Traceability Research at Packaging Logistics
(2009)- Abstract
- Research at the division of Packaging Logistics, Lund University, has been performed in numerous areas, ranging from organisational learning and sustainability to process integration and service development. One of these is the new and complex research area of traceability.
When it comes to food scandals, from the mad cow disease at the end of the 90s to the more recent incident where glass has been found in chicken, this has increased focus on traceability research in food supply chains. A regulation within the European Union which came into force in February 2002 about procedures on food safety has articles (14-20) that treats traceability. The articles regarding traceability came into force January 2005 (EC regulation... (More) - Research at the division of Packaging Logistics, Lund University, has been performed in numerous areas, ranging from organisational learning and sustainability to process integration and service development. One of these is the new and complex research area of traceability.
When it comes to food scandals, from the mad cow disease at the end of the 90s to the more recent incident where glass has been found in chicken, this has increased focus on traceability research in food supply chains. A regulation within the European Union which came into force in February 2002 about procedures on food safety has articles (14-20) that treats traceability. The articles regarding traceability came into force January 2005 (EC regulation 178/2002). Article 3 defines traceability as “the ability to trace and follow a food, feed, food producing animal or substance intended to be or expected to incorporate through all stages of production, processing and distribution”. The sense of the regulation is that every actor in the food supply chain has to know from whom a product, ingredient etc. comes from, when it was delivered, what was delivered, what has been sold, when it was sold and to whom it was sold. However, even though much research has focused on traceability within food supply chains, it is not restricted just to this industry or issues regarding food quality and safety.
This report presents research connected to the area of traceability which has been performed, as well as research currently being carried out at the division of Packaging Logistics in regard to research results, finished and ongoing projects as well as partner companies involved in research. Furthermore, this report will, based on problems with traceability pointed out in research and discussions with researchers at Packaging Logistics, present recommendations on where to continue or start focusing future traceability-connected research at the division.
Research concerning traceability at Packaging Logistics has been versatile, allowing a comprehensive framework to be created. This framework includes components (necessary in order to achieve traceability), research/industry perspectives, tools and added values (showing the benefits achievable with traceability).
In addition, traceability research at the Packaging Logistics has, to a great extent, focused on the food branch or food supply chain and external and not internal traceability. External traceability means the ability to trace a product/batch and its history back through the whole supply chain in contrast to internal traceability which is the ability to trace how ingredients and raw material within a certain actor in the supply chain is mixed, split and transported between different steps in the manufacturing process. Furthermore, this research has focused on finding and evaluating methods in order to ensure food safety and quality. This research has also pointed out the importance of collaboration between the actors in the supply chain and critical contexts, which is informational, relational and physical factors which together form contexts that are the weak points in the supply chain. These critical contexts should be in focus since it is these contexts where traceability is most likely to be lost. In other industries than food, focus has been of a more technical nature, mainly the implementation and evaluation of Auto-ID technology, thereby enhancing the possibilities of tracing goods.
