A couple of years ago, I met with a Food Safety representative of one of our government agencies. We got talking about traceability, and she asked me what my experience showed regarding the percentage of food companies that have traceability solutions. I said to her that from what I can see, traceability in the food industry in North America does not exist. This was interesting to her because, as it turned out, the day prior to this she had sat through a thesis presentation of a master’s student who claimed that 85% of companies she had studied had traceability solutions. The person I was meeting with commented that she herself leaned towards my findings.
Obviously we have a different view on what traceability means.
My boss was at the Traceability Interoperability Summit last month in Denver, and he reported that one of the presenters had surveyed over 100 companies to see how they were meeting the one-up and one-down traceability requirements as mandated by the Bioterrorism Act of 2002. My boss asked me what my guess was as to the percentage of companies that were compliant. I guessed zero, which was exactly what this other company had found.
Without even realizing it, many food processing operations do not have true and complete internal traceability because they fail in one or more of the following required areas:
- real-time data entry and access
- no data islands
- integrated data chain
- no gaps
(I don’t remember the source of this list.)
They may have some form of product tracking, but it often doesn’t classify as a traceability solution. I mean, could they scan the bar code of a finished goods case and be able to pull up within a couple of minutes all the lot numbers and suppliers of each and every ingredient and component in that case, including packaging? And do they have a system that would enable them to determine all the downstream locations, lot numbers, finished goods, and orders of a specific ingredient that is found to be suspect?
1) Real-time data entry and real-time access to information: Clipboards with paper and pen are still amazingly commonplace. Manual recording is used for downtime recording, quality/HACCP forms, and other data collection. Some of this data is never entered into an electronic system but is filed for potential manual retrieval. Other data is keyed in manually at a later time for the purpose of generating reports and graphs to be posted after the fact. It’s not uncommon to see posted reports that are months old.
2) No data islands: Widespread use of tools such as MS Excel spreadsheets, which may do some basic importing of data but operate mostly as off-line tools, shows that data islands exist. Departmental “silos” keep people from having visibility of other areas of the plant.
3) Integrated data chain: Too often there are multiple vendor systems that are not exchanging data that would enhance their capability. With the robust and reliable interface methodologies available, gone are the days when interfaces between systems need to be an issue. Using best of breed systems is the best strategy for overall performance and value as long as the systems are communicating with each other. For example, an ERP system will not offer complete in-plant product tracking with interfaces to devices (although some actually claim to, the truth is that there is no one system that will do everything for everybody, even within a single company). But the ERP system’s capabilities will be extended with an appropriate interface with the right in-plant productivity solution.
4) No gaps: (receiving – raw material and ingredient batch control – material issue into processes – work-in-process including rework – transformation – pack-off – inventory – order fulfillment): Data gaps in the processes prevent complete traceability since there is not a satisfying link from source to destination.
A true internal traceability solution is characterized by these elements. What’s needed in many food processing plants is an integrated solution that meets these traceability requirements. Without it, paper abounds, schedules are missed, product gets lost, labour goes wasted, and food safety is at risk.
I’d be interested in knowing what are your thoughts regarding the adoption in the food industry of traceability according to the above requirements.
