain halal throughout the supply chain. Halal traceability, namely recording all information on activities in producing products from upstream, namely the origin of raw materials to downstream, becomes important. This literature review aims to determine the halal traceability system in the halal food supply chain. In particular, this article discusses the traceability architecture in food products. The study suggest some topics of emphasis in developing an economic research gate: Break even point of Halal traceability and tracking, acceptable level of risk in Halal traceability and tracking, participation in Halal traceability and tracking system. The ‘shades’ of food integrity in the halal supply chain are o ff ered, which can be categorized into four supply chain dimensions, related to raw materials, production, service, and the consumer.

Food waste stemmed from food contamination and ineffective quality control is a significant challenge to food management. Supply chain traceability has become an essential task of the food industry for guaranteeing food quality and safety and reducing food waste. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) has emerged as a lead technology in the development of traceability systems, which enable automatically capturing of food information along the supply chain. However, the significant investment cost has been a major obstacle in the diffusion of traceability systems in the food industry. This study conducts a cost-benefit analysis of a RFID-enabled traceability system for a two-level perishable food supply chain, which consists of an upstream supplier and a downstream retailer. Consumer perceptions of food quality and safety are jointly considered when evaluating the value of a traceability system. The optimal decisions of the supply chain participants are derived in both centralized and decentralized systems, in terms of wholesale price, order quantity, price markdowns, and granularity level of the traceability system. The results show that a dynamic pricing policy supported by the traceability system could significantly reduce food waste and improve the retailer’s performance. We further propose a two-part tariff contract to coordinate the supply chain and to distribute benefits and costs of the traceability system between supply chain participants. This study demonstrates that a well-developed traceability system could significantly improve the supply chain performance and become a profitable investment for the food industry.

Purpose: This study examines how Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) metrics, specifically cycle time, cost, and flexibility metrics, influence the supply chain performance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Mombasa County, Kenya. Methodology: A descriptive research design was employed with data collected from 397 SMEs in Mombasa County using questionnaires. The Taro Yamane formula was used to determine the sample size. Data analysis involved both descriptive statistics and inferential analysis through correlation and regression. Results: The findings reveal statistically significant positive relationships between cycle time metrics (r=0.811), cost metrics (r=0.788), and flexibility metrics (r=0.848) with supply chain performance. Multiple regression analysis indicates that flexibility metrics substantially impact supply chain performance, followed by cost and cycle time metrics. Theoretical contribution: This study extends the application of SCOR model metrics to the context of Kenyan SMEs, addressing a significant research gap in supply chain performance measurement in developing economies. It validates the relevance of the SCOR framework in enhancing operational efficiency in resource-constrained environments. Practical implications: SMEs in Kenya should prioritize flexibility in their supply chain operations while optimizing cost structures and cycle times. The findings suggest that strategic allocation of limited resources should emphasize adaptability to market changes, which significantly impacts overall supply chain performance. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth; SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure