Archive for the ‘traceability’ Category
NAIS Moves to the World Stage thru S 510 – traceability
Animal traceability is gaining governmental support in two key US beef markets, which may bolster reinvigoration of the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) in the United States, despite a recent funding cut to $5.3 million. Japan and South Korea, are now moving toward mandatory traceability on imports. South Korea plans to mandate animal monitoring by 2010, and Japan’s new prime minister vowed to mandate it for beef imports, according to a pro-NAIS report at Food Safety News.
Emerging Food Safety Issues in 2010
The Produce Traceability Initiative is the grower-vendor answer to events like the outbreaks involving spinach and (FDA thought) tomatoes. With bar codes and radio frequency tags and ways to link all the information in the supply chain, those behind traceability want to be able to drive to the specific field, walk down the right row, and reach over and pick up whatever the problem is.
They want a system with no fuss, no muss that will prevent financially devastating recall costs and outbreaks that make more people sick. They’ve been at it for a couple of years now and the next important deadline is approaching in Oct. 2010 when it is supposed to be possible to read the labeling involved.
The industry wants FDA to enforce the so-called “one up and one down” requirements of the PTI, but not impose anything that’s not already in the plan. FDA opted to end 2009 without putting out its own traceability regulations on the table.
Lavazza Uses RFID to Track Packaging Materials, Boosting Efficiency
Italian coffee producer Lavazza and its packaging supplier, Goglio Cofibox, have implemented a radio frequency identification system that automates the replenishment of reels of packaging materials used to create Lavazza’s products, and to improve those materials’ traceability.
According to the two companies, the system—which employs EPC Gen 2 passive ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID tags—enables just-in-time delivery of reels of printed packaging materials manufactured by Goglio Cofibox in Cadorago (near Como, Italy), and an automated process for receiving the reels at Lavazza’s facility near Turin. The technology has reduced Lavazza’s inventory of packaging, as well as the space required to store it, and provides the coffee company with real-time visibility of stock levels, says Fabio Marzorati, an industrial engineer at Goglio Cofibox who works in product development. Marzorati and Antonio Rizzi, the director of the University of Parma’s RFID Lab, presented the Lavazza project results at October’s RFID Journal LIVE! Europe 2009 conference, held near Frankfurt, Germany. The RFID Lab, Rizzi says, engineered the solution and carried out tests to assess the technology’s benefits.
Food recall from filthy Elland food factory
FOOD products canned at an Elland factory are being recalled and destroyed.
Officials at the Foods Standard Agency have taken the rare step after environmental health officers found a shocking catalogue of hazards and filthy conditions at a chick-pea canning factory.
They have recalled all Pakstar Curried Chick Peas, 400g cans with ‘Best before’ dates of August 2012, September 2012, October 2012, November 2012 and December 2012.
Food Safety and Traceability in CPG Industry
In this post I will explain how the Food Safety and Traceability needs can be addressed by SAP.
How SAP can help?
Today companies must increase efficiencies, reduce costs, and ensure compliance with food regulations over the whole supply chain. Hampered by a legacy of nonintegrated systems that impede visibility and perpetuate inefficiencies, many companies recognize the need to standardize on a single platform.
SAP has the necessary features already inbuilt for handling food safety and traceability. Safety measures can be implemented in the whole process chain, right from procurement of raw materials from supplier, during production of goods in the plant till the delivery of the finished product to the customer / end consumer.
SAP can help the CPG industry with:
* Track, monitor, and trace batches and inventory
* Streamline procurement, production and sales processes
* Manage sales returns
* Enable targeted product recalls
More tracking, and are we ready for CDN COOL?
Two questions for producers to ponder. How important is the enhanced traceability of cattle through the production system, to producers? It could be coming along in 2011. And secondly, is it time for COOL (Country of Origin Labeling) in Canada?
iGEPIR, another product traceability solution
This in from my friends at GS1…Many, many mobile applications for product information coming out…
“Technology evolves and GEPIR is no exception: There is now an iPhone application called iGEPIR.
Based on a collection of interconnected databases, it collates information from approximately 1.5 million GS1 member companies.
Two GEPIR applications are now available on iTunes, to download to an iPhone.
· iGepir Premium
· iGepir Lite
Have you ever wanted to know which company makes a particular product? Where the company is? What numbers the company has to identify its products? iGepir Premium answers all of these questions.
Fish traceability system offers safety model
In response to wide-spread public concerns about the safety of food products, many industrialized nations have begun imposing stringent measures to safeguard the health of their citizens. For Taiwan, this means that its food product exporters will need to quickly come up with a way of proving that their goods meet these tough standards.
Brazil – Supermarkets demand traceability
The Brazilian Association of Supermarkets (Abras) announced on Monday, December 7, the Abras Program for Certification of Responsible Beef Production Chain, an initiative that aims to contribute to the improvement of production practices in the industry, addressing environmental, social and health issues.
“The idea is to meet consumers’ wish of buying a product that does not originate in areas of deforestation and is not committed to other social issues, still part of the country.
Brazilian consumers that appreciate a good barbecue can be sure that the meat found in supermarkets is produced with environmental responsibility,” said the president of Abras, Sussumu Honda.
KPG to offer open-source traceability in 2010
KPG Solutions Inc., Longwood, Fla., plans to offer an open-source, item-level traceability platform early next year.
That means consumers will be able to trace the produce they buy at the grocery store back to the grower-shipper, and the supply and buyer community can implement it for free, said KPG chairman and chief executive officer Angela Paymard.
KPG announced other company changes at its Silver Man Symposium in Los Angeles, Nov. 18-20.
