=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-3293/paper111
|storemode=property
|title=AgroTRACE: A Complete Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Traceability System
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3293/paper111.pdf
|volume=Vol-3293
|authors=Dimitrios Kateris,Nikolaos Tsotsolas,Aristotelis C. Tagarakis,Christos Koidis,Eleni Koutsouraki,Nikolaos Makaritis,Dionysis Bochtis
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/haicta/KaterisTTKKMB22
}}
==AgroTRACE: A Complete Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Traceability System==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3293/paper111.pdf
AgroTRACE: A Complete Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Traceability
System
Dimitrios Kateris 1, Nikolaos Tsotsolas 2, Aristotelis C. Tagarakis 1, Christos Koidis 3, Eleni
Koutsouraki 2, Nikolaos Makaritis 1,4 and Dionysis Bochtis 1
1
Institute for Bio-Economy and Agri-Technology (iBO), Centre for Research and Technology-Hellas (CERTH),
6th km Charilaou-Thermi Rd, 57001, Thessaloniki, Greece
2
Green Projects SA, R&D Department, Greece
3
Engineers for Business (EfB) SA, R&D Department, Greece
4
Department of Energy Systems, University of Thessaly, Gaiopolis Campus, 41500, Larisa, Greece
Abstract
The fresh food industry recognizes the importance of traceability and food safety; however,
some sectors are considered more advanced than others in implementing the relevant processes
throughout the supply chain. At the international level, the branches of industry and the key
players in the management of the supply chain work together to co-create an integrated and
consolidated traceability process in order to benefit all the subcategories of fresh food products,
such as seafood, dairy, baked goods, meat, poultry, fruits and vegetables.
Therefore, an effective tracking process needs to be based on a standard approach to fresh
produce and its location recognition, while at the same time remaining flexible in the individual
roles and responsibilities of the various links in the supply chain within the ecosystem. While
many trading partners already have interfaces with external systems and processes for some
level of traceability of their products, the next necessary step towards an integrated approach
is to identify interoperability opportunities between internal and external processes across the
food industry. Towards this direction, the AgroTRACE system aims to achieve end-to-end
traceability of a fresh product supply chain through the deployment system, which combines
internal and external tracking processes, so that each user is able to identify the immediate
source and immediate recipient of the products. The system applies the “one step up, one step
down” principle to provide effective tracking in the supply chain. In particular, each distinct
product is recognized globally and in a unique way so that it can be located upstream and
downstream of the supply chain. The innovation of the proposed system is further enhanced
by the fact that the tracking will go beyond the route from field to field and covers the part of
recycling (biomass, compost, etc.), in the context of the circular economy. That is, implement
traceability from the field-to the shelf-to the field.
Keywords 1
Traceability, agrologistics, supply chain, fresh fruits, fresh vegetables
1. Introduction
The fresh food industry recognizes the importance of food traceability and safety; however, some
sectors are considered more advanced than others in implementing relevant processes throughout the
supply chain [1-3]. Internationally, industry sectors and key players in supply chain management are
working together to co-create a comprehensive and integrated traceability process that can benefit all
fresh food product sub-categories such as seafood, dairy, bakery, meats, poultry, fruits, and vegetables
Proceedings of HAICTA 2022, September 22–25, 2022, Athens, Greece
EMAIL: d.kateris@certh.gr (A. 1); ntsotsolas@green-projects.gr (A. 2); a.tagarakis@certh.gr (A. 3); ck741@efb.gr (A. 4);
ekoutsouraki@green-projects.gr (A. 5); n.makaritis@certh.gr (A. 6); d.bochtis@certh.gr (A. 7)
ORCID: 0000-0002-5731-9472 (A. 1); 0000-0003-4173-3780 (A. 2); 0000-0001-5743-625X (A. 3); 0000-0002-1711-9417 (A. 6); 0000-
0002-7058-5986 (A. 7)
©️ 2022 Copyright for this paper by its authors.
Use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
CEUR Workshop Proceedings (CEUR-WS.org)
541
[4-5].
