ISO 22000 & Food Traceability
Part VI
An Overview of GS1 Traceability Standard
GS1 is a neutral, not-for-profit organization
dedicated to the design and implementation of global standards, technologies
and solutions to improve the efficiency of supply and demand chains by adding
useful information to any exchange of goods or services. It was formed from the
joining together of EAN International and UCC, the Uniform Code Council, and is
today the most widely used supply chain standards system in the world. GS1 has
more than 30 years experience and is present in over 145 countries. More than a
million companies representing all points in the supply and demand chain and
executing over five billion transactions every day drive the organization’s
activities. It operates in more than 20 sectors, including fast-moving consumer
goods, healthcare, transport and logistics, and defense. GS1 works with small
and mid-sized firms, as well as many of the world's largest corporations. GS1's
integrated system of standards is the foundation for accurate identification
and communication of information regarding products, assets, services and
locations.
Traceability is the ability to identify the
past or current location of an item, as well as to know an item's history. The
most well known use of traceability is locating defective or unsafe foods,
pharmaceuticals or other products, in order to remove them promptly from
shelves. In some cases, being able to quickly and easily recall an item (or a
group of items) can save lives. Speedy recall also greatly reduces the
potential negative economic impact, and preserves consumers’ trust in the
quality of their favorite brands and their confidence in the systems that are
designed to protect their safety. There is however more to traceability than
just recall. For example, traceability systems can validate the presence or
absence of attributes important to consumers, such as organic farming methods,
kosher foods, non-allergenic cosmetics, or sugar-free products. Traceability
has become a tool in fighting product counterfeiting and protecting brands.
Recently, it has also become a regulatory requirement in some countries in the
fight against bioterrorism.
Safety, security and traceability are
currently at the forefront of both government regulations and industry concerns
around the world. As a result, numerous irreconcilable track and trace
solutions have been proposed to the national, regional and global supply chain
participants. The cost of diverse government regulations, proprietary service
offerings and incompatible commercial solutions to the consumers, companies and
the global supply chain called for defining traceability as a business process,
which is supported by voluntary business standards that are accepted around the
world. To further develop the capability to assist consumers, businesses and
governments worldwide, GS1 has defined traceability as a business process and
produced a global Traceability Standard, which links it to enabling
technologies and relevant GS1 System tools.
Attributes of GS1
GS1 has succeeded in producing a global
business agreement on generic requirements and a common way to describe the
traceability process, while taking into account differences imposed by diverse
legislative and business requirements and diverging expectations in terms of
enabling technologies. While businesses recognize the value of traceability,
they do not want multiple, potentially conflicting, traceability systems, and
they do not want to increase costs unnecessarily. Businesses also recognize
that an individual company is only one partner in the supply chain, and that a
chain is only as strong as its weakest link. So they want a system that could
easily be adopted by just about everyone in the supply chain.
The GS1 Traceability Standard addresses
these business needs in the following ways:
- It is based on existing business practices, and there is no need to purchase, create or integrate new systems.
- The standard uses a common language, the GS1 System of identification and bar coding, as well as GS1 EANCOM® and GS1 XML messaging.
- Therefore, broad-based in that GS1 Standards are used in over 150 countries around the world by a large majority of supply chain partners (there are over 1 million GS1 user companies).
- It takes a global approach, addressing the supply chain as a whole rather than any particular individual partner.
- Standard is thorough, covering the fundamentals of traceability – identification, data capture and management, links management, and communication.
- Standard focuses on the interfaces of physical flow of materials and products, establishing an open, global relationship between independent partners.
- It is flexible, recognizing that circumstances vary within and between sectors, and thus providing for tailored applications.
In addition you must keep in mind that it
is not a standard for internal traceability, although it does show the inputs
and outputs that must be linked by an internal traceability system which is
also not a law or regulation, although it is designed to help business comply
with existing and expected laws or regulations. On the other hand, it is not a
replacement for a service provider for e.g. training or implementation support,
although it does identify the types of information and core specifications that
a service provider needs to consider in designing a system to manage
traceability. The standard is not a replacement for safety or quality programmes,
which complements them when a problem arises i.e., food safety programs such as
the CIES Global Food Safety Initiative and quality programmes such as EUREPGAP.
Implementing a traceability system within a
supply chain requires all parties involved to systematically link the physical
flow of materials and products with the flow of information about them. This
requires a holistic view of the supply chain, which is best attained by
deploying a common business language. While businesses recognize the value of
traceability, they do not want multiple, potentially conflicting traceability
systems, and they do not want to increase costs unnecessarily. Businesses also recognize
that an individual company is only one partner in the supply chain, and that a
chain is only as strong as its weakest link. In short, businesses want a
traceability system that can easily be adopted by just about everyone in the
supply chain. The GS1 Traceability Standard meets this criterion. It defines
business rules and minimum requirements to be followed when designing and
implementing a traceability system. GS1 standards (such as GS1 Bar Codes, GS1
EPC, GS1 e Com business messaging, and more) enable the easy implementation of
this GS1 Traceability Standard.
GS1 Traceability Tools
The introduction of GS1 standards can
improve the efficiency of recording and exchanging information between supply
chain participants. When used in conjunction with databases containing accurate
and timely records, GS1 standards provide all supply chain participants with
the technical capability to see the origin of a product, both in their own
locations and across the entire supply chain. At the simplest level, item
numbering is what the name suggests – a system for identifying items by giving
each one a unique number (e.g. a bottle will have a different number to a
case). Numbering can be applied at every stage of production and distribution.
