TRACEABILITY ON THE WEB A PROTOTYPE FOR THE PORTUGUESE BEEF SECTOR Miguel de Castro Neto, mneto@isa.utl.pt Instituto Superior de Agronomia 1 Maria Brandão L. Rodrigues, mariabrandao@hotmail.com SGS Portugal 2 Pedro Aguiar Pinto, papinto@isa.utl.pt Instituto Superior de Agronomia 1 Isabel Berger, isabel.berger@sgs.com SGS Portugal 2 Among the major concerns of the present global food system are genetic engineering (biotechnology), food safety and quality assurance, and animal welfare. Traceability is a concept associated with the capacity to identify the history, application and placement of an article or activity through information records, and is the answer of the players involved in the food system to deal with the issues above. Traceability management implies the collection, storage, processing and delivery of huge amounts of information all along the food chain, which should be permanently available to all the agents involved in the process, from farmers to final consumers. In this context, the use of information and communication technologies is a critical success factor. Presently, we are witnessing a growth in the use of Internet technologies, mainly the Web, to support the development of information systems which answer traceability information management needs. This media provides an effective and low cost infrastructure for achieve the objectives of this concept. In this paper, we will present a web application prototype developed for the beef sector in Portugal, in partnership between a university and an independent control body. This information system, besides fulfilling European and national regulations concerning the beef sector, provides the end user access to all the history of the beef he is buying, from the field to the fork. Finally, several conclusions on the social, economic and technical levels are presented. 1. Introduction For a long time, traceability has been applied for management reasons, increasingly used with the introduction of bar code technologies to keep track of problems of products at distribution level., Traceability within any production circuit has recently become a useful tool by itself and even a requirement (ACTA, 1998). The general idea behind traceability, as also specified by ISO 8402:21994, is the possibility of knowing the location of a particular item and the ability to track the history of that item from its origin to a specific place. The basic characteristics of traceability systems are: identification of units/batches of all ingredients and products; information on when and where they are moved or transformed; and a system linking these data. In order to achieve these objectives, information systems have to be developed not only to keep track of the procedures involving the product (production history, distribution and placement), usually refered to as product traceability, but also data 1 Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisboa, Portugal 2 SGS Portugal, Edíficio Atlas II, Miraflores, Portugal 607
traceability. To recover product-related information when needed, data traceability is necessary. The documents and records containing information concerning each stage of the product life are related through identification procedures. Although the above stated this distinction between product traceability and data traceability the first one is not possible without the second. Many manufacturing systems, including food manufacturing, have sought registration meeting ISO 9001 Quality Standards. These require that the product be tracable from the current stage back through all its stages of manufacture, through accurate and timely recordkeeping. The requirement for paper documentation has recently been changed; computer records alone can now be used as evidence of compliance (FSA, 2002). The growing concerns of consumers with food safety has given transparency and information access an importance that induced the launching of several initiatives aiming at providing consumers access points to field to fork information. Currently, one of the most used strategies is the development of web information systems where the consumers have access to the product s history from the producer all along the supply chain, until it reaches the supermarket shelf. This is ensured by providing product label identication information. Among examples available online are: PetersFarm in The Netherlands (www.petersfarm.com), Soviba in France (www.soviba.fr.com), the Swedish farm Assured (www.healthy-tasty.com) or Vinho Verde in Portugal (www.cvrvv.pt). 2. Beef Traceability in Portugal Traceability in the beef sector can be analysed from two perspectives: at production level, which includes animal identification and record keeping, and at labelling level, covering transformation and commercialization. 2.1. Traceability at production level Concerning the production level, the National Bovine Identification and Recording System (SNIRB) meets EC Regulation 820/97, and can be found with minor changes in all European Union countries. This system aims to promote information transparency and to offer the possibility of knowing all the background information in any stage of animal life cycle, including individual identification and place of origin, to keep track of all animal movements between locations. The SNIRB has four components: ear tags, passports, inventory and animal movements records, and a database. All the animals of this species are to be identified with an ear tag and a passport, which will accompany them all their lives. In order to have fast and exact access to animal background information, either for economic or CAP regulations reasons, a database was created to keep updated records of all the producers, animal identification and all their movements. Any beef producer has to keep an updated recording system of all its animals and their movements. Currently, the introduction of an electronic cattle identification system is being studied at European level which could replace the ear tags and become a more reliable information management system. It would create an automatic information retrieval process. Further information about the Portuguese experience with electronic identification can be found at www.idea.uevora.pt. 2.2. Traceability at labelling level On the other hand, since the introduction of a new beef labelling system in September 2000, we have two different labelling regimes: compulsory labelling and voluntary labelling. The compulsory beef labelling regime is mandatory at all levels of the marketing chain, aiming to assure maximum consumer confidence. This compulsory labelling regime, 608
