Supply Chain Traceability is Going Digital: What You Should Do To Prepare

Creating a Common Digital Language for Supply Chain Traceability

By Judith Kirkness 

Supply chain traceability for food refers to:

• the ability to trace animals or produce from the farm to the table, and

• the ability of food processors to trace every raw ingredient from its source through distribution, manufacturing and finally to the consumer.

For some food items supply chain traceability is already well-established. But for most foods we still have a long way to go.

The Keys to Supply Chain Traceability

How feasible supply chain traceability is generally depends on the length of the supply chain, how well connected the links in the chain are, and how complicated the processing of the item is. Each manufacturer in the chain needs to have one-up and one-down traceability. Then, there must be a way of pulling these details together from those who touch that product along its lifecycle.