It is used to identify products and services. While the most visible aspect of
item numbering is the bar code, it is only a machine-readable representation of
a number. It is the number, which is the most important element in the GS1
System, because the number identifies the item to which it is assigned.
The GS1 numbering system provides for
global uniqueness and overcomes problems of confusion, duplication and
misinterpretation, because all users of the GS1 System follow the same coding
rules. A GS1 number can be recognized not only by local trading partner
companies, but by companies operating overseas as well. Each GS1 number is
unique worldwide, so there is no possibility of confusion. The GS1 numbering
system also provides the ability for items to also carry, within the numbering
convention, extra or attribute information pertaining to the item. GS1
standards carry data, which allow supply chain participants to track and trace products.
The application of these standards requires manufacturers, importers/exporters,
carriers, distributors and retailers to keep records of serial numbers of
logistics units (SSCC), identification numbers of trade items (GTIN) and their
attribute information (Application Identifiers), and location numbers of their origin
(GLN).
Global Location Number (GLN)
A GLN is a numeric code that identifies any
legal (e.g. company, division), functional (e.g. accounts dept) or physical
entity (e.g. plot of land) within a business or organization. Each location is
allocated a unique number. The use of a GLN is a pre-requisite for efficient
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI).
Global Trade Item Number (GTIN)
The GTIN is a number used for the unique
identification of trade items worldwide. A trade item is any item (product or
service) upon which there is a need to retrieve pre-defined information and
that may be priced, ordered or invoiced for trade between participants at any
point in any supply chain.
Serial Shipping Container Code (SSCC)
The SSCC (Serial Shipping Container Code)
is a number, which is used for the unique identification of logistic units. A
logistic unit is an item of any composition established for transport and/or
storage, which need to be managed throughout the supply chain. The SSCC
provides an unambiguous identification for logistic units (e.g. a flexi tank or
a container). All parties in the supply chain can use it as a reference number
to the relevant information held in electronic or human readable files.
Application Identifier (AI)
Attribute information is any variable
information required over and above the trade unit or logistics unit
identification, such as a batch number, production date or customer purchase
order. In the GS1 System, this information is expressed by means of GS1
Application Identifiers (AI). Attribute information is bar coded in the GS1-128
bar code symbol.
Bar Codes and RFID
GS1 bar codes allow automatic data capture
of GS1 numbers, which is a key business solution in an efficient supply chain.
The GS1 numbering and bar coding system allows fast accurate and timely data
input into computer systems, automating the flow of information into business
processes. It also enables improved data capture and transfer of information,
while reducing costs. Recent GS1 standardization developments in the field of
RFID are internationally known as the EPC global Network.
Data Alignment
Some companies already have effective
internal traceability systems in place. For them, the next step is to achieve
full supply chain traceability. The main requirements for handling product
withdrawals and recalls across the supply chain are having reliable data, the
possibility to exchange the data and properly mapped business processes. A good
internal traceability system is a prerequisite to a chain traceability system.
The investments in an internal traceability system will not be wasted in moving
towards chain traceability. All good supply chain traceability software should
be able to integrate seamlessly to any internal system. The application of GS1
standards is a prerequisite for the alignment of traceability systems.
The reason for using GS1 standards is to
overcome the barriers to commerce that national, industry and company specific
standards create when they are used in place of international multi-industry
standards. Trading, tracking and tracing goods become more expensive because of
the need to fulfill different identification and communication requirements of
each importing country or company. The key to designing cost-effective and
efficient traceability systems is to satisfy different customer and legal requirements
by applying one global standard.
Companies that implement collaborative best
practices and GS1 standards need to encourage their partners to do the same.
Before any GS1 bar code label can be scanned, there has to be an exchange of
master data between the trading partners. This data defines the specific trade
item, such as its GTIN; the logistic unit, such as its SSCC; and the trading
partner details, such as its GLN. Because this information is retrieved from
the receiver’s files, it is crucial that the receiver is able to maintain the
necessary GS1 data standards in its database. As the full product data is built
from both the sender and receiver’s information, it is vital that the data is
aligned. Therefore, it is very important that data alignment occurs prior to
any physical transaction between the sender and receiver.
The Difference
Considering the number of traceability
initiatives, whether regional, national or international (Codex, ISO), it is
reasonable to ask what point of difference the GS1 Traceability Standard
provides. Quite simply, this Standard delivers the “nuts and bolts” that these
other initiatives require or recommend. For example, the two major economies,
the European Union and the United States, have within the last few years passed
regulations requiring specific information be collected to trace food products
“one step up, one step back” within a supply chain. These regulations do not,
however, specify how this should be done, leaving it to industry to find the
most efficient and effective methods for their situations.
On an international scale, the Codex
Alimentarius Commission is developing Guidelines for traceability of foods in
international trade and has drafted a number of useful and important
principles. While the ISO 9001:2008 Quality System Management Standard is
applicable to all products not just foods, its approach is systematic - the
criteria and limits for each product characteristic, how they are measured,
actions to be taken if they are not met, auditing, training of personnel, etc.
– but does not specify the criteria or the information to be collected. It is
important to point out that the GS1 Traceability Standard does use the ISO definition
of traceability. Having a proven global standard-based traceability process can
demonstrate that an organization has met requirements of corporate
responsibility.
Reference
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