This document discusses how barcode technology can be used for traceability in the fresh food industry. It describes how growers can label cases in the field, and how packers and processors need more advanced systems to manage inventory, palletizing, commingling of lots, and shipment verification. A barcode-based system provides the detailed information needed for efficient operations and recall response by facilitating production reporting, inventory management, lot traceability, and proof of shipments.

1. USING BARCODE FOR
FRESH FOOD TRACEABILITY
Traceability, Productivity and Compliance
Labeling Requirements are driving the fresh food
industry to use barcode technology—in the field, on the
GS-1 & PTI Compliance production line and in storage & shipping.
Production Reporting CHALLENGE
Being in the fresh food business means getting short shelf-life
Inventory Management
products to market as quickly and cost effectively as possible.
Case & Pallet Labeling Wholesalers and retailers are becoming more demanding
and the processors, in order to comply with new require-
Lot Traceability ments, are using bar code technology in increasing numbers.
Shipment Verification SOLUTION
Alaskan fish processors have been using SIMBA software for
Automated Bill of Lading & over 25 years. It was designed in the late 1980’s with the
Manifests purpose of reporting daily production to management and
sales. Since then, the system has expanded to include print-
ing compliance labels, tracking inventory, shipment verifica-
tion, and complete lot traceability for food safety.
FLEXIBILITY
The fresh food industry encompasses everything from fish to
produce to meat and poultry to berries and citrus fruits. Each
product has its own unique challenges for production, han-
dling and food safety. The following is a discussion of avail-
able and scalable solutions for fresh food growers, proces-
sors and packers.

2. FOOD PROCESSING, STORAGE & TRACEABILITY—DYNAMIC SYSTEMS INC. www.a-barcode.com
With the passing of the Produce Traceabil- The in-field labeling process can be
ity Initiative (PTI) and the recent recalls, managed by:
the requirements for automation within the
(1) Preprinting sequential labels and car-
fresh food industry have become more
rying a roll of these labels to the field.
complex. The following is a discussion of
This would require a barcode printer,
options available to the Growers, Proces-
a PC and label-design software at the
sors and Packer/Shippers for production
plant. Since this initiates the Lot
reporting, inventory management, lot
traceability, it’s recommended a
traceability and shipment verification.
spreadsheet of the printed labels be
THE GROWER—AUTOMATION IN THE retained, and any unused labels be
FIELD: “voided” on the spreadsheet.
Ideally the Grower will initiate lot traceabil- (2) Printing labels in the field from a
ity in the field where the food is picked. “workstation” that includes the printer,
That environment brings with it some com- PC and label-design software en-
plications: dust & moisture, lack of elec- closed in a shed or other weather-
tricity, the requirement for simplicity and resistant enclosure. This would re-
speed. The amount of information the quire power to run the various elec-
Grower chooses to collect will define the tronic components. Again, keep a
system and equipment used. spreadsheet of the labels printed.
Voiding should not be required as la-
Option 1: Label Only—A Grower may
bels can be printed on-demand as
choose to simply label the cases with a
cases are packed onto the pallet,
barcode that can be used by the Packer/
truck or van.
Shipper and other down-line facilities.
This label will initiate the Lot, so the bar- (3) A solution that includes a mobile
code itself should be well-designed. Our scanning terminal, mobile printer and
recommendation is to design a Lot Num- software that will allow the user to de-
ber formatted as follows: fine the contents of the label on the
2-digit Field Code—4-digit Date—3-digit sequence number fly. This solution would also include
14 080212 001 the ability to accumulate a
database of cases packed
So the Lot Number is 14080212001.
and shipped. The advan-
The barcode label contents is often dic- tage to this method is that
tated by the customer and can contain ad- the Grower now retains not
ditional information. Scenarios: only Lot traceability data,
but can report production
Item #/Date/Weight/Lot#
and shipments in detail.
Or This expands the simple labeling ac-
GS1 Supplier#/Item#/Lot# tion into a Field Production Manage-
ment System.

