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Food traceability & blockchain among top four quality assurance trends
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Tuesday, 02 May, 2017, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Y Eswara Prasad and Mufassira Fathima
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Food supply chains across the world have become more complex and form a widely-spread network. The swift movement of food within this network has called for set systems in place for proper tracking and food safety monitoring methods to ensure a compliance with quality standards.
At every point in the food supply chain, the food safety and quality testing procedures must aid in ensuring food safety through close monitoring of compositional, microbiological and government standards.
The increase in government initiatives and regulations that emphasise the importance of quality assurance in the food industry.
Not only do these systems and methods mitigate the loss of public health and economy through swift product recall systems and food tracking, but they also make it easier for adherence to stringent quality protocols.
Food and beverage companies pay the highest regard to food quality assurance teams to uphold the safe quality of foods through each stage in the entire production process and suppress the possibilities of diseases outbreak.
Over the last few decades, the quality assurance processes and methods have undergone several changes, owing to technological advancements and changes in the quality of food cycles.
A closer look at the latest trends in quality assurance for food safety reveals an interesting mix of advanced monitoring and streamlining methods.
The technology and process in these have taken the food industry’s functioning to a whole new level. These are listed below:
Food traceability to back up quality claims
The employability of food traceability systems in meat products, fresh farm produce, dairy products fisheriesand beverages has gained swift acceptance among producers.
The deployment of advanced technology in food chains through the use of thermal printers, 2D and 3D scanners, sensors, tags and labels has found approval from many quarters.
By keeping track of the movement of food products in the supply chain, traceability systems form a systematic and well-maintained network of fresh produce as well as finished products.
The use of smart sensors and thermal printers in assessing food quality is sure to back up claims of quality through sufficient tracing and monitoring.
Decoding the blockchain effect
Blockchain technology is more a part of food tracking than it is a quality assurance tool. The emergence of the Internet of things (IoT) and several technological advancements in food traceability has been marked by the growing acceptance of blockchains.
A form of digitally-entered financial transactions in a database of blocks, where each block cannot be modified, it is a secure method of end-to-end traceability.
Not only has this brought a common language to the food chain, blockchain doesn’t run the risk of being outdated, as it is only a non-system and forms a chain of data.
Suppliers, including Walmart, have already employed a blockchain developed by IBM Corporation for tracking farm produce, milk and pork.
The efficiency of this pilot project in keeping tabs on food safety will be sure to spark off a newer trend where other food retailers are expected to walk in Walmart’s footsteps.
Regulation of organic food traceability
Regulatory bodies around the world have recognised the importance of quality assurance methods and have made it a mandate in the food and beverage industry.
For instance, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has put in a proposal that the food traceability should be established at the producer level.
The proposal, which is on its way to becoming a regulation, also specifies the importance of labelling and certification standards.
Organic produce, which is supposed to be chemical-free and pesticide-free, can be tracked in the supply chain through strict quality control procedures with food traceability.
This trend is expected to witness a series of new regulations and protocols, wherein several emerging economies and governments would employ quality assurance methods for ensuring food safety.
Special chip technology for hazard detection
The latest in the food industry is the use of micro-engineered chips as a model for studying hazards in foods.
Touted to be the next pioneers in food safety, the chip technology could explain how the body processes an ingredient in a supplement or how (a) toxin(s) affects cells.
It could also potentially reduce the need for animal testing, if at all. The research project is in collaboration with the FDA and Emulate Inc, an organ-on-chip manufacturer.
The goal of the research, which will begin with a liver-chip, is to be able to predict how organs will respond to exposure to chemical hazards in foods, cosmeticsand dietary supplements more precisely than cell culture or animal-based tests.In the future, other organ-chips may be used, including kidney, lung and intestine models.
The food traceability industry is evolving at a swift pace to keep up with the millennials, who are now demanding more precise information about their food sources and supply chains.
As the need for hygiene and food safety is on the rise, the food traceability industry is set to grow in the future.
The entire industry is moving towards an exponential growth triggered by a collaborative effort for food security and tracking.
( Prasad is team lead, Allied Analytics, LLP. He can be contacted at eswara.prasad@alliedanalytics.com, and Fathima is content writer, Allied Analytics, LLP. She can be contacted at Mufassira.fathima@alliedanalytics.com )
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