which should allow for full traceability all along the beef chain, is supported by systematic data recording from birth to the supermarket shelves. The compulsory labelling regime imposes the existence of a label for each individual beef piece or the supply of suitable information in the commercialization of unpacked beef. The information includes the animal identification, the name of the slaughterhouse and the processing local. However, if the origin is non- EU some slight changes occur, namely in the individual identification of the animal. To allow for the inclusion of additional information on the labels in order to answer particular needs of producers and/or retailers and promote product differentiation at consumer s level, a voluntary regime was created associated with an assurance scheme. In this regime, the above stated operators have to prepare a detailed product specifications guide describing the information to be included on the label, all the measures taken to assure system confidence, the control process and the measures to be taken if something goes wrong. The product specifications have to be approved by the Ministry of Agriculture. In this regime, an Independent Control Body (ICB), proposed by the producer/retailer, recognised by the Government, and complying with European regulation EN 45 011, must be appointed to guarantee that the product specifications are being fulfilled. To accomplish it the ICO has to build a control scheme which implies the need for data recording all along the production chain and the existence of an information system that can offer traceability capabilities. This information system will be available not only to the producers and retailers, but even more important nowadays to the final consumers. 3. A prototype for the Portuguese beef sector In this context of increasing consumer attention to food safety issues and the explosion of Internet-related technologies a joint project of Instituto Superior de Agronomia and SGS - Portugal was launched. The objective was to use the Web to build a communication line between the producers and consumers of beef using the voluntary labelling regime. SGS Portugal, which began working in Portugal in 1922, is part of the Societé Générale de Surveillance (SGS) group, one of the leading world organizations in the field of quality control, and is a recognized Independent Control Body (ICB) in Portugal. In order to assure that a certain producer using a voluntary label is marketing a product to the approved product specifications, SGS Portugal has to collect huge amounts of information all along the production chain. Until now, the information collected was used only for this purpose. Since we have a central database where all the information is concentrated and a unique identifier in the voluntary label it what considered interesting to put up a web information system where that information could be accessed by the final consumers. This allows for the traceability of the product from the supermarket shelf until is place of origin, 609
Farm Animal origin Information Slaugterhouse Retail Beef parts origin Data ICO Data Packaging origin CENTRAL DATABASE Figure 1. Information collection scheme To support this costumer information service a Web information system prototype was developed. The system was build for a specific beef producer as an example of added value services that ICO SGS Portugal could offer to its voluntary labelling regime costumers. With the generalized concerns around beef safety, the prototype could offer an interesting competitive advantage for a beef producer by allowing for Web access traceability all along the food chain based on the unique identifier present in the meat packaging voluntary label. The prototype illustrated in Figure 2 was a dynamic website supported by the ICO central database and accessed through the Agrocontrol Department page in the SGS Portugal Website. INPUT - Voluntary Label Animal Code OK Costumers Internet ICO Web Server (SGS Portugal) OUTPUT - Retailer information - Producer information - Animal information Figure 2. Web conceptual information model 610
When visiting the Agrocontrol Department Web page, the buyer of any product of this particular producer could input the identification code from the voluntary label and have access to the product s history all along the production chain. The identification code establishes a dynamic relationship with all the information available in the database related with that particular beef product: namely, retailer presentation, identification of the producer and its farm, detailed animal information (identification code, breed, sex, mother identification, birth date and place, slaughter date and place, age and weight at slaughter) and additional production process information (feeding, management and veterinary data). 4. Conclusions Although initially seen by the project team has a very positive initiative, at social level the prototype was not seen as crucial for the beef producer. In fact, the approach was not considered relevant or believed capable of providing a competitive advantage. The increase of transparency and information content of products in the market did not seem to producers to be synonymous with making them preferable. In economic terms, this approach could be very interesting to those producers using voluntary labelling regimes, since the Independent Control Body offers an added value service at no extra cost, since the information needed to keep it running was already being recorded prior to this initiative. In a broader sense, life-cycle traceability can provide a strategic advantage that can reduce costs in the event of a product recall and reinforce the confidence of costumers and consumers in the strength and integrity of a company s products and brands. Finally, technically, the greatest challenge lies in information system integration. If we believe that traceability information systems built on powerful database technology enables us to capture, organize and track data with minimal time, labor and human error that does not happen in the present. In order to have a central database repository, middleware software that could communicate between the producers and the ICO information systems has to be designed. Today, with the generalization of XML solutions, this could be addressed with ease. In technological and economic terms, while the up-front cost of technology solutions may be expensive, especially for small to midsize companies, the cost of not being able to trace products back to their sources can be very high. LITERATURE ACTA-ACTIA, 1998. Tracabilité: Guide pratique pour l agriculture & l industrie alimentaire. Paris, France. Food Standards Agency, 2002. Traceability in the Food Chain A preliminary study. Food Chain Strategy Division, March. John Gledhill, 2002. Tracing the line using information technology to reduce costs while meeting industry requirements, Food Processing, March 6. Circular do GPPAA, 2000. Rotulagem da Carne de Bovino. Gabinete de Planeamento e Política Agro-Alimentar Ministério da Agricultura, do Desenvolvimento Rural e das Pescas, Lisboa, Portugal. Circular do GPPAA Nr.01/2001, 2001. Regime de Rotulagem Facultativa da Carne de Bovino. Gabinete de Planeamento e Política Agro-Alimentar Ministério da Agricultura, do Desenvolvimento Rural e das Pescas, Lisboa, Portugal. Mock, James. Tracing the Integrity of Agricultural Products from Field to Food, [http://www.oilseeds.org/step/library/jamesmock.htm] Rodrigues, Maria, 2002. Rastreabilidade e Novas Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação no Controlo e Certificação de Carne de Bovino. Relatório do Trabalho de Fim de Curso de Engenharia Agronómica, Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Lisboa, Portugal. 611