Produce Industry Traceability Guidelines

Project Number: 40548 - Understanding the barrier to existing systems capable of ensuring effective traceability in the New Zealand produce industry

Effective traceability from grower to consumer is now a requirement of the Food Safety Act 2014 and the Food Safety Law Reform Act 2018. Systems need to be robust at all times so that they can be effective in the event of a crisis.

United Fresh has nearly completed work on a three-year project that has investigated traceability within the industry.

The project has been funded by Government through the Sustainable Farming Fund (now the Sustainable Food & Fibre Futures) with further United Fresh funding and contribution in kind from GS1.

The focus is upon the attitudes and perceptions around traceability as well as practical impediments to achieving best practice. It is not about plants, equipment or expensive systems. Rather it is about testing the underpinning methodologies needed for a robust traceability system across an entire supply chain.

The aim has been to use internationally tested and implemented GS1 assessment methods to examine the present state of traceability across the fresh produce supply chain and to then generalise the results as far as possible across the whole sector with guidance on how to maximise effectiveness. Strawberries and lettuce were the crops used in the pilots.

The final Produce Industry Traceability Guidelines are now available to download, download here.