FoodLogiQ Joins IBM, Ripe.io, SAP to Achieve Interoperability of Food Traceability Systems
Competitive solution providers align on GS1 US Proof-of-Concept to advance food traceability across the supply chain.
FoodLogiQ is proud to announce that we’ve contributed to an interoperability Proof-of-Concept focused on connecting product tracking data across different technology providers supporting the food supply chain. The multi-phase proof-of-concept, being led by GS1 US, also included IBM Food Trust, Ripe.io and SAP.
The first stage of the proof-of-concept was to bring technology leaders supporting the food industry together to test the transmission and exchange of information about a product’s journey throughout the supply chain to support end-to-end food traceability. The result was a simulated seafood supply chain containing data shared across four traceability systems leveraging GS1 Standards.
“The adoption of traceability in the food industry is reaching a tipping point. With the successful completion of this proof-of-concept, we have demonstrated that regardless of the underlying technology being used to house the data, whether blockchain or other enterprise database technologies, food companies will be able to connect their systems to achieve the holy grail of whole chain traceability,” explains Sean O’Leary, CEO at FoodLogiQ.
As a pioneer in food traceability, FoodLogiQ was uniquely positioned to participate in this initiative. Founded on a heritage of traceability, FoodLogiQ together with its customers has pushed traceability forward in the market as consumer demand increases and regulatory reach expands under the New Era of Smarter Food Safety. Shaping policy at the national level, FoodLogiQ helped to define the Produce Traceability Initiative (PTI) standards and was an active technology participant in the FDA’s Pilot Projects for Improving Product Tracing along the Food Supply System.
The proof-of-concept participants leveraged GS1 Standards and determined that the interoperability between solutions was possible when using the GS1 System of Standards for the unique identification of products and locations, as well as GS1 EPCIS (Electronic Product Code Information Services) as a standardized data model.
“This proof-of-concept focuses on our need to speak the ‘same language’ among organizations and to be able to share traceability data in a standardized way. I’m pleased to say that the results from this first phase are very encouraging; the data exchange between all four technology providers was a success,” said Todd Dolinsky, Chief Product Officer at FoodLogiQ.
Now that the successful exchange of the data is complete, each of the solution providers is offering feedback to GS1 US regarding what aspects of the initiative were successful, insights for other technology partners, and opportunities for improvement from a technologist’s standpoint.
“This is an exciting time for the industry, addressing the challenges of platform interoperability for traceability. We’re exploring how to overcome existing barriers in an effort to make it easier for trading partners to engage data and for solution providers to share data,” says Julie McGill, Vice President of Supply Chain Strategy and Insights at FoodLogiQ. “FoodLogiQ will continue to play a significant role in these discussions, given our extensive experience with food safety, supplier management, and whole chain traceability.”
FoodLogiQ contributed on multiple levels to the interoperability proof-of-concept, including comprehensive event and data visualization to show how the exchange of supply chain data can be accomplished using any technology platform.
“Organizations within the food industry are learning that they are not limited to Blockchain as the singular vehicle of the future for traceability data sharing,” says McGill. “FoodLogiQ is accomplishing this today via our FoodLogiQ Connect platform, where we are exchanging millions of supply chain data points with global partners on a daily basis.”
Phase Two of the proof-of-concept is slated to begin in Q3 of 2020, when GS1 US will work with FoodLogiQ, the other solution providers, and industry partners including suppliers, distributors, retailers and foodservice operators to collaborate on application standards to determine how EPCIS can be further extended in real-world product tracing. It will also focus on defining and validating industry data requirements. Future phases will also explore use cases that leverage traceability standards and industry-specific requirements to enable interoperability at that stage. McGill says there are more avenues to explore and barriers to remove in this continued collaboration between the proof-of-concept participants.
“While the data exchange portion of the proof-of-concept is complete, there is much more to learn about data interoperability,” explains McGill. “One of the next steps will be to evaluate actionable insights to understand exactly what we can achieve using this interoperable data — what we can do with this shared information that will move our world’s food supply chain forward, making it safer and more transparent for us all.”
