Traceability issues in food supply chain management: A review

In recent years, traceability aspects have become recognised as an essential tool for guaranteeing food safety and food quality. On the other hand, the design of a traceability system requires a thorough rethinking and reorganising of the whole food supply chain. This paper presents a comprehensive literature review on the aspects of supply chain management that are influenced by traceability, which is herein considered fully integrated in the chain management and not kept separately. The objective of the paper is twofold: the first goal is to analyse how traceability concepts, requirements and technologies influence modern supply chain management and are handled by the ensuing optimisation principles. This analysis is based on an in-depth scrutiny of the state of the art, and it is supported by precise pointers to the literature on the subject. The second goal is to highlight what could be, in the authors' opinion, the future trends and perspectives in this field of research. (C) 2013 IAgrE. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.