How to define traceability

While food product traceability has become increasingly important in recent years, there is no consensus on what the term “traceability” means, and several conflicting definitions exist. This paper gives an overview of relevant traceability definitions, outlining similarities, differences, and the consequences of choosing one definition over another. To ascertain which definitions are most commonly used, 101 scientific articles relating to food traceability were reviewed. All the definitions commonly referred to in these articles are shown to have weaknesses. By combining the best parts of the existing definitions, this paper offers a new possible definition of traceability as pertaining to food products.

► The term traceability, as pertaining to food products, is not well defined; several conflicting definitions exist.
► In scientific articles, the most frequently used definitions are found in the EU General Food Law and in ISO 8402.
► These definitions do not match the functionality and content of traceability systems as described in many articles.
► In this article an alternative definition of traceability is presented where the most obvious problems have been addressed.