Egg Traceability app:
Egg Traceability app for egg producers, egg wholesale / retail, egg value adding / manufacturing: complete egg quality management solution.
Egg Supplier Traceability & management
Egg traceability: a growing focus on provenance
Eggs are a booming business – global egg production has more than doubled over the last three decades. With hundreds of billions of eggs produced every year, what happens in the event of a food safety incident? In 2017, UK supermarkets had to withdraw prepared foods after 700,000 contaminated eggs had been distributed to food suppliers. In 2018, in the US, over 200 million eggs had to be recalled after reports of illness due to salmonella. If affected eggs can only be traced through the coding on the carton, once eggs have been removed from packaging, this complicates recalls.
Improving egg traceability
Governments across the globe are increasingly enforcing food regulations to ensure codes provide complete traceability throughout the food supply chain, which can be particularly useful in the event of contaminated batches.
In the UK, regulations require sites with 350 or more laying hens to be able to trace eggs put on the market for human consumption. In Australia, it is now compulsory for all commercial egg producers to mark each egg so it can be traced back to its farm of origin. There is also growing pressure from consumers, who more than ever want to know where their food comes from. By showing the source of the eggs, coding improves consumer confidence in traceability and transparency.
What’s in an egg marking code?
In the EU, where eggshell coding is compulsory, the code begins with a number to identify the farming method: 0 - organic, 1 - free range, 2 - barn eggs and 3 - caged hen eggs. This is followed by two letters denoting the country of origin. Finally, the egg and packaging are each stamped with a unique code identifying the registered farmer who produced the egg.
In Australia, only a mark identifying the producer is mandatory. However, a date and/or batch number are recommended to further enhance traceability. British eggs may include a Lion Mark, which means the hens were vaccinated against salmonella and produced under the highest food safety standards.
Making an omelette without breaking eggs
Printing codes directly onto curved, fragile, porous eggshells is complicated. Each egg varies in shape and size, increasing the risk of image distortion or blurring. Additionally, each code must be readable on brown or white surfaces and not come off even when the eggs are boiled. Codes must be applied accurately, on many eggs simultaneously, without cracking the shell.
Given the product’s fragility and the high production levels, a contactless coding method is required that enables high-speed printing using certified food-grade inks on equipment that can be easily integrated with existing egg graders or packers.
Continuous inkjet (CIJ) printers designed for egg coding rise to the challenge. With this noncontact technology, a constant flow of ink is sprayed directly onto the egg surface. CIJ can print up to four lines of text and one logo, including all necessary information, plus brand marketing if desired.
These printers can be incorporated with a variety of egg graders. For example, a specially configured version of Markem-Imaje’s 9450 coder can code 250,000 eggs per hour on an eight-track grading machine.
Get ready for product identification
There is rising demand to increase traceability and reduce health and safety risks through better egg marking. Egg recalls, if not handled well and quickly, can damage reputations and financial bottom lines.
Egg Traceabilitys during production
View App Specifications.
Ovotrack - The company
Global market leader in traceability systems for the egg industry. To date, over 100 Ovotrack Solutions have been successfully implemented at egg grading and processing centers worldwide.
Ovotrack has its origins in the Beekhuis family's former egg packing center in Leersum, The Netherlands. Following several food safety crises, stringent regulations were introduced in the areas of egg origin and destination tracking. Customer requirements for case an pallet labeling were also becoming more demanding.
Brothers Job Beekhuis, Managing Director of Ovotrack, and Henk Beekhuis, Technical Director decided to develop an information system that would resolve all these issues. When tracking and tracing eggs became mandatory in Europe with the implementation of the European Food Law in 2005, Job and Henk started Ovotrack and began marketing their solution.
The 'General Food Law'
Food safety and traceability are vital to egg packing centers. Egg quality systems, like IKB, KAT, Lion Code or USDA require full traceability. And in Europe the General Food Law (EU-regulation 178/2002) made traceability systems and procedures mandatory for all companies in food and food processing.
