6.6.
Traceability:
Legal frame
The General Food Law (Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002) introduces requirements on traceability of food that is marketed in the EU and became in force on the 1st of January 2005.
Traceability in the EU follows the “one step back-one step forward’’ principle. By this is meant that any business in the food chain, whether it is a farmer, food processor, transporter, importer, distributor or retailer, should be able to identify the immediate supplier of the product (one step back) and the immediate buyer (one step forward), with the exemption of retailers to final consumers.
The traceability requirements in EU legislation cover the chain from the importer to the retailer. In other words, the EU legislation does not introduce requirements for producers outside the EU yet. However, the EU importer must:
1. Know and document from whom they have bought their food product (ingredients)
2. Know and document to whom they supply their products
3. Label their products so that they can establish traceability in case of a food safety problem.
These three issues are also the most important ones when suppliers in developing countries implement a traceability system (CBI).