National Traceability Framework – March 2019

Our vision for future traceability systems, for Australian food and other agricultural products, is: Australia has world leading traceability systems that provide accurate information about, and timely identification and location of Australian agricultural products and food in domestic and global supply chains, and deliver benefits for consumers, industries and governments.

How we can help

Every plant and animal has a distinct elemental signature relative to its location. Plants will absorb tiny trace elements that are very specific to the location where it is grown. Animals will consume plants with a specific elemental signature that will also be reflected in an animal sample.

TraceBase provides an elemental fingerprint for any farm in the country enabling traceability through the entire supply chain for every product from that farm, be it animal, vegetable or mineral.

TraceBase can also measure and monitor soil health, the effectiveness of fertilisers and soil remediation, even demonstrating how carbon sequestration is progressing through scientific verification and fully auditable processes.

What it can do

Offered as a Software as a Service (SaaS), TraceBase identifies trace elements in parts per million/billion and the analysis provides a unique, elemental fingerprint providing irrefutable provenance in the quest for product traceability. It will help protect producers from food substitution and provide confidence in the supply chain and for which clients have paid a premium

The system:

can be automated with a less skilled person

stores the results in a dynamic in-house database
stores the original data for potential reworking
records the results in a GIS database

Benefits to Australia

TraceBase is applicable to:

Laboratories doing the testing of the samples
Industries that want to provide their producers with the surety of complete traceability along its supply chain
Brands that want to demonstrate a commitment to Australian production
Governments who want to ensure food security and safety

The application for this technology is an opportunity for Australia to set the trend worldwide so has global potential