Using GS1 barcoding to resolve missing port marks in the USA – stage 2.

Summary

​Both the Australian Department of Agriculture and Water Resources (DAWR) and the United States Department of Agriculture Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) have agreed that the GS1 bar-code can be used as a backup in the event that the current manually applied shipping mark is missing or illegible.

The purpose of this project was to demonstrate the robustness, reliability and timeliness of both electronic messaging and Meat Messaging portal to FSIS in support of a proposal that the GS1 bar code can replace the shipping mark. This was to be done through a trial using a nominated supply chain with scan all cartons at load-in and reconcile each carton against the cartons uploaded into the Meat Messaging portal. The report from this trial would then be made available to DAWR immediately upon completion and would be used to support a case to have the GS1 barcode replace manually applied shipping marks.

Currently all US loads from all Teys Australia sites are being uploaded into the test portal. The integrity of the message, the Teys Australia Load-out processes and transfer of the message have been verified as effective. As Teys Australia are still in test mode there has been no opportunity to use the Meat Message to verify the remarking of any carton with missing or illegible shipping marks. Teys Australia will be moved into production mode as soon as approval from FSIS is received.

Despite operating in the test environment, it has been possible to track over that same period what Teys Australia would have saved in remarking costs and in lost product where the numbers of cartons requiring remarking didn’t warrant the cost of the remarking. The Teys Australia costs of remarking and condemnations of the smaller lots that don’t warrant the costs of the current remarking process are around AUD$65,000 for the 2017 calendar year.

The Meat Messaging portal has been shown to be a reliable means of re-identifying cartons with missing or illegible shipping marks. The Teys Australia IT system can now automatically extract and upload the necessary product/shipping data as part of its normal paperless load-out system. The load-out process including the carton and pallet scans, data uploads have been independently verified as being effective. Teys Australia will avail themselves of the remarking opportunities when the message uploads are moved into the production mode upon approval by FSIS.

The Meat Messaging portal has been shown to facilitate the use of a pallet label that has the shipping mark printed on it. This allows reconciliation of individual cartons on a pallet with the pallet label. A trial has been proposed to FSIS through DAWR. The Supply Chain sub-committee of the Australian Meat Industry Language and Standards Committee should continue to pursue this opportunity with DAWR.

The uptake by industry of the Meat Messaging portal has also been slow. It is recommended that consideration be given to improving awareness and knowledge of the Meat Messaging system in both Australia and the US. The understanding of Meat Messaging within the US Meat Import Industry is very low.

Milestone 7 of the project is to run a series of information sessions for the wider industry. Improving awareness and knowledge of the Meat Messaging system in both Australia and the US will be a component of these sessions.