Suggestions for future traceability research studies include a larger project in, for example the pharmaceutical industry where traceability could be used to prevent counterfeit. The pharmaceutical industry is similar to the food industry in many ways as products need to be extremely safe since they greatly affect consumer health. Many of the tools developed in food industry-related research could be evaluated in such a project, making it possible to generalise results as well as transfer knowledge from one industry to another. Within the frame of a larger research project like the one proposed, it would be possible to collaborate between ongoing project borders, allowing different areas of traceability to be further examined as well as knowledge to be shared between research projects. Furthermore, traceability research at Packaging Logistics should continue to focus on external traceability and the critical contexts as well as information sharing, both from a “soft” perspective and a technical one. These issues are highlighted as obstacles to achieving the benefits of external traceability. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/1502170
- author
- Fagerlund, Magnus LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2009
- type
- Book/Report
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- track and trace, identification and information, food safety, labeling, packaging, critical contexts, Traceability
- categories
- Popular Science
- pages
- 117 pages
- publisher
- Packaging Logistics, Lund University
- ISBN
- 978-91-977271-5-0
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 285d51b6-5c18-49a0-88cf-ed708c7c40da (old id 1502170)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-04 09:53:45
- date last changed
- 2018-11-21 20:55:34
@techreport{285d51b6-5c18-49a0-88cf-ed708c7c40da,
abstract = {{Research at the division of Packaging Logistics, Lund University, has been performed in numerous areas, ranging from organisational learning and sustainability to process integration and service development. One of these is the new and complex research area of traceability. <br/><br>
When it comes to food scandals, from the mad cow disease at the end of the 90s to the more recent incident where glass has been found in chicken, this has increased focus on traceability research in food supply chains. A regulation within the European Union which came into force in February 2002 about procedures on food safety has articles (14-20) that treats traceability. The articles regarding traceability came into force January 2005 (EC regulation 178/2002). Article 3 defines traceability as “the ability to trace and follow a food, feed, food producing animal or substance intended to be or expected to incorporate through all stages of production, processing and distribution”. The sense of the regulation is that every actor in the food supply chain has to know from whom a product, ingredient etc. comes from, when it was delivered, what was delivered, what has been sold, when it was sold and to whom it was sold. However, even though much research has focused on traceability within food supply chains, it is not restricted just to this industry or issues regarding food quality and safety. <br/><br>
This report presents research connected to the area of traceability which has been performed, as well as research currently being carried out at the division of Packaging Logistics in regard to research results, finished and ongoing projects as well as partner companies involved in research. Furthermore, this report will, based on problems with traceability pointed out in research and discussions with researchers at Packaging Logistics, present recommendations on where to continue or start focusing future traceability-connected research at the division. <br/><br>
Research concerning traceability at Packaging Logistics has been versatile, allowing a comprehensive framework to be created. This framework includes components (necessary in order to achieve traceability), research/industry perspectives, tools and added values (showing the benefits achievable with traceability). <br/><br>
In addition, traceability research at the Packaging Logistics has, to a great extent, focused on the food branch or food supply chain and external and not internal traceability. External traceability means the ability to trace a product/batch and its history back through the whole supply chain in contrast to internal traceability which is the ability to trace how ingredients and raw material within a certain actor in the supply chain is mixed, split and transported between different steps in the manufacturing process. Furthermore, this research has focused on finding and evaluating methods in order to ensure food safety and quality. This research has also pointed out the importance of collaboration between the actors in the supply chain and critical contexts, which is informational, relational and physical factors which together form contexts that are the weak points in the supply chain. These critical contexts should be in focus since it is these contexts where traceability is most likely to be lost. In other industries than food, focus has been of a more technical nature, mainly the implementation and evaluation of Auto-ID technology, thereby enhancing the possibilities of tracing goods. <br/><br>
Suggestions for future traceability research studies include a larger project in, for example the pharmaceutical industry where traceability could be used to prevent counterfeit. The pharmaceutical industry is similar to the food industry in many ways as products need to be extremely safe since they greatly affect consumer health. Many of the tools developed in food industry-related research could be evaluated in such a project, making it possible to generalise results as well as transfer knowledge from one industry to another. Within the frame of a larger research project like the one proposed, it would be possible to collaborate between ongoing project borders, allowing different areas of traceability to be further examined as well as knowledge to be shared between research projects. Furthermore, traceability research at Packaging Logistics should continue to focus on external traceability and the critical contexts as well as information sharing, both from a “soft” perspective and a technical one. These issues are highlighted as obstacles to achieving the benefits of external traceability.}},
author = {{Fagerlund, Magnus}},
institution = {{Packaging Logistics, Lund University}},
isbn = {{978-91-977271-5-0}},
keywords = {{track and trace; identification and information; food safety; labeling; packaging; critical contexts; Traceability}},
language = {{eng}},
title = {{Traceability Research at Packaging Logistics}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/5414883/1502171.pdf}},
year = {{2009}},
}