Transparency In The Food-Supply Chain — Imperative For Satisfaction And Safety
By Melissa Lind, contributing writer
The need for assurance that food products are being sourced from sustainable operations puts even more impetus on the need for traceability of fresh products to ensure customer satisfaction and loyalty
Some consumers are very select in the foods they choose to make part of their diets. For those consumers concerned with sustainability, these end-of-chain customers will choose sustainable products over low price every time. They want to know that their meat was raised in humane conditions, that their seafood was harvested with sustainable methods, and that their produce is organic. This makes it that much more important for every participant in the food-supply chain to be able to trace every step and every stop.
Food recalls can damage public confidence, making consumers who stick to diets of “sustainable foods” that much more committed to their food choices. Food manufacturers and processors can dramatically improve their customer relations and ensure loyalty when they are able to provide a genealogy of the food they are serving.
Protect Your Brand: Food Safety And Compliance With A Quality Management System
In today’s world of global food sourcing, every element of the food-supply chain requires visibility. The use of standardized practices and the expansion of electronic tracking can enable suppliers at every level the ability to assure customers down the line that the product meets the requirements of the discerning food consumer.
Restaurants should be able to ask the wholesaler questions about the food source for all levels. Suppliers should be able to answer those questions about traceability right back to the warehouse. The wholesaler should be able to track that same food all the way back to the factory, farm, or harvesting location. Questions such as length of transit time, storage conditions, and harvesting practices should all be answerable. If they aren’t, the customer will ultimately find that they will have to reject food products that come through a channel that is not transparent.
Food Traceability: Solving The Imperative Of Compliance
Though it may seem to many in the industry that transparency in supply-chain management is all about safety, customer satisfaction and loyalty will continue to rise in importance of traceability. Ensuring food safety and the ability to quickly implement recall practices is of utmost importance, but being able to provide the consumer with a guarantee that their food is exactly as it is claimed becomes even more important as environmental concerns grow around the world. The ability to provide complete genealogy to their customers can give a food supplier a competitive advantage.