The Importance of Traceability Post Series: Reflections on India

The Importance of Traceability Post Series: Reflections on India

I’m starting a new post series to give some more in-depth reflections on my recent experience in India.

On  this trip, I learned how K. Patel Phyto Extractions Pvt. Ltd. had put  in place solutions enabling traceability to the farm level for their  major products.

Shockingly, the majority of Natural Product supply chains globally lack full traceability. This is a problem.

Documented  traceability to the field is foundational for establishing quality and  sustainability in production in Natural Products.

Traceability  in herbal supplements or foods refers to the ability to trace the  movement of food products and their ingredients throughout the supply  chain.

It  involves documenting every step of the process, and tracking product  through the chain of custody from production to consumption, including  farming/harvest, processing, packaging, distribution and sale of goods.

In  reality, the importance of traceability goes far beyond India—it  applies to anywhere that natural products are from and where ever they  are going.

The  chain of custody can have many ‘change of hands’, and many things (bad  things) can happen in between these ‘change of hands’. So, to be able to  trace it back to the ‘broken link’ or where things went wrong is  essential.

Here are several key points of importance for traceability:

Food/Supplement  Safety- It is possible with traceability to identify the source of  contamination or problems in processing/production. Although maybe  shocking, many times this traceability is lacking or incomplete.

Quality  Control- With traceability, it is possible to also monitor quality at  each step of the chain, and isolate or correct if there are deviations  in quality standards.

Sustainability-  When actors up the supply chain don’t care where raw materials come  from, it is hard to justify or ensure sustainable or social attributes  in production. In fact, it is unlikely.

Supply  Chain Management- The visibility of the steps along the supply chain  enables greater potential for good management, overall supply chain  performance, and reducing the risk of under or over supply.

Regulatory  Compliance- In some countries, traceability is a requirement, at least  for foods. So compliance is essential to meeting regulations and  maintaining the reputation of the industry.

Market  Differentiation/ Consumer Confidence- Herbal supplements have long had a  reputation problem and much of this can be improved if traceability  were put in place. Traceability provides transparency and consumers like  knowing where their products come from; in fact, some consumers feel it  is an important factor in their purchasing decisions and trusting  brands.

To learn more about Indian botanical deep dives, visit www.phytoextractskp.com

hashtag#traceability
hashtag#foodsafety
hashtag#ethnobotany
hashtag#medicinalplants
hashtag#herbalism
hashtag#dietarysupplements
hashtag#India
hashtag#Ayurveda
hashtag#biodiversity

Scroll to Top