Additionally, the global players in the fresh produce industry realize the need to align their supply
chain practices with tried and proven processes. These processes have already been established and
successfully used by food companies in the food retail media. The common denominator in all these
supply chain practices is the use of GS1 standards that act as a catalyst to drive the industry toward an
integrated and interoperable food traceability process [6,7]. In short, the fresh food industry is ripe to
reap real business results from the transformative effects of using GS1 standards as the foundation of
food traceability and safety.
The two main guides for the promotion of traceability in the fresh fruit and vegetable industry are
the legislation (e.g., EU regulation 543/2011) and the increase in consumer demand for accurate and
complete information about the food they consume, mainly fresh foods that are more prone to spoilage
[8-10]. In order to face these challenges, the different sectors of the industry are design separate - often
parallel - paths to define traceability guidelines and to address the particular aspects of food safety
related to the special characteristics of individual supply chains. At the international level, it is clear
that product identification and the standardized exchange of product data contribute to food safety while
establishing cost-effective business processes to disseminate information to all supply chain
stakeholders.
In this direction, the proposed AgroTRACE system aims to achieve “end-to-end” traceability of a
fresh product supply chain through the deployment system, which combines internal and external
tracking processes, so that each operator is able to identify the immediate source and immediate
recipient of the products. The system applies the “one step up, one step down” principle to provide
effective tracking in the supply chain. In particular, each distinct product is recognized globally and in
a unique way so that it can be located upstream and downstream of the supply chain.
2. Material and Methods
The proposed AgroTRACE system aims to support both internal traceability within businesses, as
well as overall (external) traceability of fresh fruit and vegetable products throughout the supply chain.
More specifically, internal traceability is to include packaging processes to link the identity of lots of
fresh fruit and vegetables with lots that take the form of packages, boxes and pallets. Accordingly,
external tracking is to include communication between trading partners regarding the identity of
products, as well as their transportation. In this direction, product identification codes are
communicated to those involved in the distribution network, on product labels and related electronic
documents. The above are required to link the physical products with information required for their
traceability. GS1 standards were used to provide the common language that enables trading partners to
exchange data and their information systems to process and manage said data.
End-to-end traceability of a fresh produce supply chain is achieved through the system to be
developed, which combines internal and external traceability processes so that each user is able to trace
the direct source and direct recipient of the products. The system applies the principle of "one step up,
one step down" to provide efficient tracking in the supply chain. More specifically, each distinct product
is globally and uniquely identified so that it can be traced up and down the supply chain. All participants
in the distribution network are able to use the system to implement internal and external traceability
practices, and in addition, internal traceability is implemented in such a way as to ensure that the
necessary links between inputs and outputs are maintained. The implementation of traceability in a
supply chain relies on the participants of the distribution network, who collect, record, store and share
relevant information.
More specifically, the proposed integrated AgroTRACE System consists of 3 main parts:
1. IoT & Event Capturing Application Platform: This platform is the point of data and events
gathering, processing, and storing that is received by different Event Capturing applications,
IoT applications and networks, but also by third-party applications that have the necessary
APIs. The system incorporates 2 indicative Event Capturing applications and 5 IoT applications
(Figure 1). The Event Capturing applications are connected with the IoT applications to serve
specific use cases. The Even Capturing applications are a) Optical reading application for smart
devices for the field-to-packing route and b) Optical reading application for smart devices for
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management at the retail point of sale. While the five IoT applications are a) Use of RFID
technologies on the field-packaging plant route, b) Use of RFID technologies within the
packaging plant, c) Use of RFID and beacon technologies during the transport of the products,
d) Use of RFID and beacon technologies inside the store and e) Use of RFID technologies at
the level of organic waste management.
Figure 1: IoT & Event Capturing Application Platform.
2. Transaction Support & Information Management Information System: This system consists
of 4 individual sub-systems, which utilize the information collected by the IoT & Event
Capturing Application Platform to implement the tracking processes. (Figure 2). These sub-
systems are a) Information Management System, b) Physical Entities Information Management
System, c) Supply Chain Function Assessment System and d) Partners Transaction Support
System.
Figure 2: Transaction Support and Information Management Information System
543
3. Interoperability with other systems: The information that is produced both on the platform and
in the 4 subsystems is standardized using the GS1 standards, so that information can be shared
with other systems, within and outside of each supply chain partner. In this way, the information
could function as reference knowledge (benchmarking) through its widespread (knowledge
diffusion) (Figure 3).
