Spotlight on food traceability
Last September saw the publication of Professor Chris Elliott’s final report into the integrity and assurance of UK food supply networks. The report, which came in light of 2013’s horsemeat incident, identified weaknesses in the network and recommended to government measures that could be taken to address them.
The government quickly posted its response, which set out the actions being taken to implement the recommendations. These included:
- Setting up a new Food Crime Unit
- Ensuring government has a resilient network of food analytical laboratories to test food consistently
- Improving co-ordination across government to protect food integrity and tackle food crime.
Whilst nobody expected the issue to fade quietly into the background – the horsemeat scandal did have an enormous impact on the industry, after all – sometimes such reviews and recommendations can be taken lightly or left on the shelf for too long despite best intentions. Judging by my newsfeed, however, it seems the stamping out of food crime is more important than ever; in the last two weeks I have received three news stories all predicting growth for the food traceability market.
Research firm TechNavio says the global food traceability market will grow at a CAGR of 9.88% from 2015-2019, with the emergence of analytics systems – which can facilitate the tracking of food products in all phases of production, processing, packaging and distribution – expected to significantly affect market growth.
Similarly, Research and Markets’ Global Food Traceability Market 2015-2019 report forecasts a 9.88% market growth and highlights the emergence of analytics systems as a major upcoming trend. It does, however, note that high initial investment is one of the major challenges that the market faces.
Finally, Organic Monitor believes that growing consumer interest in food provenance and production methods is leading to a spike in traceability schemes, with a growing number of certification schemes and analytical tools helping food companies provide transparency.
It seems that the initial investment required for food traceability equipment, whilst high, will be be worthwhile in the long run given increasing focus and consumer interest in this area. I look forward to seeing the development of such analytical tools over the coming year and their effect on industry.
