State of traceability in the Norwegian food sectors Eskil Forås a, * , Maitri Thakur a , Kristian Solem b , Reidun Svarva b a SINTEF Fisheries and Aquaculture, Brattørkaia 17C, 7010 Trondheim, Norway b Rambøll, Mellomila 79, 7493 Trondheim, Norway article info Article history: Received 31 October 2014 Received in revised form 25 March 2015 Accepted 26 March 2015 Available online 11 April 2015 Keywords: Traceability Trace-back Tracking Tracing Simulated recall eSporing Norway abstract The goal of this study conducted in 2012e2013 was to illustrate the status of food traceability in the Norwegian food sector and the effectiveness of current traceability systems used by the food industry after the conclusion of the National eSporing (e-traceability) project. One of the main focus areas of the eSporing project was to facilitate and encourage traceability discussions and traceability projects within various subsectors in the food value chains, aimed at finding efficient, cost-effective ways to implement better traceability. The subsectors organized their work as independent traceability pilots, working in close collaboration with the eSporing project. This study to determine the status of traceability included five main food sectors including red meat, dairy, grains, fruits and vegetables and fish. 30 products of national and international origin were selected and trace backs were performed using a simulated recall method to determine the pathway through the supply chain from retailer back to the origin. Of these, 28 products were traceable back to the origin. A similar study was conducted in 2008 and the results show significant improvement from the previous investigation. The increase in the number of traceable food products indicates that the Norwegian food industry has established a more robust traceability system during the period between 2008 and 2013. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Food safety and food control continue to gain significant attention as our food supply chains and production practices become increasingly complex. Food safety is in fact a very impor- tant part of public health, and although several advanced surveil- lance and monitoring systems exist in developed countries, outbreaks of foodborne diseases continue to be commonplace. Such foodborne diseases are caused by consumption of contaminated foods or beverages. There are many different types of foodborne infections as many disease-causing microbes or pathogens can contaminate foods. Norway experienced the Bovine spongiform encephalopathy food scares in late 1990's. Then, during the spring of 2006, Norway experienced a national disease outbreak caused by Enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli O103:H25. Seventeen cases were recorded where sixteen had diarrhea, ten developed Hae- molytic Uraemic Syndrome and one case was fatal (Schimmer et al., 2008). These incidents revealed insufficient traceability systems in place in the various food supply chains. Transparency has become increasingly important in food supply chains (Carriquiry & Babcock, 2007; Kiesel, Buschena, & Smith, 2005; Pettitt, 2001). To enable supply chain transparency, the abil- ity to track and trace food products should be in place. One of the cornerstones of the General Food Law (Official Journal of the European Communities, 2002) is also the requirement that food should be traceable. The terms ‘‘tracking” and ‘‘tracing” are commonly used to describe traceability. Tracking (forward) is the ability to follow the downstream path of a particular trade unit in the supply chain, while, tracing (backward) is the ability to identify the origin of the products used in a particular trade unit. Thus, tracking is a top-down approach and tracing is a bottom-up approach. Both, tracking and tracing play a very important role in the overall supply chain traceability. According to Van Dorp (2002), tracking and tracing provides the visibility to the supply chain as these create a historical record by means of recorded identifications. A good traceability system should have the capability of performing both functions efficiently. Tracking can be done manually, but adopting new technologies for information exchange opens new opportu- nities and benefits more than one link in the food chain. * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ47 930 11532. E-mail address: eskilfs@gmail.no (E. Forås). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Food Control journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foodcont http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2015.03.027 0956-7135/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Food Control 57 (2015) 65e69