Part 4 in our blog series on Food Traceability is from Tejas Bhatt, one of our guest speakers at our Food Traceability Summit that is taking place right here in Brighton, Michigan on August 19th. The original source is from “A Guidance Document on The Best Practices in Food Traceability, Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, Vol. 13, pp. 1074-1103 by Jianrong Zhang and Tejas Bhatt”. We are breaking down the document into different blogs leading up to the event. This section talks about the dairy supply chain. If you missed part three on bakery supply chain, you can find the link here.
Specialized CTE–KDE framework
The following are examples of simple manufacturing processes common in the dairy industry. In each example, we identify the places in the process where a new KDE–Lot Identifying Mark will have to be recorded, and list typical bulks/ingredients/materials that would need to be added to the process. In most cases, there are relatively few places in the process where Lot Identifying Marks need to be recorded.
References to BOL or Load Info or Farm Tickets intend to include the information required by the U.S. Bioterrorism Act as follows:
Identify the immediate previous sources, whether foreign or domestic, of all foods received, including the name of the firm; address; telephone number; fax number and e-mail address, if available; type of food, including brand name and specific variety (for example, Brand X Cheddar Cheese, rather than simply cheese; date received; quantity and type of packaging (for example, 12-ounce bottles); and identify the immediate transporter previous sources including the name, address, telephone number and, if available, fax number and e-mail address. Persons who manufacture, process, or pack food also must include lot or code number or other identifier if the information exists.
Identify the immediate nontransporter subsequent recipients of all foods released, including the name of the firm; address; telephone number; fax number and e-mail address, if available; type of food, including brand name and specific variety; date released; quantity and type of packaging; and identify the immediate transporter subsequent recipients, including the name, address, telephone number and, if available, fax number and e-mail address. Persons who manufacture, process, or pack food also must include lot or code number or other identifier if the information exists. The records must include information that is reasonably available to identify the specific source of each ingredient that was used to make every lot of finished product.
Typical KDEs and CTEs, by process area. Most dairy food processes, including cheese, milk and whey powders, ice cream, novelties, cultured products, butter, fluid milk, yogurt, and other dairy beverages and products, typically include the following traceability recordkeeping needs:
Figure 2: Typical fluid milk CTEs and KDEs from farm to consumer. Note: The green boxes contain the KDEs or points at which outside ingredients or materials are integrated into the process.
Receipt of bulk milk
Farm number
Carrier/Hauler identification
Driver Identification
List of Farm Identification in Load
Time Load was Received
Quantity
Receiver/Tester
Silo Destination for Load
Dry warehouse
Event Owner (firm submitting information)
Date and Time
Event Location (address of facility)
Trading Partner Item (the good)
Lot ID
Quantity
Unit of Measure
Process areas
KDEs—When ingredients are added to the process
- Event Owner (firm submitting information)
- Date and Time
- Event Location (address of facility)
- Trading Partner
- Item (the good)
- Lot ID
- Quantity
- Unit of Measure
CTEs—as product flows through the process
- Start time
- End time
- Source unit
- Destination unit
CIP (Clean in Place records)
CIPs recorded to create breaks in LOT IDs in the process.
Final Product Packaging
KDEs—Packaging materials used that contain product
- Records kept
- Event Owner (firm submitting information)
- Date and Time
- Event Location (address of facility)
- Trading Partner
- Item (the good)
- Lot ID
- Quantity
- Unit of Measure
KDEs—Finished goods LOT ID assigned and marked on the product
- Records kept
- Event Owner (firm submitting information)
- Date and Time
- Event Location (address of facility)
- Trading Partner
- Item (the good)
- Lot ID
- Quantity
- Unit of Measure
Commonalities in the dairy foods industry with other foods. [Content for this section has been adapted from the U.S. Dairy Traceability guide (USDT 2013)]
Most of the traceability within the dairy foods industry is common with other foods. The dairy foods industry utilizes many food products from all the other food industries in their processes. So these food products would be handled the same in the dairy industry as in other industries.
Commonalities with other food industries:
Receiving ingredients into warehouse for use in process
Batching operations, inclusion of outside ingredients
Flow of food products through the process (overall concept of traceability in the process)
Recording of Lot IDs as ingredients are added to the process
Incorporation of packaging materials into the production of the final product
Tracking of final products through the transportation, distribution, and retail chain.
(With some exceptions, especially around fluid milk)
Special considerations for the dairy foods industry. [Content for this section has been adapted from the U.S. Dairy Traceability guide (USDT 2013)]
The following specific areas are common in the dairy foods industry and should be considered when listing KDEs–Lot Entry
Points:
Raw Milk Receiving—When receiving raw milk, the receiving facility should consider each farm on a truck as a lot of product received. The facility should have, or have access to, the farm name and address of the farmer for the complete KDE record.
Milk Hauler Responsibility—The records of the Milk Hauler performing the farm pickups are paramount to making a recall work and are the 1st step in creating a successful traceability program.
Using Farm ID—The Farm ID is often used as the identifier for the farm load. This can be helpful to trace the loads, since this number is issued by a regulatory agency and is used in inspections and other records. However, many cooperatives and other dairy businesses assign their own farm ID as well.
Raw Milk Pooling—When milk is picked up from the farm, loaded into silos or tanks and reshipped to dairy foodsplants, it is the responsibility of the milk pooling facility to keep the records of the farm loads as they relate to the tankers shipped. Whey Pooling—When whey or permeate is pooled from various cheese manufacturing facilities, it is treated as a bulk loadout product at the cheese facility, and is received by the whey processor as any other bulk product. The Lot identity is created at the cheese facility, and the same Lot identity is used to receive the whey into the processing facility. If the whey is pooled at a pooling or reloading station, the station must keep the correlated records as would any other dairy processing facility.
Fluid Milk Distribution—Many times various Lot IDs of milk are delivered in the same delivery, especially when being delivered to smaller stores or convenience stores. Each container is marked, however, with a batch or Lot ID.
Rework—Reworked product is common in the dairy industry but complicates traceability. Consider rework as any other ingredient or product.
Examples of Rework:
Fluid milk filler flushes saved for use in chocolate milk.
Skim milk powder off-spec and reworked into the dryer.
Cheese fines added back into the cheese.
Ice cream batches either off-spec or excess is added to other batches.
Look for our next blog on the Meat & Poultry Supply Chain.
