Background

Increasing pressure by consumers, provoked by numerous food scandals, forced the European Union and national authorities to strengthen the regulations on food safety and traceability along food supply chains. The regulation (EC) 178/2002 can be regarded as an initial example of such a policy shift.
Commercial members of food chains are only partially prepared to implement such regulations and to fulfill the necessary requirements. Major impediments are that

• existing IT-solutions, in most cases, are limited to single enterprises,
• authorities to control the entire chains are non-existent,
• small scale enterprises at the supply and primary production level must interact with large, (sometimes) multi-national groups of companies and
• food chains show significant fractures in data flows, for example between feed suppliers and farmers; slaughter houses and processors, wholesalers; retailers, restaurants and consumers.