CSIRO has become the first Australian member of the Global Food Traceability Centre which was launched in 2013 to implement food traceability across global networks and supply chains.
CSIRO’s research leader for food safety, Dr Kari Gobius, said food traceability wasn’t just about helping manage a food safety emergency or product recall, though it could significantly reduce costs if it did happen.
“Traceability also has less obvious but proven economic benefits such as improved risk management, supply chain efficiencies and confidence, inventory accuracy, brand reputation and access to new markets and customers,” Gobius said.
A high-profile example of poor traceability was the E. coli outbreak of 2011. The source was, at first, thought to be Spanish cucumbers, and the industry destroyed millions of dollars in produce. The contamination was later traced via German sprouts to fenugreek seeds from Egypt. A total of 53 people died, and the European produce market was adversely affected.
As a member of the centre, CSIRO will be able to provide Australia with the latest research, develop traceability knowledge locally, and adapt outcomes for Australian conditions.
Executive director of the Global Food Traceability Centre, Dr Will Fisher, said traceability referred to the systematic ability to access information relating to a food under consideration throughout its entire life cycle by means of recorded identifications.
“It’s not just about data, identifiers, bar codes, RFID and tags,” he said.
“With a rise in high-visibility foodborne outbreaks, product recalls, counterfeit products, imports from countries with lower standards, complex supply chains and consumer concerns about health and safety risks, there is an urgency for industry to step up on traceability.”
