C.V.K
Lokunarangodage, Indira Wickramasinghe, and K.K.D.S. Ranaweera
Department
of Food Science and Technology
University
of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka.
“Abstract”
A study was
conducted to find out traceability practices and their compliances in orthodox
black tea manufacturing while identifying major drawbacks, analyzing factors
affecting the manufacturing process and proposing possible solutions. The
physical traceability in relevant segment of supply chain was considered from
out grower to the auction/buyer including one step forward and one step
backward from manufacturing. Low grown orthodox black tea manufacturers were
randomly selected. The traceability was evaluated using a questionnaire, end
product sampling, open ended interviews, observations and internal document
studies. Orthodox black tea manufacturing process is more complex unlike other
production processes due to the different separation techniques employed for
grading as well as number of different grades produced. Thus most critical part
of tea traceability system was to trace product within the manufacturing
process. Most issues were observed in grading operations due to the complex
process of separation through Myddleton shifter which was multiplied by chota,
michie and winnower. In addition, bulking or blending process also contributed
up to a considerable extent, while increasing the mixing of different made tea
together with increased number of suppliers. The traceability up to tea plant,
grading, blending and traceability of sample back to supplier was completely
impossible or nil according to sample. Nevertheless, supplier records,
traceability after packing, traceability at dispatch and after dispatch was
100% with full compliance. As a rule of thumb, other factors have varying
degree of traceability which indicates that those areas are more or less
neglected but it was not impossible to achieve.
Key Words: Orthodox Black Tea, Manufacturing,
Traceability, Compliance, Myddleton Shifter, Supplier.
Introduction
Approximately 2.6
billion people depend on agriculture for their livelihood globally and a
majority of them are small holder farmers in rural areas [1] where there is a
considerable percentage depends on tea industry. In terms of international
trade, tea is one of the major export revenue earners for the country, where
thousands of lives are depending on it directly or indirectly. Today global food competition is more intense
where stakeholders started to adapt their mind sets toward a more holistic
approach on supply chain management while focusing on food safety and
traceability in a farm-to-fork perspective [2] because food industry has
drastically changed during recent decades [3]. Nevertheless, many governments
are improving food safety measures to safeguard their citizens by increasing
control at all stages of food production, processing and distribution with
hazard analysis critical control point (HACCP) and traceability based food
safety management systems (FSMS) such as ISO 22000: 2005. In addition, product
traceability helps to determine the origin of a food safety problem and to
comply with legal requirements while meeting consumers’ expectations for the
safety and quality of purchased products [4]. The propose of the study was to find out
the major drawbacks in the area of traceability
by analyzing factors affecting the traceability process in orthodox
black tea manufacturing and to find out possible solutions to the issues
identified in the study.
Adopted Research
Methodology and Material Used
The project
designed to evaluate the problem areas of the tea manufacturing process related
to the food safety applications and then to find out reliable solutions with minimizing
or eliminating the existing complications through Pareto principle. The audits
had two dimensions where first major audit was targeted to identify the issues
prevailing in the food safety managements systems and their supporting
documents while second objective was to find out traceability of the
manufacturing process as a part of generic model development. The sampling plan
was randomized sampling, with the use of Factory Information.xls provided by
the Sri Lanka Tea Board which was used to select tea factories from the low
grown orthodox back tea manufacturing industries. The project has two phases
for execution and sample size for each phase was 30 factories. Phase II was
focused mostly on the factories which have ISO 22000/ISO 9001/HACCP systems or
Good Manufacturing Practices with Japanese 5S implementations. However, there
are number of tea factories which have abandoned the implemented food safety
management systems due to various reasons was also considered. Required data
was collected through standard questionnaire followed by open ended
discussions. A traceability exercise was conducted for a selected made tea
sample, practically trying to trace back green leaf supplier for selected
sample with the help of available documents/records and employees working on
relevant processing areas. The two testing criteria were common for all the
factories evaluated and special attention was given to the factories which are
currently practicing ISO 22000/ISO 9001/HACCP systems or previously followed
even though the certifications are expired.
Design, Results and
Evaluation
According to the
evaluations carried out, over 40 factories were observed with or without ISO
22000, HACCP or ISO 9001 certifications. The traceability was evaluated using
end product sampling, open ended interviews, observations, and internal
document studies in all the tea factories. As to the results, traceability was
found in-place up to a certain extent in all the tea manufacturing processes
from one step forward. It is mostly limited to the made tea up to auctioneer or
the wholesale buyer after completion of the manufacturing process. However,
made tea can be traced from manufacturer through product coding, manufacturing
date, brand, and name of the manufacturer up to auction and through auction
records purchaser can be located. The results of the study was given in the bar
chart above, which illustrate the traceability practices as well as the
achievements in the factory flow level. Further to the results obtained
traceability up to tea plant, traceability in grading, traceability in blending
and traceability of sample back to the supplier was completely impossible or
nil according the study sample. On the other hand, supplier records,
traceability after packing, traceability at dispatch and traceability after
dispatch was 100% or all the tea factories are complying with these four
factors. As a rule of thumb, other factors have varying degree of traceability
which indicates that those areas are more or less neglected but it was not
impossible.
According to the
CBI, the consumer markets are dominated by the popular blended brands that were
blended in the consuming country to ensure the unique taste of their brand at a
competitive price where tea buyers source different teas from around the world
mainly China, India, Kenya and Sri Lanka [5] depending on the market and cost.
Therefore, the process is complex and the traceability will lead to a bunch of
suppliers rather than a single manufacturer. When considering traceability in
one step backward, none of the tea factories were able to exactly locate the
farmer or the field where green leaves were harvested. Large estates were able
to locate the field of the harvesting carried out, but they also unable to
locate the records of exact plant. On the other hand, smallholder suppliers are
more critical because their leaves are mix each other while collecting and
transport where only possible up to a bunch of suppliers. The real issues were
observed in the grading room operations due to the complex process of separation
through Myddleton shifter [6] basically which were multiplied by chota – the
rotary shifter and michie – the oscillatory shifter together with winnower. In
addition, the bulking or blending process also contribute to the traceability
issue up to a considerable extent, while increasing the mixing of different
made tea together with increased number of suppliers. But these areas still can
be traceable with a proper organization of production flow and better recording
systems which was not available in any of the systems evaluated. The cost is
one of the major factors which decide the implementation of such measures,
because even through the factories are fully dedicated and implemented such
systems, the buyers do not pay attention to the such efforts while they were
involved in purchasing. Thus it is inappropriate to request complete
treatability from manufacturers without providing solutions to the areas
mentioned in the study.
Conclusions and
Further Work
Typically, orthodox
black tea manufacturing process is much more complex unlike other production
processes due to the different separation techniques employed and number of
different grades produced. Considering one step backward traceability, a most
possible paper based traceability system could reach the leaf collectors or a
bunch of suppliers approximately, but it is impossible to locate the exact
supplier who contributes to the issue or the tea plant. Withered tea leaves can
be easily traceable up to the Myddleton shifter starting from receiving and
weighing point of the factory, through production process. Nevertheless, made
tea could be traceable from consumer up to the dispatch point. Myddleton
shifter plays a critical role in manufacturing process due to its operating
mechanism where traceability was practically lost afterwards. Michi and Chota
shifters improve the reduction of traceability while winnower also helps to
reduce traceability further. Blending contributes further more to the lost
traceability due to mixing of small quantities for bulking to make required
orders.
References
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Samaraweera D. S. A.,
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