The Global Track&Trace System for food: General framework and functioning principles

This paper describes the Global Track and Trace System (GUS) developed for supporting the management of food traceability along the food supply chain, from the primary producer to the final consumer. The main goal of GUS is to support the different users involved in a food supply chain and assist in the process of traceability management. The informative system has been developed taking into account the different features of a food supply chain. A general framework has been generated for supporting future evolutions and customizations. Different steps, which involve the phases of supply chain analysis, supply chain modelling, data analysis and data modelling, are at the base of the methodological approach followed during the phase of system design and development. The solution adopted for the information management is generally applicable, which means that it meets the requirements of different types of food industries. The model can be applied in real-life situations that might benefits from the traceability solution. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.