KOCHI, INDIA,

22-24 MARCH 2016

REVIEW AND ANALYSIS OF CURRENT

TRACEABILITY SYSTEM AND COMMON
PRACTICES
FAO Regional Workshop on National and Regional
Good Practices in Seafood Traceability in Asia
Vincent André, AETS Thailand
 OUTLINE
 Introduction
Motivation of the review and analysis of current traceability
practices
Rationale of traceability
Definitions and applications of traceability
Methodology: review scope and structure
 Review and analysis of current traceability systems
International standards and guidelines
Regulatory standards
Non-regulatory standards
 Summary of common traceability practices
 MOTIVATION

Background: during the Twenty-

ninth Session of the Committee for
Fisheries, it was agreed that FAO
should initiate work to develop
international best practice
guidelines for traceability of fish
and fishery products.

The best practice guidelines would

facilitate the coherence of different
traceability systems.
 MOTIVATION (2)
Objective: to review the current requirements of food/fish product
traceability in the main markets and identify some gaps before
developing traceability best practice guidelines.

 Explain the context of traceability

 Identify current systems and standards to avoid duplication for
the future:
o Not create unnecessary barriers to trade;
o Equivalence;
o Risk based;
o Reliable, simple, clear and transparent.
“TRACE-ABILITY”
“TRACE-ABILITY”
 RATIONALE OF THE EU APPROACH
ON TRACEABILITY
6/10 French are concerned about the food they eat
54% of French feel they lack information about product
Media and Consumers 90% of French are concerned about quality, traceability
Concerns because of
• Mad Cow : 1996 – 2000 – 2002
• Dioxin 2002 Traceability has become
• Sheep disease (2003) a ‘Must’ for exportation
• Bird Flue (2006), Swine flue, to most Markets
• 2011 E. coli O104:H4 outbreak
• 2013 meat adulteration scandal

Regulation and standards:

• Eu: White Paper, Food law Implementation of various
(Reg 178/2002) Traceability Systems
• US: COOL, Bioterrorism act
• Retailer and Private standards
DRIVERS FOR FOOD TRACEABILITY

Environment Food Safety

Social
welfare Traceability Quality

Biosecurity
Food
and
security
bioterrorism
 INTERNATIONAL, REGULATORY
AND NON-REGULATORY STANDARDS

International Non-
Standards and Regulations Regulatory
Guidelines standards

Tools to comply
 DEFINITION AND APPLICATIONS

• The Codex Alimentarius has defined traceability as the "ability to

trace the history, application or location of an entity by means of
recorded identifications."

• ISO defines traceability as the ability to trace and follow food,

feed, and ingredients through all stages of production,
processing and distribution. (ISO 8402)

• Traceability refers to the completeness of the information about

every step in a supply chain.

• The formal definition: Traceability is ability to chronologically

interrelate the uniquely identifiable entities in a way that
matters.
 METHODOLOGY
REPORT SCOPE AND STRUCTURE
• Scope: food safety, suitable fishing, labelling and
traceability standards.
• Purpose: to identify whether a common theoretical
framework with respect to implementation of food
traceability exists.
• Structure:
– Results from the literature review covering the existing
systems for identification and marking of food and in particular
fish products as primary production, as well as the systems for
their identification and labelling in the chain of distribution
– Comparison with a table comparing the traceability principle
as a reference point.
 METHODOLOGY
REPORT SCOPE AND STRUCTURE
1 step backward, 1 step forward:

Data capture
Unique Data
and
identification communication
management

Along the food chain

To allow withdraw and recall

 METHODOLOGY
REPORT SCOPE AND STRUCTURE
Traffic light Meaning
Red: Defined and mandatory
The regulation or standard contain the definition of the requirement and the compliance is
mandatory.
For example the Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 defines traceability and requires the traceability of food, feed,
food-producing animals, and any other substance intended to be, or expected to be, incorporated into a food or
feed shall be established at all stages of production, processing and distribution.
Traceability is defined and is mandatory.
Yellow: Required
The regulation or standard does not contain the definition of the requirement but the compliance is
implied.
For example the Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 requires the food and feed business operators to have in place
systems and procedures which to identify the other businesses to which their products have been supplied.
The regulation does not require an internal traceability system. The identification of how lots/batches are
split and combined within each step of production is implied and needed for effective traceability, is only
optional but this information is essential for identifying the products to recall.
Green: not mentioned
The regulation or standard does not contain the definition of the requirement and does not require
the compliance.
For example the Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 does not require an internal audit for the effectiveness of such a
system.
The regulation does not require the system to be verifiable when tracing up each stage in the production
chain.
 METHODOLOGY
REPORT SCOPE AND STRUCTURE
1. Codex Alimentarius 1. ISO 22000 and ISO 12875:2011
2. GS1 Global Traceability
2. Office International des Standards
Epizooties (OIE) 3. TraceFish (EU)
4. Trace Register
3. FAO Eco-labelling and 5. CHINATRACE
6. Environmental standard for
sustainable fisheries
sustainable fishing (MSC)
7. National Marine Fisheries
4. FAO Technical Guidelines Service Dolphin Safe
on Aquaculture Certification Certification (NMFS)
8. EU Fish Processors Association
5. RFMO catch/trade and EU Federation of National
documentation schemes 1. The EU Food Law and the Organisations of Importers and
Hygiene package (food Exporters of Fish (AIPCE-CEP)
safety and labelling 9. WWF SFI
10. GLOBALG.A.P
2. The EU rules to combat 11. Global Aquaculture Alliance
(GAA)
illegal, unreported and
12. Global Food Safety Initiative
unregulated fishing (IUU) (GFSI)
13. British Retail Consortium
3. United Sates of America (BRC)
14. International Featured
4. Japan Standard (IFS)
 REVIEW AND ANALYSIS
OF CURRENT TRACEABILITY SYSTEMS

 International standards and guidelines

 Regulatory standards

 Traceability standards

 Sustainable seafood Certification schemes

 Other non-regulatory standards currently in use by

the Global Food Industry
 SUMMARY (1)
The requirements on traceability vary with type of standard and
the objectives of this standard.

The ability to trace and authenticate a food product is of major

concern to the food industry for various reasons

Looking to the application in practice as in the previous

comparison, the justification of traceability system may vary
depending on the product requirements: the more extended are
the requirements, the more traceability is needed.
 SUMMARY (2)
The requirements for safety play an important role to ensure the
safety demonstration and the possibility of product recall.

The requirements on origin control (i.e. eco-labelling) play an

important role to ensure the ability of tracing the product back to
its source and proving its legality.

Traceability cannot be seen as a “stand-alone” and is a tool to

support the standards and demonstrate the product compliance
with the requirements.
The choice of the traceability solution is going to vary depending
on the level of requirements (from paper to computerized
system)
 SUMMARY (3)
In order to be efficient, a traceability system has to provide:
 the identification of the operators, storage and preparation
units and identification of the product and its registration along
the whole chain
 an efficient traceability system inside and between the
organizations that can be controlled to ensure the proper
functioning of the traceability system among all the
organizations
 a periodical verification of the traceability system to make sure
that the data communicated are correct
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION

Vincent André
Advisor on Food Safety & Quality
vincent.andre@aets-consultants.com