How Climate Change Can Affect Food Traceability

By Melissa Lind, contributing writer

With constantly-developing regulations that vary from country to country, coupled with the threat of climate changes affecting certain types of food, food makers must anticipate the fragility of the food-supply chain.

Traceability is a major issue in the food industry. Consumers will continue to want to know where foods were grown or harvested and if sustainable practices were used. However, they may be completely unaware of adverse conditions that made harvesting from the usual source impossible. Food makers must be the ones to adjust to this “perfect storm” of adversity to satisfy consumers.

In addition to regulatory actions, traceability methods are now also being dictated by consumer demand. What may seem like a simple process becomes much more complex when considering food shortages in certain areas due to changing climate conditions. This ends up forcing manufacturers to quickly identify and shift practices to another source. Additionally, many consumers are interested in food that comes to the table through sustainable practices. This makes the need to document proof of qualified claims, such as “organic” and “non-GMO,” essential for those particular products. Several different methods have developed for different types of products including:

• Maintain Individuality — this is the most simple, but inviolable traceability process. Food products from a specific source or production area are kept segregated through the entire food-supply chain. This system is usable for single source products, such as whole animal carcasses, produce shipments, and for food-product processing or packaging performed close to the harvest source.
• Separated Supply Of Verified Resources — This practice is generally for exotic type foods that are produced on individual or small farms. Items such as coffee and tea can be certified as sustainably harvested or with other designations. However, the quantity of each farm’s harvest may be too small to ship alone. Small amounts must be combined to ship efficiently; consequently the ability to identify a source is limited to a specific region and not to a particular farm.
• Bulk Stability Methods — These are used for foods where separation of certified products from non-certified materials is not feasible due to physical constraints. This may be due to physical limitations at the source or intermediary or due to the size of the processing in foodstuffs such as refined sugar. In these cases, products are noted as “sustainable” and are weighed coming into and going out of the manufacturing plant, but the final material may not have come from a certified production area.
• Certificates Of Sustainability — These are used when products are easily transported and processed into commodity goods. They are a digital certificate of sustainability and may be issued at the harvest location. The certificate will then be applied to material at the end of the supply chain and the digital certification will be taken out of circulation. Theoretically, this should ensure that the entire volume is “as labeled,” but visibility in the intermediary transport may be limited and there is no absolute guarantee that all of the product came from certified sources.

With the threat of changing weather conditions and the fragility of the food-supply chain, food manufacturers need to harness technology to understand the environmental impact of certain conditions on food sources. Knowledge of a drought in a certain region may enable a manufacturer to predict a shortage of certain food types or to identify and avoid potential mislabeling. This is helpful for the food manufacturer to continue sourcing the same quality of ingredients, but the same satellite and environmental tracking technology can aid in agricultural operations as well as in preserving resources and increasing efficiency.

The “Cambridge Conference,” sponsored by the UN, has suggested that use of geospatial information has already improved agricultural productivity through better targeting of irrigation and there is still more to be done. While only a few consumers are aware of the complex nature of the food-supply chain, particularly when it comes to certified and specialized products, the demands of these consumers are not likely to decrease. Manufacturers and food suppliers must continue to improve processes and utilize emerging technology to meet demand.