By: Susan Kuira, Export Coach, Kenya

Introduction

Managing the whole supply chain is becoming increasingly important in many sectors, and this is especially true for the food sector. The BSE-crisis and other food crisis within the EU proved that it is very important that the origin of food products can be retrieved at all times. This document looks at what traceability in the supply chain means for producers in the East African Community and gives an overview of issues to consider when implementing a traceability system. The BSE crisis and other food crises within the EU made traceability a very important issue in the EU’s food safety policy; that at all times the origin of food products can be retrieved. This summarily means food safety "from farm to fork", or, in other words, food safety in the entire food chain, from primary production to final consumption. For all exporters targeting the EU market, compliance with the traceability requirements is mandatory.

WHAT – Definition

‘Traceability’ can be defined as “the ability to trace and follow a food, feed, food producing animal or ingredients, through all stages of production and distribution” - International Organization for Standardization (ISO standard 8402:1994) and EC Regulation 178/2002. Traceability in the EU follows the “one step back-one step forward’’ principle. By this is meant that any business in the food chain, whether it is a farmer, food processor, transporter, importer, distributor or retailer, should be able to identify the immediate supplier of the product (one step back) and the immediate buyer (one step forward), with the exemption of retailers to final consumers.

Supply chain management means being aware of every step a product travels from scratch to the final consumer, in other words to be able to trace the origins of all product ingredients and steps in production processes. According to the traceability principle, it should be possible to retrieve the origin of food products at all times.

WHO? Traceability in developing countries – a buyers’ requirement

Importers in the EU are responsible for the products the put on the market. As they will be held responsible for the food products they import from outside the EU, they are likely to request traceability standards from non-EU producers as well in order to reduce their risks when importing food products from abroad. The key issue of traceability for your European trading partners will be that when a product sold on the EU market proves to be faulty, the importer of that product should be able to determine what batch of products put on the market needs to be taken back.

Importers are obliged to:

1. Know and document from whom they have bought their food (ingredients)

2. Know and document to whom they supply their products

3. Label their products so that they can establish traceability in case of a food safety problem.

WHY?

Traceability enables consumers to be provided with targeted and accurate information concerning products. Recent records on food safety show that about seven million people a year are affected by food borne illness (Food Engineering International Report, Feb. 1998). This results in strong loss of confidence towards production processes from the consumer side. There is a general belief that consumer confidence will be restored if food products are clearly labeled and ingredients can be traced backward to the source and forward to the customer. Breakdowns in food safety can have far-reaching repercussions, and withdrawals of particular foods are sometimes necessary to protect public health.

HOW? - Implementation a traceability system

This will only be possible through record keeping. This information will be useful in the event of product recall/withdrawal:

• what product or ingredient caused the problem,
• where this product or ingredient came from
• what batch of final products this product or ingredient was used

1. Knowledge and documentation from whom you have bought your products i.e. food (ingredients)

All input of raw materials and ingredients used in one product must be documented, including information on origin. Keep clear records of all products that are used in the production process. For primary producers, this requirement refers to seeds, bulbs etc.

2. Knowledge and documentation on which products are used during your production process

This information includes record keeping of which products, i.e. ingredients are mixed or processed to the final product of your production process and should be kept per batch of product so that, in case there is a problem with one set of products, it can be identified which steps are made within the production process and which batch contains faulty products. For primary production, this could be pesticides or any other products used for the crop.

3. Knowledge and documentation to whom you supply your products

This information should be kept per batch of product so that, in case there is a problem with one set of products, it can be identified which client(s) should be notified.

4. Labelling of the final products so that traceability can be established in case of a food safety problem