Part I: Report on IDTechEx Food Traceability 2006
2006年2月16天
The IDTechEx conference Food Traceability in Dallas February 1-2 was a great success with attendance from 13 countries. The masterclasses before and after the conference were much appreciated. There was a consensus that track, trace and identify are merging as both sciences and needs. Requirements and executions before and after the farm gate are also becoming seamless. These barriers are rapidly breaking down. New sources of data such as RFID, 2D barcodes and widespread DNA analysis are creating a challenge in the sheer volume of data generated.
Voluntary national traceability schemes such as Can-Trace in Canada are extremely difficult to get under way and legal push is far more effective plus mandates from those in power such as the large retailers in the USA who now demand a move to RFID on all incoming pallets and cases. Smart labels and label-like products are involved in much of the new approach, including ones for RFID on food and livestock and ones with DNA information.
Dr John P Sanders, Epidemiologist, CFSAN, ECRS, Food and Drug Administration, USA opened the first session by sharing the background and mission of the FDA,
changes after 9/11 and the Bioterrorism Preparedness Act of 2001, closing with
current and future challenges for FDA. He showed how tracing food borne disease and contamination goes back many years but now it is monumental.
Source: FDA
Dr John Webb, Director Genetics and Science, looked at DNA for traceability of food at Maple Leaf Foods Inc, Canada. This $6 billion company is Canada's leading food processor, exporting to over 80 countries around the world. He addressed:
- Importance of traceability in meat products - why now?
- Why choose DNA as the method for tracing?
- How DNA traceability works - tracing to the mother or father
- Who pays for DNA traceability, and what are the real benefits to the industry?
- Traceability is only the first step in what will be the widespread application of DNA technologies to improve product quality and food safety
The WAWA Approach to Food Traceability was then presented by
Jane Griffith, Director of Quality Assurance and Food Safety
Wawa is one of the leading supermarket chains in the US with over 550 stores and its own dairy. She shared how her company is focusing on perishable products and has a commitment to product quality and brand protection. Products are produced and shipped to 550 stores and 950 wholesale accounts and there is a traceability focus on ingredients and finished products. Her focus was on the use of the automatic storage and retrieval system to manage traceability.
Source: Hitachi
The world’s smallest RFID chip
Chuck Wilson, Director of Information Division, Hitachi America, USA described the work of Hitachi Mew Solutions in Japan, a small autonomous start-up that is part of this $26 billion corporation with 347,000 employees. Mew Solutions took the largest order for RFID tags last year by numbers - 25 million inserts converted into tickets by Toppan Printing for the Osaka World Fair in Japan. The unusual approach of Hitachi mew Solutions is to manage all infrastructure and the numbering system to achieve highest security. He covered developments in Japan, Korea, China and Taiwan tracking both food and livestock including trials of ear tags on pigs, though the focus remains secure applications.
The IDTechEx conference Food Traceability 2006, held on February 1-2 2006 in Dallas, USA, was a great success with attendance from 13 countries. There was a consensus that track, trace and identify are merging as both sciences and needs. Requirements and executions before and after the farm gate are also becoming seamless. These barriers are rapidly breaking down. New sources of data such as RFID, 2D barcodes and widespread DNA analysis are creating a challenge in the sheer volume of data generated. www.trackingfood.com 
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