Establishing the Origin of Foodstuffs


Food Forensics and Traceability of Food
In Australia and in various countries around the world, it is now illegal to withhold information of origin from the consumer. Australia has a global reputation for the production and export of premium quality foodstuffs and with the increase in export, or global trade, comes the need for robust traceability systems.

So why is a traceability system for foodstuffs so important?

  • Food Safety and BioSecurity

it is paramount that should a food safety risk be indentified that its source be quickly and accurately ascertained. The ability to rapidly isolate the risk, not only minimises the potential harm to the human population but also reduces the economic implications to the affected food industry.

  • Market Integrity
the ability to rapidly trace a problem foodstuffs protects the overall integrity of the food supply system. A robust traceability system, underpinned by a scientific validation tool can rapidly eliminate the areas which are not affected, facilitating a fast re-entry of unaffected industry to the market.
  • Brand Integrity and Grower Reputation
the growing demand for premium produce has lead to the inaccurate and sometimes false labeling of a foodstuffs. The ability to rapidly identify falsely labeled foodstuffs enables the protection of a brands integrity.

The team has worked hand in hand with industry to develop the scientific technology which can validate a foods’ traceability. The technology can be integrated into the industry-wide traceability system. If you are interested in how the science can be integrated into a traceability system please have a look at how the TSW Analytical Food Forensics team worked with the Australian Pork Industry to develop a validation tool called Physi-Trace.

What can we do?
The Food Forensics team are experts in the application of modern scientific technology to the establishment of a foods provenance or origin. The team has been successful in the development of methods for the establishment of origin for a number of food stuffs: wine, pork meat, various fruit, coffee, tea, nuts, seeds... the list goes on.


To find out more about Food Forensics and the Traceability of Food click, please contact TSW Analytical Food Forensics