This project has investigated two Victorian supply chains for food products exported to markets in the United States via the Ports of Melbourne and Philadelphia and developed a system for monitoring in real/near time product integrity, track and trace, pedigree and custody.

The buyer can be assured of these vital credentials for the product and the suppliers of the product can confidently provide information, gain more visibility and control and better manage the product once it leaves the farm or factory. Joe Giblin, Project Director from Icon Global Link explains “We are now confident this end-to-end supply chain system can be achieved. We were pleased with the high level of monitoring already being recorded and this system provides integration of that data into a “dashboard” for managers.”

A range of applications and systems already in use in the businesses will be able to load reports into the systema t critical control points, proving compliance with a range of standards set by customers and regulators. In the transport operations, we can record compliance with chain of responsibility regulations and report to management by exception. This information is then available to regulators and customers. For example, the system can avert multiple sample testing because it can demonstrate the security of the product and continuously receive monitoring data. That way, if a temperature limit is exceeded, the “use by” date can be advanced or other action can be taken to avoid wastage. “Our aim is not to replicate existing systems, but to provide a spine linking these systems and passing forward information with the movement of the product along the supply chain.”

Chairman of the VFLC, John Begley, has expressed his thanks to the funders and Steering Committee participants of the project, outlining the role of the Council in drawing together industry and government to test this world leading concept. “The VFLC is pleased to lead this kind of innovation in supply chain.

Our overseas markets are demanding and our Victorian products need to maintain their share in a very competitive global marketplace. We now compete on the competency of our supply chains and this system will provide a technology solution to help us comply efficiently, while catering for the biosecurity issues we need to address.”

The next stage of the project is for industry trials to be completed with the US, followed by an industry education program, sponsored from the US industry-government partnership on biosecurity, to be delivered. Copies of the Inception Phase Summary are available on the VFLC website http://www.vflc.com.au/files/QBM0H3DJUG/081126_Final_IFCITP_Inception.pdf