Traceability of Food product

In the midst of establishing any food safety program, may it be HACCP, GMP or even MeSTI, you need to plan the traceability of your product. Traceability is the ability to find out how, where, when your products are made and distributed to. It also refer to the origin of your product -  the source of raw material, ingredients, etc etc.        

Under Reg 10(1), 2009 Food Hygiene regulation, a proprietor, owner or occupier of food premises shall provide a food traceability system in the food premises which able to identify one step back from where the food came and one step forward to where the food went at any specified stage of a food chain from production to distribution. 

What is the importance of traceability? When there is a need to recall (your products), traceability will ease the process.  The processor would be able to act quickly to identify the affected products and arrange to deliver them to the factory for re-processing or discard.  With this system, the food processor could also rebuild trust with public about their food safety concerns and controls.

So, what should you do to create traceability system?  First, your product should have a clear product specification, such as the features, weight, size, quantity etc etc.  Second, create batch code that representing supplier and production date.  For example, you may define a product code 1907220101 as below

• First 6 digit - YYMMDD of production date
• Seventh & eighth digit - Supplier A
• Nineth & tenth digit - Customer X

Bar code is an example of product code. It contain information like country, manufacturer, product spec, and production code.

Third, keeping complete records such as

1) Receiving records

2) Processing records

3) Maintenance & Cleanliness records

4) Packing records

5) Distribution records

and other relevant (to production) records.  

Fourth, when there is recall, processors will identify the affected products and trace the root cause of the non-conformance product along the supply chain, such as delivery method, production, inspection of raw material, Maintenance & Cleanliness of the facility and equipment.  The above records would verify the investigation during product recall. 

Each year,  food processor should implement a Mock recall on their own product to check the efficiency of their product recall system.  And this Mock recall should be documented for Surveillance audit.