FMECA approach to product traceability in the food industry

The traceability system in the farming and food supply chain can be described as the documented identification of the operations which lead to the production and sale of a product. Its objective is to identify the actors involved and trace the relevant flows, precisely characterizing the material and processing or management operations that contribute to the production of the final items. The traceability system must be efficient and effective, accurately collecting the necessary information and enabling a rapid and correct reuse of this information. This paper presents an application of the industrial engineering tool 'Failure Mode Effect and Criticality Analysis' (FMECA) to the production process in the farming and food industries, as this tool is aimed at detecting the possible critical points of its traceability system (whether in use or undergoing implementation), and at proposing improvements. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.