Food Traceability Series: Meat Supply Chain

Part 5 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 19^th.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 meat supply chain. If you missed part four on dairy supply chain, you can find the link here.

Meat supply chain

For food traceability purposes, the meat and poultry sector can be further divided into three subcategories: beef, pork, and poultry. Other meats that are consumed at lower volumes than beef, pork, and poultry would follow similar traceability practices. Figures 5 and 6 shows the typical stakeholders in the meat and poultry sector supply chain. Figure 6. Critical tracking events for meat and poultry While supply chains for specific meat and poultry commodities vary greatly, the overarching flow of food is fairly similar (see Figure 6 as example). It usually starts with the birth of the animal, followed by maturing, slaughtering, butchering, processing, distributing, and POS. Establishments where a CTE could take place include:

Producer facilities (farms)
Abattoirs
Rendering plants
Dead stock collection points
Border posts
Quarantine stations
Warehouses
Distribution centers
Cold storage facilities
Health Food Stores
Food service operator restaurants (WOAH 2013)

It is also noted that there are difficulties in tracking animals and/or their parts after slaughter, especially at non-slaughter cutting houses such as retail meat markets or food-service cutting operations. There are several intermediate CTEs within this overarching meat supply chain that also have an impact on the traceability of the food, such as shipping, receiving, comingling, and disposal. Specialized CTE-KDE framework Poultry CTEs

Egg Delivery
Eggs to Incubator
Hatched Eggs
Unhatched Eggs
Shipment of Feed to Farm Chick
Delivery to Farm Chick Placement
Delivery of Feed to Farm
Mature Broilers/Spent Hens
Broiler Pickup
Broiler Delivery
Broiler Dead on Arrival (DOA)
Broiler Harvest
Minimally Processed Meat
Shipping to Partner
Receiving by Partner
Nonmeat Ingredient
Packaged Finished Product
Shipping to Distributor
Receiving by Distributor
Shipping to Retailer or Food Service Operator
Product Disposed as Unusable Waste

KDEs

Who
- Owner of Breeder Farm
- Owner of Hatchery
- Owner of Broiler Farm
- Owner of Feed Mill
- Owner of Processing Plant
- Owner of Cold Storage
- Owner of Retail
- Owner of Food Service Operation

Where
- Location of Hatchery
- Location of Broiler Farm
- Location of Feed Mill
- Location of Processing Plant
- Location of Cold Storage
- Location of Retail DC/Store
- Location of Food Service DC/Restaurant
When
- Date
- Time
What
- Eggs
- Chicks
- Feed
- Broilers/Spent Hens
- Nonmeat Ingredients
- Packaging
- Processed Product
Identifiers
- Breeding stock
- Flock ID
- Product
- Batch Number/Lot Number
- Use-by Date
- Sell-by Date
Activity Types
- Purchase Orders
- Delivery Identification
- Process Identification
- Cycle Identification
- Feed Order Number
- Ticket Number
- Work Order Number
- Carrier Name
- Trailer Number

Beef

CTEs

Feed
Shipping to Processing Plant
Receiving by Processing Plant
Live Animals
Minimally Processed Meat
Nonmeat Ingredients
Packaged Finished Product
Shipping to Distributor
Receiving by Distributor
Shipping to Retailer/Food Service Operator
Receiving by Retailer/Food Service Operator
Retail POS
Case Opened by Food Service Operator
Product Disposal as Unusable Waste

KDEs

Who

Owner of Feed Lot
Owner of Processing Plant
Owner of Cold Storage
Owner of Distributor
Owner of Retailer Store
Owner of Food Service Operation

Where

Location of Feed Lot
Location of Processing Plant
Location of Cold Storage
Location of Distributor
Location of Retail Distribution Center (DC)/Store
Location of Food Service Distribution Center (DC)/Restaurant

When

Date
Time

What

Cattle
Feed
Nonmeat Ingredients
Packaging
Processed Product

Identifiers

Animal Identification
Animal Batch
Product
Batch Number/Lot Number
Use-By Date
Sell-By Date

Activity Types

Purchase Order
BOL
Feed Order
Cycle Identification
Ticket Number
Work Order Number
Carrier Name
Trailer Number

Pork

CTEs

Feed
Hogs
Shipping to Processing Plant
Receiving by Processing Plant
Minimally Processed Meat
Nonmeat Ingredients
Packaged Finished Product
Shipping to Distributor
Receiving by Distributor
Shipping to Retailer/Food Service Operator

Receiving by Retailer/Food Service Operator
Retail POS
Case Opened by Food Service Operator
Product Disposed as Unusable Waste

KDEs

Who

Owner of Finishing House
Owner of Processing Plant
Owner of Cold Storage
Owner of Distributor
Owner of Retailer Store
Owner of Food Service Operation

Where

Location of Finishing house
Location of Processing Plant
Location of Cold Storage
Location of Distributor
Location of Retailer
Location of Food Service Operator

When

Date
Time

What

Hogs
Feed
Nonmeat Ingredients
Packaging
Processed Product

Identifiers

Product
Batch Number/Lot Number
Animal Identifier
Use-By Date
Sell-By Date

Activity Types

Purchase Order
BOL
Feed Order
Cycle Identifier
Ticket Identifier
Work Order
Production Date
Trailer Number
Carrier Name

For simplicity of implementation and to maintain a focus on the more critical, immediate gaps in tracing capability closer to the consumer, the CTEs/KDEs identified above are those of primary importance subsequent to the feeding lot. In addition to these CTEs/KDEs, some other information may be collected, and may include number of dead animals, and medication for all poultry, beef and pork operations, vaccination information for the beef and pork chains, the nursery, cow/calf operation, stocker operation, and sale barns. Also read – The Best Practices in Food Traceability