3. FOOD PROCESSING, STORAGE & TRACEABILITY—DYNAMIC SYSTEMS INC. www.a-barcode.com
P ACKE R-S HI PP ER— P RO DUCTI O N Lot B is Commingled with a portion of
MANAGEMENT WITH TRACEABILITY: Lots A&C (see diagram). Because there
is no way in a straight-forward lot track-
The company that receives cartons from
ing scheme to differentiate which por-
Growers and repackages them for ship-
tions of Lots A&C have been commin-
ment to the wholesale or retail customer
gled, if Lot B is recalled, so are Lots A&C
will need a more complex system than the
in their entirety. This can get expensive.
Grower. This system needs the added ca-
pabilities of palletizing and re-boxing or A better method is by using a carton
commingling product and inventory man- tracking scheme. The software accumu-
agement. lates carton data, defining which cartons
contain which Lots. Then when Lot B is
PALLETIZING—This feature allows the
contaminated, only cartons B, A/B and B/
packer to receive a number of cartons, ac-
C are recalled. This tracking method (re-
cumulate them onto a pallet and print a
boxing or commingling lots by carton)
barcode pallet label. All of the cartons on
would also pertain to any recalled ingre-
that pallet are associated with the one pal-
dients in processed foods.
let number, so all can be “moved” or
“shipped” with one scan.
COMMINGLING & RE-BOXING—The
process of mixing lots (commingling) into
one box or removing the contents of more
than one box and mixing them in new
boxes (re-boxing) add complications to Lot
tracking. Any software used by the
Packer/Shipper has to have these func-
tions in order to maintain full Lot traceabil-
ity. There are 2 distinct methods of han-
dling these functions.
FOOD PROCESSING—When a com-
TRACK BY LOT OR BY CARTON? pany alters the fresh food (chops it up;
adds ingredients, etc.) the re-boxing and
There are two methods of maintaining commingling processes are a given.
traceability: (1) track the lots as they move
through the supply chain; (2) track lots PRODUCTION SPEED—Fresh food
within cartons as the cartons move needs to be handled quickly and effi-
through the supply chain. ciently in order to retain maximum fresh-
ness. The system should be designed
If a simple lot tracking method is used, as for speedy transactions. The SIMBA
lots are commingled, all the included lots Food Production and Traceability system
are considered contaminated in the case uses touch screen technology to solve
of a recall. For example: this problem.

4. FOOD PROCESSING, STORAGE & TRACEABILITY—DYNAMIC SYSTEMS INC. www.a-barcode.com
and included on the manifest, which is
automatically produced. When a cus-
tomer claims there are cartons missing, it
is now possible to prove what was
loaded.
The attributes of the food product (species,
grade, size/weight, etc.) and functions (re-
box, palletize, print) are selected by touch-
ing “buttons” on the touch screen. It’s fast
and easy to understand.
INVENTORY MANAGEMENT:
Any time the product is stored and then
moved or shipped, barcode can be valu-
able. Inventory management software (or SUMMARY:
a module within a larger software product)
can, with the simple scan of a location bar- A barcode-based system of inventory
code and the pallet or carton barcode, re- management and Lot tracking provides
cord the storage location of that carton or the detailed information that a Grower,
pallet. Current inventory data is then avail- Packer, Processor or Shipper needs to
able to sales or production with 99%+ ac- both run an efficient, profitable business,
curacy. Companies who have imple- and respond to recall and traceability re-
mented barcode in their warehouse facili- quirements. Key areas to look for:
ties have on average recognized 50-80% • Ease of use and speed of production
increased productivity.
• Detailed inventory management
THE IMPORTANCE OF SHIPMENT • Re-box and Commingling by the Car-
VERIFICATION ton
Every company has had shipment dis- • Shipment Verification
putes. Ideally it would be possible to re- • Equipment designed with the environ-
tain proof of what was contained in a spe- ment in mind
cific shipment. Using a method of ship-
• Support available from the systems
ment verification (sometimes called “van integrator
loading”) solves this problem.
Flow charts of various scenarios are available
As cartons are accumulated onto pallets upon request.
and loaded onto vans, each is accounted For more information go to:
for using a barcode scanning application. http://www.a-barcode.com/software/food-traceability/
Each carton number is assigned to a van Call: 800-342-3999, ext. 204