One of the many lessons the global pandemic has highlighted is the need for far greater Traceability in consumer product supply chains. Across all categories of consumer products but perhaps more so when it comes to food, beverages, pharmaceuticals and items that can directly impact health and safety. Whether you consider the origins of the pandemic tracing back to the Wuhan wet market, the recent reports of H5N8 bird flu virus jumping to humans at a farm in Russia or instances of covid vaccine supply chains being infiltrated with counterfeits eroding trust in genuine life saving vaccines, “traceability” is key towards increased safety, visibility into supply chains, mitigating disasters and risks at the source before they spiral and enabling trust in the products themselves.

Implementing traceability solutions downstream from the manufacturer / factory floor all the way up to the consumer is relatively straightforward and less challenging. Implementing traceability upstream on the other hand has been seen as more challenging as it involves suppliers, farms, ingredient suppliers, component manufacturers and other partner entities having to update data on their end through the journey well before it arrives at the manufacturer and becomes part of the end product. The idea of having to equip the entire upstream supply chain with scanners and systems to update business events and data on their end is daunting and often where many companies assume it’s just too large a project to undertake. After all, it’s always simpler to roll out projects within your own premises / facilities and rolling out end to end traceability requires participation from numerous partners and stakeholders outside your premises. However, with today’s highly scalable cloud technologies, mobile internet access and low cost access to smartphones, that argument doesn’t necessarily hold.

I remember thinking, if something on this scale has been implemented with accessible, low cost technology in some of the most remote rural corners in the North of India, traceability can be implemented anywhere. The implications it has on being able to track any product that poses any sort of health risk right down to a single source is invaluable.

We designed the Qliktag Platform to be able to collate traceability data collected along the way and make it accessible to those who need it via the packaging through visual digital experiences or to other systems that may need to analyze it via APIs. However, the takeaway from this team and their experiences is just how ready we are in terms of technology and the means to implement food safety systems and greater traceability. Equally, just how much is possible today in creating more intelligent systems all across the world and mitigating the risks that may come in the times ahead and creating more trust in the products we consume.