ISSUE 03 | JULY 2016 Food Quality Magazine mation concern at least : name and address of supplier and buyer ; type and nature of good received or sold , date of reception and delivery . In any case , article 18 of the EC Regulation No 178 / 2002 requires that „ food which is placed on the market or is likely to be placed on the market in the European Community must be adequately labelled or identified to facilitate its traceability “. The management of traceability is strictly documental and basic information have to be saved for an adequate time 4 ; however , any kind of nonconformities caused by unintentional loss of track , that is an information relating to a particular step of the production process , are not necessarily a deviation from critical limits ( Federalimentare 2004 ).
Beside legal requirements , each company can create and implement a personal and detailed system 5 to improve the “ internal traceability ” which allows the reconstruction of the path followed by a single raw material or product inside the factory , in order to ensure the integrity of their traceability systems ( Food Marketing Research and Information Center 2008 ).
Incoming raw materials and traceability systems in the cheesemaking fields
Traceability systems should be reliable and be based on the use of ‘ easy-friendly ’ procedures . In particular , the management of information relating to incoming materials is a critical step of the whole procedure . Moreover , it may concern the safety of foods in many ambits , including the notification of alerts and information by means of the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed ( Parisi et al . 2016 ). For these reasons , some key data should be preliminarily identified .
In detail , the situation of dairy industries and cheesemakers may be considered a good example : the traceability procedure should identify a two-directional flow of information from raw materials to the finished product and vice-versa . The nature of the information flow may concern a large amount of products and food typologies in the main group of cheeses , including ( Parisi 2002 ; Parisi et al . 2009 ):
a ) Cow ’ s milk curd , butter , and rennet casein , when speaking of raw materials
b ) Mozzarella cheese , melted ( analogous ) cheeses and dairy preparations ( processed cheeses with vegetable oils ).
This paper concerns exclusively raw materials and their role in the traceability . As a result , a good procedure should at least consider the role of materials such as cow ’ s milk . However , many industrial companies are accustomed to buy and use pre-curdled milks , the so-called “ cow ’ s milk curds ”. These products , easily transformed in semi-hard or soft cheeses via stretching in hot water forming , possible seasoning ( and other superficial treatments ) and final packaging , are one of the main ingredients in certain automated plants ( Parisi 2002 ). In addition , a key role in different cheesemaking industries is played by butter and rennet caseins , milk derivatives ( Parisi 2006 ).
Should the traceability system take into account simply these three types of cheese ingredients , the list of useful data would at least include the following parameters :
a ) Name of the product . This name may vary in spite of the clear statement of the goods : cow ’ s milk curd , butter , or rennet casein . For this reason , the reliable identification of the good should be carried out with the exact name or brand of the product . As an example , certain curds are named on the basis of their “ fat matter on dry content ” amounts ( 45 , 48 %, etc .)
b ) Name of supplier ( initial producer and import-export representative ), or the clear indication of the identification and health mark
c ) Lot , or batch , and expiration date
d ) Date of reception of goods . This date is linked with the identification of any type of document ( an invoice , a transport document , etc .) with the possible and additional mention of further details such as the quantity and the seal number
e ) The evidence of the reception of goods . This evidence can be a simple invoice or a consignment note such as the international “ Convention des Marchandises par Route ” ( CMR ) transport document .
However , there are no binding provisions at present when speaking of goods such as “ cow ’ s milk curds ”. Therefore , the initial control of documents and the immediate analysis of mentioned data ( in comparison with the real nature of goods ) is absolutely needed .
For this purpose , some information
3
It has to be mentioned that the European Commission has also published an implementing EU Regulation ( No 931 / 2011 ) on the traceability requirements set by EC Reg . No 178 / 2002 in respect of food of animal origin . The Regulation applies to food defined as “ unprocessed and processed products ” in Article 2 ( 1 ) of the EC Reg . No 852 / 2004 . It does not apply to food which contain products of plant origin together with processed products of animal origin . Another considerable implementation is set by the EU Regulation No 16 / 2012 as regards the requirements concerning frozen food of animal origin intended for human consumption .
4
For some types of documents ( e . g . invoices ) the domestic laws lay down specific terms .
5
These systems can be simple and provide essential information as recording batch codes of products at each stage of the chain ; alternatively , they can be advanced and ensure a more accurately reconstruction of the materials flow allowing to trace the finished product from raw materials used ( and vice versa ).
19