Magazine: Trust-increasing transparency

The motto of GS1’s Traceability Programme is that trust starts with tracking, which ensures transparency.

Krisztina Vatai
business development director
GS1 Magyarország

Food companies that make credible data on product origin, processing steps and the related dates visible are trusted more by consumers, plus they are more reliable partners for retailers – told Krisztina Vatai, business development director of GS1 Magyarország. She added that tracking in itself doesn’t make a food product safe, but when there is some kind of problem, tracking suddenly becomes very important. It is brand owners’ interest to be able to withdraw products from the market with as much accuracy as possible; there is a big difference between pulling the affected goods only and having to withdraw a larger quantity. GS1 develops and maintains the most widely used standards for the FMCG sector; actually they have been doing it for more than 40 years.

The one- and two-dimensional barcodes of GS1 not only contain information to identify products but also important tracking data, such as item number, best before date or special identification features. GS1’s Global Data Synchronisation Network makes it possible to share genuine product description data. The company has also developed a tracking standard that gives enterprises knowledge which they can use in performing traceability tasks – both internal and external – in their daily work. What is more, GS1 Hungary offers an IT solution for generating identification keys, counselling service and training programmes at various levels.

Ms Vatai explained that using tracking systems isn’t simply a consumer or business expectation in the food industry, but also a legal requirement. Tracking is important in other sectors too, such as the pharmaceutical industry and healthcare – these are also high-risk fields. Tracking products across the whole supply chain, with a system that communicates in a language that is understood at global level, can be done irrespective of geographical location, company size, sector or business management system. //