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FOOD & BEVERAGE
STAY ON TRACK, FROM FARM TO FORK
Neil Baker, Head of Auto ID Sales for Northern Europe, BIXOLON Europe, highlights the crucial role thermal transfer printers play in producing top quality labels used by farmers and fresh produce suppliers for tracking and traceability purposes
T
oday, consumers across the UK are facing a cost of living crisis. As a result, many retailers and supermarkets are striving to keep their costs down, so that they can avoid passing these onto shoppers. Within this, one area that is increasingly under scrutiny for many organisations surrounds how to improve supply chain efficiency. This is taking place at all levels across the supply chain – from “Farm to Fork”. Additionally, farmers, fresh produce producers and the large multiples are all facing increasing pressure to improve their food provenance tracking and traceability efforts during sale and distribution of goods to consumers. In 2018 British supermarkets faced scrutiny from the UK’s Grocery Code Adjudicator (GCA) for profiteering at the expense of their suppliers. At the highest level, supermarkets were reportedly fining suppliers for several reasons, including barcodes that were not compliant with their own systems. Since then, the UK Grocery Code Adjudicator stepped in to protect these producers and suppliers, and has encouraged supermarkets to improve their understanding of the Groceries Supply Code of Practice (GSCoP).
Fast forward to 2023, 10 Downing Street hosted a UK Farm to Fork Summit. During this summit, the UK government announced that £12.5 million is being made available to support research projects that promote environmental sustainability and resilience on farms – and a working group to bring together plant breeders, food manufacturers and retailers, to agree an approach that enables products to reach consumer shelves. Further, it announced that farmers should be paid a fairer price for produce, and new powers have been introduced through the Agriculture Act
20 MAY 2024 | PROCESS & CONTROL
2022 to support the sector further. Additionally, it has decided to further endorse the role of the GCA as an independent regulator, ensuring that designated retailers and supermarkets treat their direct suppliers lawfully and fairly – while ensuring compliance with its Groceries Supply Code of Practice. Ultimately, while much of its code serves suppliers, all parties concerned would benefit from familiarising themselves with it, as it would ensure that everyone operates cohesively too.
Another important piece for all parties to consider is how to enable the supply chain efficiency and transparency that is required to achieve the traceability and tracking requirements that supermarkets and various governments require today. This is where working with the likes of standards bodies, like GS1, to implement GS1 Standards can help. GS1’s standards, frameworks and coding systems enable retailers, farmers and fresh produce suppliers to track and record all the necessary information that enables traceability to occur accurately and digitally. Take this scenario, a farmer delivers a pallet of apples to a large supermarket chain. As part of a commitment to label produce effectively, the farmer places a 1D code – a barcode – on the pallet. This label links back to a digital, backend infrastructure that contains essential tracking and traceability information about the provenance of his apples. When linked effectively between suppliers - through a GS1 framework, for instance - supply chain transparency and traceability across the board becomes powerful.
Assuming the label on the pallet hasn’t been compromised and is legible, it can be scanned by warehouse operatives who can
ensure the pallet moves to the next phase in its journey to the store shelf. Along each stage, labels and their barcodes are used to carry and convey information, and direct the flow of goods towards the shelf – and, eventually, the consumer’s shopping basket. Therefore it is crucial that the entire value chain adopts an appropriate digital system, that standardises around a proven framework, such as that proposed by GS1.
Naturally it stands to reason that an appropriate digital backend infrastructure underpins this entire process for farmers, fresh produce firms and retailers alike – and, all tied to an important barcode. However, it’s no good if a label that is printed with either a 1D or a 2D code is not of sufficient quality. When it comes to the printing of labels by suppliers, it is important that industrial label printing technologies print high quality legible labels. While there are many printing technology providers available in the market, it’s important to consider a long-term investment in proven technology here. Buying cheap printers, cheap media and cheap consumables (e.g. inks) often leads to equipment failure, and the consumables are often generally faulty. A better approach to consider is to work with a printing technology provider that has a proven track record with providing consulting and printers in this space, designed for the fresh produce or grocery sector. Typically thermal transfer industrial label printers are more robust, and vendors that have been established for several years offer better aftersales support, and quicker more cost- effective access to consumables.
BIXOLON
www.bixolon.com
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