Food safety and traceability in local farming of fruits and vegetables in the North of Portugal

A. Macieira; P. Teixeira

Food safety and traceability in local farming of fruits and vegetables in the North of Portugal

In: EurSafe2024 Proceedings

Authors:

A. Macieira

A. Macieira Universidade Católica Portuguesa, CBQF - Centro de Biotecnologia e Química Fina, Laboratório Associado, Escola Superior de Biotecnologia, Rua Diogo Botelho 1327, 4169-005 Porto, Portugal s-amacieira@ucp.pt; pcteixeira@ucp.pt

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P. Teixeira

P. Teixeira Universidade Católica Portuguesa, CBQF - Centro de Biotecnologia e Química Fina, Laboratório Associado, Escola Superior de Biotecnologia, Rua Diogo Botelho 1327, 4169-005 Porto, Portugal s-amacieira@ucp.pt; pcteixeira@ucp.pt

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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 38–43

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004715509_007

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Dar Hadith al Hassania

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Traceability is important to control each step of the food chain and ensure the safety of both food producers and consumers. It is an inherent aspect of Food Safety and, fosters communication between all stakeholder within a supply chain. Although food companies from European Union countries are obligated by law to implement traceability processes throughout their supply chain, local fresh produce farmers in northern Portugal are still reluctant to do so. There are several reasons for this, such as the fact that most producers are responsible for their own production and management chain, which becomes burdensome for them, and because many processes involved in the traceability can be tiring and time consuming. The aim of this work was to involve local fruit and vegetable farmers in the North of Portugal in activities related to the traceability of their own supply chain, and to show them why technology could help them to trace their produce. Developing flexible and simple procedures to involve local farmers in the process was crucial to making traceability more appealing to our farmers. Introducing low-cost, simpler, and more accessible innovations and technologies into these systems could be important in promoting the implementation of traceability processes. Technologies such as the Internet of Things, Quick Response Codes (QR codes) and relational databases were used as tools to install simpler and easier traceability processes in local farming in the North of Portugal. At the beginning of the process, no farmer had implemented a traceability system through their supply chain, but we were able to involve 73.7% of our farmers in the process, although most of the records made by the farmers were still incomplete, and a continuous work was developed to get more complete information. So, there may be cheaper tools that could promote technology as an alternative to simplify traceability and get more fresh local farmers involved, although even with the use of these tools, incomplete records were still an issue due to the farmers’ personal lives.

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EurSafe2024 Proceedings

Back to the future - Sustainable innovations for ethical food production and consumption

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004715509

Publisher:: Wageningen Academic

Print Publication Date:: 03 Sep 2024

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- Life Sciences
  - General

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Food safety and traceability in local farming of fruits and vegetables in the North of Portugal

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EurSafe2024 Proceedings

Back to the future - Sustainable innovations for ethical food production and consumption

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