Food Chain Integrity

A Holistic Approach to Food Traceability, Safety, Quality and Authenticity

Jeffrey Hoorfar, K Jordan, F Butler, R Prugger

• Publisher: Woodhead Publishing
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9780857090683
• eBook ISBN: 9780857092519
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Food Science
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Improving the integrity of the food chain, making certain that food is traceable, safe to eat, high quality and genuine requires new diagnostic tools, the implementation of novel information systems and input from all food chain participants. Food chain integrity reviews key research in this fast-moving area and how it can be applied to improve the provision of food to the consumer.Chapters in part one review developments in food traceability, such as food 'biotracing', and methods to prevent food bioterrorism. Following this, part two focuses on developments in food safety and quality management. Topics covered include advances in understanding of pathogen behaviour, control of foodborne viruses, hazard ranking and the role of animal feed in food safety. Chapters in part three explore essential aspects of food authenticity, from the traceability of genetically modified organisms in supply chains to new methods to demonstrate food origin. Finally, part four focuses on consumer views on food chain integrity and future trends.With its distinguished editors and expert team of contributors, Food chain integrity is a key reference for all those tasked with predicting and implementing actions to prevent breaches in the integrity of food production.- Reviews key research in this fast-moving area and how it can be applied to improve the provision of food to the consumer- Examines developments in food traceability, such as food 'biotracing', and methods to prevent food bioterrorism- Focuses on developments in food safety and quality management featuring advances in understanding pathogen behaviour and control of foodborne viruses

Part I

Tracing and tracking in the food chain

1

The role of service orientation in future web-based food traceability systems

V. Morreale and M. Puccio, Engineering Ingegneria Informatica S.p.A, Italy

N. Maiden, City University London, UK

J. Molina, AINIA Technological Centre, Spain

F. Rosines Garcia, Atos Origin SAE, Spain

Abstract:

This chapter discusses the influences of the next wave of Internet and service orientation on the development of food traceability systems. In particular, it is argued that future food traceability systems should be implemented on the Web as an integration of both existing and new services. An enabler for such a development is a service-oriented reference architecture, which provides a specification for a future traceability management system. The adoption and integration of devices for identification, food analysis, etc., are also discussed in the context of the Internet of ‘Things’. Finally two case histories of the successful implementation of the approach discussed in the chapter are presented.

Key words

future Internet

service-orientation

reference architecture

Internet of things

traceability systems

1.1 Introduction

Traceability in food chains is ‘the ability to trace and follow a food, feed, food-producing animal or substance intended to be, or expected to be incorporated into a food or feed, through all stages of production, processing and distribution’ (Regulation EC no. 178/2002). It also entails the ‘ability to trace the history, application or location of an entity, by means of recorded identification’ (Moe, 1998). Traceability systems support processes through which information on food origins, attributes and processing technologies is gathered and made available throughout a supply chain. Generally speaking, they are data recording and management systems designed to track forwards as well as trace backwards, following not only product flows (or ‘items’ as an abstract concept), but also product ‘attributes’. Traceability contributes to the demonstration of the transparency of the supply chain through the use of verifiable records and labelling.

The purpose of a traceability system is to prevent the introduction of an unwanted agent (e.g. a pathogen) to the food chain. Should this occur, though, a system can reduce the magnitude and impact of such an incident by facilitating the identification of the product(s) and/or batches affected and by allowing the parties involved to specify what has occurred, determine when and where the lapse in food integrity took place in the supply chain, and indicate who is responsible. Traceability operations can range in scale from internal systems organized by individual companies (in-house traceability) to systems enabling interrelated and complete traceability in the whole supply chain (chain traceability). The speed of response and the reliability of information are key aspects of any solution to traceability. Efforts to improve these lead to a move from paper-based traceability to ICT-enabled and ICT-supported traceability.

From the ICT point of view, the traceability problem is simple and complex at the same time. Indeed, while the issues to resolve are generally understood – products must be tracked and traced during a specific part of their life cycle – normally this goal has to be pursued in very complex and heterogeneous situations and contexts. In other words, users can have different, party-specific, and sometimes conflicting requirements, needs and goals and different circumstances present distinct constraints, for example in the use of particular technologies. Companies within the same supply chain manage traceability in different ways according to sector-specific legal requirements, company quality management policies, predefined target markets and so on. Moreover the level of process automation and adoption of ICT can be very different within the same supply chain: from paper-based systems to very advanced ICT solutions integrating traceability with production and logistics processes. As a consequence, a system for supply-chain-level traceability should be appropriate for a very complex environment, in which the ICT systems, among other components, are heterogeneous.

