Traceability is the ability to follow an item — animal, plant, food product, or ingredient — from one point in the value chain to another. Today, many consumers are demanding products originate from sustainable and socially acceptable suppliers, are grown using specific procedures, and meet consumer expectations for healthy food. The ability to trace a commodity from origin to end consumer is now a requirement in CTRM solutions.
Discerning consumers scour grocery stores for organic produce, free-range eggs, and antibiotic-free meat. Organic food sales in the US alone total $40 billion, and that market is growing by more than 10 percent yearly. Consumers are willing to pay for the healthier organic products, but they want assurances that the products are what they claim to be. In 2015, 50,000 tonnes of meat were recalled across Europe because one meat trader was selling horsemeat labeled as beef. The ability to track that meat from pasture to plant to retailer could have prevented that mishap and saved a lot of unhappy consumers.Farm-to-fork monitoring is now possible using RFID tags, barcodes, and Internet of Things sensors with software to aggregate and analyze the data. Manufacturers purchasing agriculture inputs know the history of each input and can properly label final products as gluten free, organic, free range, etc. with confidence that they are accurately marketing their products. Consumers know exactly what they are buying, and feel assured about the quality, safety, and origin of their food.
Traceability is important for safety reasons as well. While food safety problems are rare, they can result in lives lost and disrupt livelihoods of industries, companies, and employees. The ability to trace the path of products through the value chain enables manufacturers to find the root cause of unsafe products more quickly, so manufacturers can recall the right products and resolve safety issues faster and more efficiently. Quicker action saves lives, and saves money. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. costs from hospitalized patients and lost wages in 2013 totaled $15.6 billion. 8.9 million people fell ill from the 15 pathogens tracked, with over 50,000 hospitalized and 2,377 fatalities.
Eka’s CTRM software solution enables commodity market participants to track the quality, quantity, and movement of commodities throughout the entire value chain, from farm to fork. Using Eka’s CTRM solution, commodity companies carefully track input sources, providing assurances that the products delivered meet the expectations of manufacturers and consumers.
