traceability

Traceability is becoming an increasingly important aspect of food safety management. It is the documentation needed in order to respond to potential risks that may arise from food, and is a tool to secure fast recalls of unsafe food products from the market to minimize harm to the consumer. Additionally, the principles of traceability are being used to manage raw material quality and to optimize fish processing activities. Furthermore, there is an increasing consumer demand that food items can be traced back to their origin, due to greater concerns with respect to ecological and sociological values, like maintaining the environment, stock sustainability and fair trade.

Official requirements in Iceland regarding the traceability of fisheries products are mainly covered in Acts 55/1998 and 54/1992, as well as Regulations 233/1999 and 588/1997. Traceability is also covered in EU Regulation No. 178/2002. According to the EU Regulation, traceability is defined as: “The traceability of food, feed, food-producing animals, and any other substance intended to be, or expected to be, incorporated into a food or feed shall be established at all stages of production, processing and distribution.” According to the Regulation, any food and feed business operators shall be able to identify any person from whom they have been supplied with a food, a feed, a food-producing animal, or any substance intended to be, or expected to be, incorporated into a food or feed. To this end, such operators shall have in place systems and procedures which allow for this information to be made available to the competent authorities on demand.

The movements of fish and fish products in Iceland have been well documented for many years. How the fish can be traced from harvest to the consumer or visa versa can be explained by an example of the main distribution chain for cod (see figure 1).

At the ice fishing vessel/boat there is a log book where the fishing area, size of catch and quantity is recorded.  Every tub or box is also marked with the name of the vessel/boat and the day of catch.  If the catch is landed directly to fish processing plants, further information can be collected and recorded, depending on an agreement between the vessel/boat and the plant.  In case of freezing vessels the final product is labelled with the production date (day of catch) and the vessel’s license number.

Fish entering an auction market is mostly from smaller boats.  The information needed for the auction is the name of the boat, type of fishing and day of catch.  Further information might also be the handling of the catch (icing, washing and temperature at landing) and if the catch is gutted or not.

When fish is received for primary processing, all information supplied is documented, including the name of the vessel/boat and the day of catch.  This information on the raw material is used to define the production lot and is linked to the label on the final product.  Furthermore, pallets are labelled with a pallet number and a barcode that has a link to the production date and lot of the product on the pallet.

If a product enters secondary processing, the license number and the production date of the product received is documented.  If products from various primary producers are being processed, each producer is kept in separate lots and the final product labelled accordingly in order to maintain traceability. 

If a retailer or a customer has any complaints on the final product or there is a need to recall a product from the market, the license number and the production date (or lot number) can be used to isolate the problem and trace it to its origin.

Main distribution chain for cod in Iceland (data based on quantity in 2007)                                                                        Source:Matís

Matís