New technologies are invented and become popular in the software industry each year, and sometimes even faster. Therefore, people have to switch to these new technologies quite quickly. As a consequence, previous technologies lose value and may even become worthless. Yet, the situation is even more complex than this, because the technologies themselves change and are available in different versions, without a guarantee that they are backwards compatible. Moreover, software systems rarely exist in isolation: they need to interoperate with new systems built using innovative technologies. Even when systems are completely built from scratch, they often span multiple technologies, sometimes both old and new. Also, the Internet and the Web offer so many opportunities, services, and information that traceability processes and operations could benefit from and should exploit.

Thus, in this era of the Internet, and due to all the above-mentioned technological issues, a modern approach to traceability should be adopted. Stand-alone or client-server traceability systems must be considered the past. Instead, novel operational and business models based on the Web, service-orientation, social networks, knowledge sharing and creation should be considered the foundations for the traceability systems of the present as well as those of the near future. As individuals, we are users of the evolving Internet; why should we not seek to bring our businesses with us?

1.1.1 Future Internet

The Internet is nowadays the most common ‘highway’ for data, information, knowledge, and experience exchanges all over the world. These exchanges enable a wide range of applications, services, and scenarios. The concept of ‘computer networks’, dating from the 1970s, only took into account fixed networked computing machines. The modern concept of ‘networks’ involves all devices endowed with (autonomous) information processing capabilities. Common examples of such devices are personal mobile devices (smart phones, tablets, etc.), but potentially any addressable device or sensor can play a part. Societies and cultures are becoming digital, and enterprises and businesses should be moving towards more internetworked approaches.

Since its beginning, the Internet has evolved from ‘sharing’ in (Web or Web 1.0) to ‘contribution’ in Web 2.0 (user-generated content). The next development is Web 3.0, the age of ‘co-creation’ (collaborative production of information and services). The evolution of the Internet and the move towards Web 3.0 has been supported by the convergence of telephony, video/TV and other multimedia content, all now delivered via the Internet (Papadimitriou, 2009). One thing is sure: the Internet is going to grow, evolve and impact all kinds of human activity. It will become the one common, global and ‘ubiquitously’ accessible infrastructure for exchanging (and creating) human knowledge, culture, and services, supporting mobility, businesses, economies, processes and our social lives. This evolution will be supported by innovative business models that are emerging (and may emerge in the future), which enable entities (including businesses and individuals) to provide and exploit services on the Future Internet (FI).

The main pillars of this FI are:

• Internet by and for people. The FI will support and facilitate everyday life. It will continuously empower through free exchange of ideas, virtual communities, and social networks.

• Internet of contents and knowledge. The FI will not just enable access to information and content. It will ‘intelligently’ support intellectual activities such as thinking, learning, reasoning and recollection.

• Internet of things. Today, devices such as computers, printers, actuators and mobile phones are connected to the Internet, but in the FI, any object around us, anywhere, at any time, will connect, creating a ‘universally addressable continuum’.

• Internet of services. Loosely coupled entities will provide services such as resources, data or software that could be exploited and composed.

Therefore, what is the (near) future of traceability systems? Will current approaches still be appropriate? Of course, they will not.

1.2 The need for a novel approach to food traceability

Universal traceability systems for any product, any food chain and any company cannot exist, due to the great heterogeneity of specific situations, supply chains, products, food industry players and their needs. Instead, specialized traceability information systems and services have to exist and usually need to be customized to meet specific requirements and to provide the necessary level of flexibility (e.g. to cope with changes i...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Contributor contact details
• Woodhead Publishing Series in Food Science, Technology and Nutrition
• Foreword
• Part I: Tracing and tracking in the food chain
• Part II: Food safety and quality
• Part III: Authenticity and origin of food products
• Part IV: Consumer views and future trends
• Appendix: Project abstracts
• Index