A framework for traceability of hides for improved supply chain coordination

Abstract

Hides are an important co-product of the meat processing industry which are further used in leather production. However, there is a lack of automated traceability systems in this industry. A traceability system can improve data capture and information exchange between the stakeholders of a hide supply chain which can further improve supply chain coordination. Such a system can be used to provide important feedback to the producers about handling practices on the farm as well as provide relevant product information to the customers. A traceability system for the Norwegian hides supply chain is proposed in this paper. Various data capture technologies including RFID, dot peening and laser engraving were tested in a pilot setting. Pilot tests showed that traceability from the farm to the hide processor is possible using the RFID enabled hide tags up to the tanning process. If the machine-readable requirement is not necessary, laser engraving can be used for traceability covering the entire supply chain including the tanning process. Costs and benefits of proposed technologies are presented. Security concerns related to the use of RFID tags are also discussed.