12 Aug Traceability simulation in the food industry: train today to react tomorrow
React quickly and accurately. That is what can make the difference in the food industry between an effective recall and an uncontrolled crisis. That’s why traceability drills exist: regular exercises to test the control system of a food from its origin to its final destination. Just as fire drills prepare a building for an emergency, food drills train companies to identify, trace and act if a batch has a problem.
In this post we explain what they are, how they are carried out and why they are a key tool to ensure food safety, protect consumers and strengthen confidence throughout the supply chain.
Traceability must be ensured at all stages of production, processing and distribution. This includes all stages from primary production to storage, transport, sale or supply to the final consumer, as well as all stages of import and distribution.
BACKWARD AND FORWARD TRACEABILITY
Food businesses must be able to identify any person who has supplied them with food. To this end, they must implement systems and procedures to make this information available to the competent authorities on request. This is commonly known as “one step back traceability”. They must also implement systems and procedures to identify the companies to which they have supplied their products. This is known as “one step forward traceability”.
In addition, food that is or may be placed on the market must be adequately labelled or identified to facilitate its traceability through relevant documentation or information.
Traceability is central to the responsibility of food businesses in the event that products do not meet safety requirements and need to be recalled or withdrawn from the market. Traceability information facilitates these actions, allowing the identification of products for recall. In fact, all operators in the food chain must be able to identify where a food comes from and where it goes to (“one step back, one step forward” traceability).
ANNUAL DRILLS
In food manufacturing companies, traceability exercises should be carried out at least once a year, as required by food safety management systems such as ISO 22000, IFS Food or BRCGS to check the effectiveness of the system.
These drills usually include:
– Simulation of a product recall or product recovery.
– Verification of traceability of raw materials, processes and products.
– Evaluation of response times and quality of documentary information.
Simulation can be approached in two directions:
– Backward (retrospective) traceability: Tracing the origin of a product or ingredient. E.g. which supplier a raw material used in a particular batch came from.
– Forward (prospective) traceability: Identify where a final product was sent. E.g. which customers received a specific batch.
– Full traceability (forward and backward).
To do this, a random sample is chosen and a recall or food alert is simulated. From there, the production date, raw materials used (batches and suppliers), production lines, machinery used and personnel involved, cleaning and maintenance records, quality controls, packaging and labelling, and the customers or distributors to whom the product was shipped must be identified and documented. Also the response time in identification. It should be noted that it should be done in less than 4 hours, although ideally in less than 2 hours.
It is essential to collect all this information in a good file to prepare a report that includes the date and time of the simulation, the batch or product selected, the data recovered, the total time spent, the incidents detected and the corrective or preventive actions if necessary. In addition, it is essential to share the results with quality, production and management.
As we said, carrying out a traceability simulation involves simulating a real situation in which it is necessary to locate a food product and all the information associated with its manufacture and distribution. It is an essential practice to verify that the company’s traceability system works correctly and in the shortest possible time.
FULL TRACEABILITY SIMULATION TEMPLATE
Below is a template to use for your full traceability simulation (backwards and forwards). Remember that this sheet should be accompanied by a report with the results and the evaluation of the process, mentioning important aspects: whether all the documentation was retrieved correctly or not, whether errors in records or deviations were detected, whether the existence of traceable stock in the warehouse was checked and suggestions for improvement. It should also include the proposed actions, which can be as diverse as digitisation of processes, training of personnel or repetition of the exercise with intermediate raw materials, for example.
And all this must be accompanied by the relevant documents: the batch production order, the raw material and packaging delivery notes, the production and quality records, the customer dispatch control sheet and the photographic labelling and storage report.
