TRACER Traceability’s Contribution to “Food Waste” Reduction

Food waste is a modern global problem with economic, environmental and humanitarian consequences. Especially in times of crisis, this phenomenon is of particular concern to public opinion. More specifically, the study of the food waste has been for many years, the examination whose study focused mainly on the less developed countries where the of malnutrition is of most concern.

However, the recent decades with the increasing population of the world, the eating habits have changed and they are continuously evolving, as well as the industrialization of food has. In this case, food waste is now an issue of globally concern.

Moreover, the last years, this issue has been a challenging project where on the one hand concerns the scientific community and on the other hand the business community through research and financial investments in the field of new information systems technologies and supply chain.

To better address the issue, the question that needs to be answered concerns the “source” of food waste which is the “WHERE” that is happening. The answer to this question begins from the industrial point of view, where food waste is generated at various points of the food supply chain procedures.
In summary, the stages in which this phenomenon occurs are mainly the stages of the supply chain, in the companies that are engaged in the production, processing, wholesaling and transportation of food.

These are as following:

• Manufacturing procedure
• Packaging
• Storage/Warehousing processes
• Wholesaling
• Transportation and Distribution

According to recent scientific researches, there has been a leap forward in technology to optimize business Supply Chain processes. So, it has been proven in practice that product traceability technologies have helped to a large extent to reduce this problem, with companies increasingly turning to new equipment and software installations as long as upgrading the existing ones of food traceability systems for the products they manage.

One of the main purposes of food traceability is to ensure that withdrawals or recalls are carried out accurately and with specific objectives, that appropriate information is provided to consumers and food business operators, that risk assessment is carried out by regulatory authorities and that general trade disruption is avoided. Moreover, Food Traceability’s purposes are expanding in the to the optimization and efficiency of certain business processes. Of course, the most common and important factor that traceability will contribute is the reduction of the food waste.

The traceability requirements in Food industry is based on the “one step back – one step forward” principle, according to which food business operators should:

• Possess a system that will allow them to identify who are the direct customers of their products.
• Βe able to connect suppliers with their products (which products come from which suppliers).
• Be able to connect customers with products.

Through traceability to be able to see the changes of products (food) and the time sequence of the forms of food in all stages of production and distribution from the place of production of raw materials to the final disposal of food to the consumer. It is basically a monitoring system that does not require complex chemical or biochemical analyzes.

Furthermore, the installation of a traceability system has multiple benefits for a business. Part of them concern the internal operation and the reduction of the risk and partially concern the placement of the company in the world market.

Productivity Improvement:

•  Real-time information on existing stock and product formats (raw materials, finished products).
• Reduce handwritten forms and prevent mistakes.
• Reduction of recall costs due to targeted withdrawal.
• Real-time information on the current stock of raw materials, semi-finished and finished products.
• Better resource management in production planning.
• Support for sound decision making, through real-time access to production data.
• Reduction of loading preparation and execution time and reduction of costs resulting from incorrect placement and search of goods.
• Immediate reaction to unforeseen situations.

Risk management:

• Immediate reaction in cases of crises with a dramatic reduction of the problem identification time.
• Documentation of the positions and claims of the company for the quality of the product.
• Ensuring the Quality of the products through the coverage of the requirements of the Quality Standards and the reliable recording of the quality controls.
• Possibility of immediate and targeted recall in cases of crises.
• Dealing with the problem of counterfeit products.
• Improving the company’s reputation as product tracking systems strengthen the product brand.

Other benefits

• Increase consumer confidence since the process provides proof that the product has specific characteristics (Greek product, PDO). Lack of traceability negatively affects consumer confidence and customer loyalty in many companies.
• It can become a powerful Marketing tool for the company, the existence of QR code in the product packaging becomes more and more frequent and enables the customer to know the product he consumes (philosophy, raw material, producer, etc.).

Summarizing, it should be noted, that the food industry at the level of production, processing, and distribution companies in the chain should take the phenomenon of food wasting into serious consideration. Through traceability and the possibilities, it offers, improve each supply chain process individually. In this way errors / omissions can be detected at every stage of the supply chain, with the ultimate purpose of improving them. This automatically leads to a reduction in “food waste”.

In a modern society that is constantly evolving and changing, using appropriate tools that technology can provide, and with the and the strategic advantages that traceability offers in the food industry, it is more than possible to drastically reduce the food wasting phenomenon in all the activities of a supply chain. This is fact that is able to guarantee long-term sustainability benefits, for economics, environment but above all, the society of the world we live in.

Want to see how TRACER can help with reducing waste, increasing productivity and managing risks in your operations and supply chain processes? Click here to setup a call and benefit from our expertise.