Endnotes

¹In this paper, we use the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 22005:2007 definition of traceability as, “The ability to follow the movement of a feed or food through specified stage(s) of production, processing and distribution.” This definition describes the most basic achievement of a traceability system: following the movement of a product as it moves through the food chain “from farmer to fork.” It should be noted that (i) this ISO definition is adapted from Codex Alimentarius (CAC/GL 60-2006) and (ii) “movement” can relate to the origin of materials, their processing history, or the distribution of the feed or food.

²HACCP is a system of quality control management that identifies potential hazards in the food production process and puts into place strict actions that must be taken to prevent the hazards from occurring. Each company's HACCP system is independent and yet must be able to provide data to the next company in the food chain. HACCP is being adopted worldwide under the recommendation of the Codex Alimentarius Committee of the United Nations. It has already been mandated in many countries.

³“Buyer” refers to a food business operator who buys food products from a supplier. A processor, packer, wholesaler, retailer, or food service operator may act as a customer.

⁴“Supplier” refers to a food business operator who supplies food products to customers. A farmer (or group of farmers), importer, manufacturer, packer, or wholesaler may act as a supplier.

⁵The Japanese Diet approved a bill to require traceability records for rice and rice products in April 2009. Record-keeping will become mandatory in late 2010.

⁶Available: http://www.jetro.go.jp/en/market/regulations/pdf/food-e.pdf.

⁷Available: http://www.maff.go.jp/soshiki/syokuhin/hinshitu/e_label/.

⁸Note that certification under JAS is completely voluntary; however, quality-labeling regulations under JAS Law are compulsory.

⁹The JAS for “Products Disclosing Production History” is a standard to certify food business operators who disclose information about the production methods and production history of a product. This can include information about the producers, the place of production, and usage of agrochemicals, fertilizers, feeds, and pharmaceuticals. It has been already established for beef, pork, agricultural products (rice, vegetables, fruits, and whole fresh agricultural products), farmed fish, and several processed foods.

¹⁰Packers are specialized wholesalers who conduct grading, packaging, and primary processing of shiitake mushrooms.

¹¹Available (Japanese): http://www.oita-shiitake.info/.

¹²Salmonella is a class of bacteria that can cause severe food poisoning in humans. One common way it can be contracted is through raw or undercooked eggs, or through poultry meat that is infected or has not been properly processed.

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1. Prof. J. George
   (posted 10 June 2009 / 06:30:36 PM)
   
   A good study indeed to keep one updated with the new developments in the area of food safety. The authors have in a short and concise WP givena concise lessons fron the study. They need to be complimented on the effort. The authors must be encouraged to develop this WP into a full blown research paper. However, some comments that must find placein the full paper are as follows: (1) Can these lessons be generalised over different developing countries and production landscape where issues of livelihood and food security are paramount? (2) The public sector certainly needs to play a dominant role and hence the funding quantum and pattern needs a different exclusive treatment to make it more localised. Who will do it? (3) How do we get this traceability into a major concern as in Japan itself only 20% are following/participating in the ITES initiative for traceability.
   (4) Two case study products have certain limitations in other developing countries as they have a different definition of smallholder producer and these two products are not produced on an industrial scale dimensions. What adjustements are required or needs to incorported to the study to make it acceptable/practicable on wider spectrum of developing countries?