How Traceability May Affect the Way We Eat

Technology is changing the entire world around us, and food is not excluded. Technology is allowing consumers and suppliers to better track and trace the exact origins of every ingredient that goes into any type of product that they are manufacturing or purchasing.

Traceability has many benefits associated with it, and may soon affect the way consumers purchase products and what they eat. Here are just a few of the key ways that traceability may soon impact consumers. 

Determining Exactly Where Food Comes From

One of the ways that traceability may affect the way we eat is by allowing consumers to see exactly where their food comes from. This is already used in a much broader context, particularly for fruits, vegetables and meats. Consumers may be able to see that their avocados are coming from Mexico or their oranges are coming from Florida. But, as technology continues to evolve, consumers may soon be able to see a more specific region or even the exact farm or coordinates the product they are thinking about purchasing comes from. This allows consumers to support specific regions or buy products from the same farm over and over. 

More Precise Pinpointing of Food Recalls

Another way that traceability may affect the way we eat is by providing more precise pinpointing for food recalls. Food recalls are generally pretty broad, as it can be hard to tell exactly where a tainted product is coming from. Unfortunately, this means that a large quantity of food may be recalled and destroyed, when only a very small percentage may have been impacted. Being able to more accurately trace food can help to better pinpoint food recalls. 

Allowing Consumers to See Exactly What is In Their Food

The final way that traceability may affect the way we eat is by allowing consumers to see what exactly is in their food and where it comes from. For example, being able to see what farm your chickens or fish come from allows you to research what those chicken or fish are fed, and in turn, what you may be consuming by eating those chicken or fish. Knowing exactly where food comes from allows you to research the ingredients used in those products, where those ingredients come from and if they are sustainably harvested or if employees were paid a fair wage. This gives consumers more control over what they put in their body and more control over what types of businesses and business practice they choose to support. 

Traceability will impact the way consumers buy products and the type of products that they decide to eat. As a wholesaler, manufacturer, distributor, processor or importer, you may need to up your game to ensure you can provide consumers with all of the tracking and tracing that they will likely come to expect in products very shortly. Here at Fresh/Byte Software, we specialize in software that allows you to trace, track and control all of your incoming and outgoing inventory. This allows you to provide consumers with all the details of a product that they will want to know. Reach out to us today to discuss our software and how it can benefit your company.