Figure 3: Interoperability with other systems.
The main aim of the proposed system is to support a more effective and accurate traceability
procedure through a 4-step process:
1. Recognition: Following the GS1 standards, the system discriminates all fresh products,
infrastructures, sites and so on, from the cultivator to the consumer. These numbers provide
links between the fresh product and the product-specific information.
2. Recording: GS1 system data carriers are used for data management to meet different supply
chain process needs for different products. The EAN / UPC barcodes are used for scanning at
retail outlets. The GS1-128 barcodes are used to identify product units in packaging and pallets
to help inform product information and monitor their movement. GS1 DataBar barcodes that
carry the same – and in some cases larger volumes – information in less space than the UPC
barcodes are also used. The data encoded in GS1 system carriers not only identify the products
(and product units) but allow the trading partners to share large volumes of data (batch number,
date of production, packaging information, etc.).
3. Evaluation: The information gathered will be evaluated against the objectives expressed in the
form of Performance Indicators (KPIs) set by the supply chain partners. In addition, the system
enables KPIs from the SCOR (Supply Chain Operations Reference) model to enable
“anonymous” benchmarking of chain partners’ performance.
4. Sharing: The interoperability of the system facilitates the smooth exchange of information in
trade transactions. The following GS1 interface templates are used: GDSN (Global Data
Synchronization Network): GDSN connects trading partners to the GS1 Global Registry® via
GS1 Certified Data, allowing the immediate electronic exchange of standardized, up-to-date
and verified information.
More and more bibliographic reports appear regarding traceability systems using IoT technologies,
however, the available integrated systems are few and even in an initial commercial stage. However,
there are already in the US market some early efforts of integrated systems that support the
implementation of traceability plans using IoT technologies. The proposed open modular structure as
well as the integrated system approach, which is based on open and transparent interoperability
standards, allows faster control of the correct operation and integration of our system into the product
tracking processes and therefore the faster gradual integration into production. The following table
presents a comparative evaluation of the proposed system with the integrated systems currently on the
market (Table 1):
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Table 1
Comparison of the proposed system with others integrated systems
Minimum Data
Modular Open
System Supply Chain reference transmission
Structure architecture
level technologies
RFID,
Field - Yes (XML,
LoRaWAN,
AgroTRACE Consumer - Product Yes
Beacons web services)
Field
(BLE)
GR-LIVE [11] Field - Retailer Product RFID Yes No
iApp
Packaging plant RFID,
(ORBCOMM) Container Yes No
- Retailer Satellite, BLE
[12]
Packaging plant RFID, NFC,
AutoSense [13] Container Yes No
- Retailer GSM
HarvestMark Packaging plant
Product RFID No No
[14] - Consumer
FoodLogiQ’s
Track + Trace Field - Retailer Product No Μ2Μ No No
[15]
Packaging plant
Iris [16] Product No Μ2Μ No No
- Consumer
From the above table, can be concluded that the proposed system incorporates all the best features
that cover the different systems and additionally uses for the first time an open architecture that clearly
differentiates it in terms of interoperability.
3. Conclusion
In conclusion, the main outcome of the proposed system is the development of an innovative
Tracking System for Fresh Fruits & Vegetables using IoT technologies and an integrated Event
Capturing and IoT Application Management Platform with a focus on interoperability. An important
part of the system is the proposed Transaction Support & Information Management Information
System, which addresses all partners in the supply chain of fresh fruits and vegetables, starting from
the field and reaching the management of organic waste in the framework of a circular approach
economy. The information system consists of 4 distinct subsystems, which, due to the modular
architecture that was followed during their design and implementation, are able to be used
independently, meeting the relevant needs. Alongside the system, an IoT & Event Capturing
Application Platform was developed, within which 2 Event Capturing applications and 5 IoT
applications are available. The proposed system can significantly contribute to the better and more
efficient operation of the entire fresh fruit and vegetable supply chain through continuous improvement
processes.
4. Acknowledgements
This research has been co-financed by the European Union and Greek national funds through the
Operational Program Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, under the call RESEARCH –
CREATE – INNOVATE (project code: T1EDK05348) AgroTRACE “Integrated System for
Traceability and Agrologistics of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables”.
545
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