Farmer pushes proposal for traceability
The mandatory electronic tagging of beef cattle to allow paddock-to-plate traceability at the swish of a barcode reader could earn farmers dividends, says Waingaro sheep and beef farmer Rob Macnab.
Mr Macnab, chairman of Meat & Wool New Zealand’s mid northern Sheep and Beef Council, compared cattle without an RFID (radio frequency identification) tag to a pretty painting by an unknown artist.
“If you know where it’s come from and who has painted it it’s worth a lot more,” said Mr Macnab, who admitted he initially was against the National Animal Identification and Tracing scheme.
Food Safety News Cites TraceGains’ William Pape
NAIS: Simpler Technology Fuels Fire according to William Pape in the Nov 14th issue of Food Safety News. William Pape is the co-founder and EVP of TraceGains, Inc., a software company that makes the food supply chain safer and more profitable by helping companies produce better finished goods faster and more cost-effectively. Pape said, “No sooner have most people pronounced NAIS dead-on-arrival, than a number of recent events may have breathed life back into the U.S.A.’s National Animal Identification Scheme. A combination of market forces aligned with a simplified tracking technology, and some rare positive news may have reinvigorated USDA’s moribund, voluntary animal traceability initiative.”
Even though the U.S. House of Representatives had voted to cut off funding for the NAIS as part of the Farm Bill, a joint House-Senate conference committee agreed a few weeks ago to continue funding the program to the tune of $5.3 million for fiscal year 2010-2011. This funding is a reduction from the $14.2 million authorized for last year and less than the $14.6 million the Senate approved, but the program will continue.
Case Study: RFID Solution From Motorola And Epsilia Delivers Precise Traceability And Increased Revenue For Agribusiness Leaderlevinoff-Colbex S.E.C.
Food safety is paramount at Levinoff-Colbex S.E.C and the company aims to be at the forefront of technological innovation in agribusiness to maintain its levels of excellence. As cases of animal disease and potential contamination became news across the food industry in recent years, Levinoff-Colbex S.E.C planned to upgrade and transform its processing facility in order to help ensure food safety and efficiency.
Traceability was a critical goal. In the event of any problem, Levinoff-Colbex S.E.C wanted a reliable system that would enable the company to quickly identify all affected products no matter where they were—whether still in the processing plant, in transit, or at a customer distribution center or food store. Some international markets require certifications that Levinoff-Colbex could not meet without updating its tracking system.
Institute calls for traceability modernization
The Institute of Food Technologists has recommended the Food and Drug Administration to require food suppliers keep electronic data of traceback information at least two years and that information be available to the agency within 24 hours after requested.
Those are two of the detailed recommendations the FDA should take to improve tracking food in commercial distribution in the U.S., according to an institute report.
Food Traceability: The Missing Ingredient from Your Supply Chain
Over the past few years, security precautions have been put in place to protect this country from domestic and international terrorists, health-related outbreaks, and even financial shenanigans among others. In spite of that, however, the most important pipeline-the food supply-has mostly been ignored and even neglected. The European Union has had food traceability regulations in place since 2005 with the U.S. taking a less than direct approach with voluntary, mostly arbitrary programs. With the U.S. Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009 (HR 2749) having already passed the House and a similar Senate version (S510) on the fast track, mandated system-wide traceability is coming. While food safety may be the catalyst, the benefits extend beyond food safety and into the supply chain by increasing visibility, and potentially long-term profitability.
FDA calls meeting to improve food traceability systems
Federal agencies in the United States need to increase the speed and accuracy of traceability systems to combat outbreaks of food-borne illnesses, said the FDA as it called a public meeting on the matter.
Changes in industry practices and customer preferences as well as the increase in food shipped into the US from overseas have also heightened the need to upgrade both traceback investigations and traceforward operations.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said the meeting will also look at gaps in current product tracing methods, the core elements of an effective structure and mechanisms to boost traceability systems both in the short and long term. Establishing effective documentation in the supply chain to ensure traceability has been highlighted as a major goal.
Call to make traceability rules the same for non-EU farmers
George Lyon, Liberal Democrat MEP for Scotland, has called on the European Commission to make it compulsory for countries from outside the EU to meet the same traceability standards as EU Member States before imports are allowed.
The move comes as the implementation of electronic tagging of sheep (EID) grows ever closer.
Lyon wants the Commission to help protect consumers and farmers from the threat of diseases such as foot and mouth by requiring non-EU states to enforce the same level of traceability as will be required across the EU when EID comes into effect early next year.
Similar tactics were used to ban the importation of beef from Brazil. If the Commission were to go down the same route for sheep meat, it could block imports of lamb from New Zealand.
From farm to fork – traceability – economist
DESPITE its preoccupation with hygiene, America’s dirty secret is that it is one of the most dangerous places in the developed world to eat. Every year 76m Americans become ill because they have consumed contaminated food—a staggering 26,000 cases per 100,000 population. In Britain, where people consume far fewer hamburgers, generally eat out less often and buy nowhere near as many ready-meals, there are 3,400 cases of food poisoning per 100,000 population annually. France is safer still, with only 1,200 annual instances per 100,000 people.
Crop Traceability Video Explains Industry’s Readiness
The Mid America CropLife Association has just launched a special video report entitled “Traceability: Where do we Stand?” To view the video, go to MACA’s Web site, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the video to watch it.
The new video points out that U.S. Food and Drug Administration warnings and reports about food contamination from outbreaks of Salmonella and E. coli bacteria have motivated the government to begin rewriting regulations that track practices and applications of products coming in contact with our nation’s food supply.
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