Background

Traceability of food products has become the focus of regional and national legislation, of many research and technical development initiatives and projects, and of many scientific articles. However, most of the scientific publications do not differentiate between the components of a traceability system, and those who do to some degree use inconsistent terminology and definitions. This weakens the analysis and the conclusions, and it can lead to misunderstanding in relation to what a traceability system is, what the components are, and how system functionality can be improved.

Scope and approach

This paper provides a structure for describing and analyzing a traceability system and emphasizes the difference between the system mechanisms as opposed to the attributes of the units that are traced. The basis for the classification outlined in this article is practical experience from traceability system implementations in the food industry, and participation in international standardization processes relating to food traceability. The references and the authors’ experience are from the food sector, but the component description is likely to be relevant and applicable to any product traceability system in a supply chain.

‘Traceability system’ is used as a generic term in this article, encompassing the principles, practices, and standards needed to achieve traceability of food products, regardless of how these are implemented. In practice in the food industry, most traceability systems are computerized and they are implemented through extensive use of information and communications technology (ICT), but in principle a traceability system could be manual and paper-based (as was indeed common practice only a few years ago), and the components hierarchy outlined in this article would still be applicable.

Key findings and conclusions

This paper identifies the general components of a traceability system to be the identification of the units under consideration, the recording of the joining and splitting of these units as they move through the supply chain (the transformations), and the recording of the unit attributes. The distinction between the different components is particularly important when describing and comparing traceability systems, and when recommending improvements. In both these cases, the respective components need to be considered separately.

中文翻译：

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食品追溯系统的组成部分

背景

食品的可追溯性已成为区域和国家立法，许多研究和技术开发计划与项目以及许多科学文章的重点。但是，大多数科学出版物并未区分可追溯性系统的组成部分，而那些在某种程度上使用了不一致的术语和定义的科学出版物。这削弱了分析和结论，并且可能导致与可追溯系统是什么，组件是什么以及如何改进系统功能有关的误解。

范围和方法

本文提供了一种用于描述和分析可追溯性系统的结构，并着重强调了系统机制之间的差异，而不是所追踪的单位的属性。本文概述的分类的基础是食品行业可追溯系统实施的实践经验，以及参与与食品可追溯性相关的国际标准化过程的经验。参考文献和作者的经验来自食品行业，但是组件说明可能与供应链中的任何产品可追溯性系统相关并适用。

本文使用“可追溯性系统”作为通用术语，涵盖实现食品可追溯性所需的原理，实践和标准，而不论这些产品如何实施。实际上，在食品工业中，大多数可追溯系统都是计算机化的，并且通过广泛使用信息和通信技术（ICT）来实现，但是原则上，可追溯系统可以是手动的和基于纸张的（实际上，只有少数几种年前），并且本文中概述的组件层次结构仍然适用。

主要发现和结论

本文确定了可追溯性系统的一般组件，这些组件将是要考虑的单元的标识，这些单元在供应链中移动（转换）时连接和拆分的记录以及单元属性的记录。在描述和比较可追溯性系统以及建议改进时，不同组件之间的区别特别重要。在这两种情况下，都需要分别考虑各个组件。