High-warranty traceability system in the poultry meat supply chain: A medium-sized enterprise case study

The concept of food traceability can be traced back 5000 years to Egyptian society. Over the last decade, traceability has become recognized as an essential food safety and food quality tool. Food safety legislation and voluntary standards have delineated different traceability frameworks, which can be assigned to two models: a generic, low-warranty traceability procedure or a specific, high-warranty traceability procedure. The latter is based on the documentation of the material and information collected from an organization and among parties in a supply chain. A risk-assessment based approach is needed to determine the best traceability procedure for each food product produced by a specific organization. This paper focuses on a medium-sized enterprise case-study operating in the poultry meat supply chain. The benefits and difficulties of implementation of a traceability system were discussed. This surveyed case-study provides a partial explanation as to why traceability in this sector is mainly being driven by food safety regulations, even if it also has potential as a visible value-added marketing tool. The lack of process automation is the underlying reason for complex implementation of a specific high-warranty traceability tool. A perspective schematic of straightforward traceability implementation is finally illustrated.

► A traceability procedure was developed for a medium-size poultry enterprise. ► Recycling of remnant materials was critical for product identification. ► The framework was validated as a risk management tool. ► It could promote quality improvement within the organization and its supply chain. ► The lack of process automation makes its implementation difficult.