Food Safety and Supply Chain Transparency with Advanced Technology

There are counterfeit products in the food chain as it lacks traceability, and food safety in sourcing ingredients increases the risk of contamination. Spoilt food can impact the business and the reputation of the industry. Supply Chain Improvement Project is implemented using GS1 standard to manage ingredient safety and to improve the visibility in food ingredients and raw materials in an intricate supply chain. The project aims to strengthen the integration of thousands of complex supply chains in the Australian food manufacturing industry.

To drive the project using GS1 global standards an industry group is set up for data capture, product identification, and data sharing. GS1’s Global Traceability Standard (GTS) will allow the business to track their products in real-time and the traceability framework will provide end-to-end visibility of the supply chain. The group will work to achieve unanimity across the industry to improve food safety, cost reduction, and delivery efficiencies. The group is formed by representatives from Ingham’s, SPC, Nestle, Lion Dairy and Drinks, CHR Hansen, FPC Food Plastics, Newly Weds Foods, Labelmakers, Matthews Australasia and Visy Industries. The ability to capture material movements from Paddock to plate provides data integrity to the companies and timelines from receipt to delivery that can be traced back t source. Automation eliminates many of the manual processes, which allows the businesses to be more dedicated to their inventory management and handling systems. From a food safety perspective, it is critical for the food and beverage business to track the ingredients back to the origin.

Business must have the capability to support production and information flow within the existing system for an integrated supply chain. The waste within the organization value stream can be eliminated, the non-value added task can be reduced, and cost-effective solutions can be provided to the consumers. The GS1 standard can serve as a common language for data capture, data sharing, and identification. The internal processes can be translated into one common language that can be understood by all the trading partners. Interoperability is essential for the future of data sharing, and international standards would provide transparency across the supply chain.