...have a right to getting information about the food you are eating.
The food industry however is very secretive, claiming it is difficult to provide details.
Perhaps it is time somebody invented open source food, where all information related to a particular food item is freely available.
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INTRODUCTION-CONSUMER VIEW
What does traceability mean for the consumer?
The consumer is at the final link of the food chain which started at the farm or other primary producer. The consumer may be concerned with several issues related to the food which they have purchased. The most important or primary issues related to purchase of food will probably be the food quality and the price.
For some consumers, other issues will also have a huge impact on the willingness to buy specific food items. Religious, political and personal choices and beliefs are considerations that the retailer needs to address when marketing food. An important factor for consumers is the trust which can be built between the retailer and the customer about the information provided with the food. This trust is increasingly difficult to build because of the industrialization of the food chains and the aggregation of the food market from many and small actors, to few and large actors.
What is traceability?
Traceability is a tool that can be used to provide important information that can be used to build trust between a consumer and the producer of food. By providing quality information about all treatment and events a food item has been through, the consumer can use this information.
OPINIONS/FACTS
What information might we expect about our food?
What can we expect of information from food suppliers?
- At the very least the consumer should have access to a simplified "Everything's fine"
- But in the future perhaps, we can get access to information we can check ourselves
- An easy way to access more information in general, so that we can - if we want - make an informed choice about the food we buy
Specifically we want
- An easy way to access information which allows us to assess food quality and safety
- Access to some indicators as to the environment of the food product
- An easy way to access information about allergens
- An easy way to assure that the food is compatible with beliefs, customs or preferences
What can I use traceability for?
One example is to document special food properties
Specific food requirements for certain consumer groups provide challenges related to documentation. Traceability can be used to provide this documentation by exposing relevant information that is important to ensure that, e.g., special labeling used on the food is used correctly.
The documentation is important as well as the actually labeling as this documentation through traceability can build trust through quality information about specific processes that the food has been through. Examples of food that contain specific requirements are:
- Organic food
- Local food
- Sustainable/green food
- Vegetarian food
- Kosher
- Halal
The consumer with the help of authorities can ensure through traceability that:
- Food sold as organic actually is organic by documenting the product history including production processes, use of additives, fertilizers, medicine etc.
- Local food actually is local by documenting where the food item has been from farm to fork.
- Document that food has been produced and transported in a sustainable way.
- Document that the food contain raw materials/ingredients from sustainable stocks/plants.
Also other properties which may be important for some user groups:
- What allergens can possible be found in a food item?
- What are the ingredients used in the food item?
- Provide nutrition details like fat content, energy, vitamins etc.
- Provide documentation about animal welfare
- Provide documentation about the food origin
Branding and recipies
Branding is about building trust between a brand owner and a consumer that a brand has special quality and properties. Additional information like recipies, how to make the most out of the bought food item etc., may be useful to ensure and enforce such a trust. Traceability can provide documentation that can be used to strengthen such a trust relationship.
Fraud detection
A problem for both the consumer and a brand owner, is the replica or fraud possibilities that known brands are exposed to because of the perceived extra value of the brand, i.e., certain brands are more expensive than similar products with other brands. Mislabeled products can be sold for a higher price by providing false information about the item. This is a known problem in almost all trade. Traceability can be used as a tool to discover and thus prevent frauds.
Some of the techniques and documentation about food that can give additional proofs about the correct branding are:
- Genetic profiles
- Specific quality parameters with a high granularity (i.e., every food item has a known history).
How can I use traceability?
The origin for a consumer to trace a food item, is the documentation or tagging of the food item. Some information that is known/published on most food items are:
- Brand name
- Product name
- Expected shelf-life
- An EAN/GS1-13/GTIN barcode, describing who have produced the product.
- Ingredients
On the Web, GS1 gepir can be used to access information coded in the barcode.
Other information can also be available:
- Batch/lot number
- Web-link
Traceability for a consumer will most often be related to:
- find documentation of certain attributes or properties about the product (see above).
- check whether there are any special information related to the purchased food item. This is of special importance whenever a product has been redrawn or retracted from the market.
Product information can be deployed in electronic systems, either at the retailer (e.g., a customer kiosk) or at Web pages specially designed by the producer for getting information about the food item.
Internal traceability will be important for generating item specific information while more generic or static information can be collected and published for a specific product type.
When should I use traceability?
Traceability may be used in many situations as described above.
Added value for a purchaser of a product is for instance:
- Certified origin of the product, the product is what it is supposed to be, e.g., through analytical methods, genetic finger prints, likelihood that the specific product is
- Documented food safety parameters like physical treatment, unbroken cooling chains, exposure to possible contamination
- More documentation related to the used ingredients, eventually trace these
- Document processes like production, processing and transport related to e.g. sustainability.
What do consumers think about traceability
- Some consumers are interested in merely the price of their food (getting the most for the least money). For these consumers it will be important that any extra traceability nationally involved demands do add extra cost to products.
- Some consumers will want to know that an external body has taken care of traceability and that everything written on the product is correct but will not be interested in accessing the information themselves.
- Some consumers will be interest in extra information on their products. Not just that there product is traceable but also addition product and process information supplied to them in the shop.
- Some consumers will be interested to get an in depth detailed product and process history for the products they buy.
- Studies have shown that some consumers are willing to pay for products that can document as specific characteristic while other studies have show that consumer are unwilling to pay for traceability.
As can be seen, there is no such thing as "the consumer". However, we believe that consumers have the right to get information about the food they are consuming in order to check the compatibility with preferences, customs or beliefs.
