United States - ScoringAg has labels that are Intelligent and smart
10 Nov 2009
ScoringAg is a global, online record-keeping system housing data for thousands of products, said William Kanitz, president of Bradenton, Fla.-based ScoringSystem Inc., which developed ScoringAg.
ScoringAg’s database objective is to provide a simple, reliable, immediate, inexpensive traceback system that minimizes foodsafety risks for handlers worldwide and helps avoid product ambiguity in future recalls, Kanitz said of the Web site,
www.scoringag.com .
“This system provides a verifiable audit trail, and with the click of a button, it can give you that in three seconds,” Kanitz said. “It’s an exchange of information along the way, so everyone’s happy. And, if there is a problem, we only recall the portion where there is a problem, not in every warehouse in the world. That’s what the industry needs.”
To search an item’s history, registered users can enter either barcode, radio frequency identification(RFID) or SSI-EID codes — which is the internal tracking code which ScoringAg's database automatically creates when a rancher, shipper or packer registers a product in its system — and the product’s real-time profile and location is instantly uploaded, Kanitz said.
The profile features any commodity information the handler wants to include — such as origin info, picture, tag or bolus number, vaccination dates, feed, certifications and slaughter tests received —and each product’s records accompany it through the supply chain by label, Kanitz said.
Additionally, the records are secure, so if there is an error, a new report is created, and the Unix-based system chronologically archives the product’s previous records, he said. Three seconds is all ScoringAg requires when tracking a product’s lineage from pasture to plate from anywhere on the globe.
In that time, ranchers, shippers, packers, fabracitors, transportation providers wholesalers and retailers can view an item’s traceback records and inspection history. Here is a SSI-EID code that can be searched at http://www.scoringag.com/ search , SSI_FD949F37BE
“We’re looking to make life easier for ranchers, transporters, packers, brokers and retailers,” Kanitz said. “The records travel with the product from field to fork.”
The system also separates traceback information for each item included in mixed packs, and commingled products so there is no confusion about the origin of the individual products, Kanitz said.
Like RFID and barcodes, retailers can find SSI-EID codes on the individual item or case packages. Food chains have expressed interest in using the record-keeping database for checking on sustainability, Kanitz said.
Costs are minimal, too, as only $10 is needed to establish an account on ScoringAg — a considerably cheaper alternative than companies creating their own traceback networks, he said.
Not to mention, total SSI-EID label costs will only amount to one-fourth of a penny for shippers and packers, while growers are charged 55 cents for each animal they want to feature in the database, like feed type, pasture, breeding, animal health records, pictures/video, and growth performance data.
ScoringAg is available in English, Spanish and Portuguese, and French and German translations are in the works.
The Unix-based system, however, uses UTF-8 — a uniform way of representing characters entered in a computer — so the database recognizes any language that is typed into the system.
Consumers also can access ScoringAg, but they receive a public version of the records that don’t include the grower’s name, he said.
Down the road, Kanitz hopes to make consumers more aware of ScoringAg by having kiosks set up in grocery stores where consumers can punch in the traceback code at http://www.traceback.com/ or just use their internet cell phone.
Kanitz would also like to see a universal symbol established in the meat industry that indicates whether or not an meat item is traceable, he said.
Source: scoringag
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