Traceability eggs
Traceability of eggs goes in two directions. In most countries, the code of the originating farm is stamped or printed on each egg, so that the consumer can see where the egg was produced - tracing back. Tracking forward is much more complicated; to which customer did we send the eggs of a particular egg producer, house, flock and date of lay. This is even more difficult because eggs are often initially packed for stock and only get their final destination in the warehouse of finished goods after the sales order arrives.
In case of a product recall, your customer doesn't want to base this recall on the code that is stamped on the eggs. Your customer just wants you to tell him which pallet he or she should recall.
For this reason, outer cases and pallets require a unique barcode which should tell the origin of the eggs that are in this particular case or pallet. Ovotrack offers you the solution. The Ovotrack Solution can be used as stand-alone but often Ovotrack is connected to, or integrated with, an existing ERP or invoicing solution, such as Microsoft Dynamics, Great Plains, Sage, Exchequer, NetSuite and many others.
About us Ovotrack Tray brown eggs
The Ovotrack Solution
Efficiency, accuracy, food safety and traceability are essential to the egg industry. Ovotrack offers a modular traceability solution for the egg grading and egg processing industry. Depending on your requirements and potential benefits it can be implemented in full or in stages. Our system not only supports compliance with increasingly stringent legislation and customer demands, but also allows you to boost productivity, reduce errors and cut costs. An integrated report designer offers a range of options to present your management information.
Egg Grading Solutions
Egg Processing Solutions
How we work
Requirements analysis: We map your process and discuss your needs.
Advice: Our knowledge and experience ensures a solution that offers you the most benefits.
Project plan: We manage and monitor every step from concept to final delivery and, if required, take care of on-site preparations for implementation.
Database and label preparation: Before system implementation, the database is installed on your server or in the cloud. You can start entering base data and prepare, for example, ERP systems synchronization and label design.
On-site installation and implementation: Our Customer Support Specialists install the hardware and connect it to the LAN and, depending on the solution and your requirements, to the grading machine or breaker, scales, cae packers and egg quality devices. After that, the system is set up.
Integration Service: Integration of software (ERP) systems and/or connecting multiple locations.
Training: Our Customer Support Specialists train your staff and help start up the system.
Reporting: Our Customer Support Specialists adjust reports in the integrated report designer to your needs.
Support: Our Customer Support Specialists offer helpdesk support and, if necesarry, are able to take over Ovotrack PC's to assist users and operators real-time, wherever they are. Software updates, label and report design are part of our support offerings.
Egg Traceability & management
Traceability
Traceability is at the heart of food safety. At Glenrath Farms we have adopted new controls that involve stamping every egg that is laid on the farm with a unique farm code. The farm code includes a number 0, 1, 2 or 3. This number indicates which production system the egg has been produced in. Farm stamping allows the egg to be traced back to its origin of lay.
0 Organic
1 Free Range
2 Barn
3 Enriched Colony
All our eggs are produced to the BEIC Lion assurance standard. These eggs are stamped with the lion logo which assures consumers they are purchasing British eggs that have been produced to the highest standards.
EggTrace is a simple traceability tool that has been built for egg farms. EggTrace enables every farm to capture traceability information digitally and store all important traceability records in one place. In the event of a recall or food safety issue, EggTrace provides the transparency required to act quickly.
Access EggTrace here: https://eggtrace.australianeggs.org.au.
EggTrace is free to use, and any data entered does not leave your device.
Egg factory hygiene checklist
Australian egg industry adopts new traceability tools
24-07-2023 | Layers | News
Australian egg farmers agree that traceability is mission-critical for the egg industry, according to Australian Eggs. Photo: Jasmin Egger
Australian egg farmers agree that traceability is mission-critical for the egg industry, according to Australian Eggs. Photo: Jasmin Egger
A project has been designed in Australia’s egg industry which provides Australian egg farmers with new tools to trace the path of eggs across their farms.
“Traceability is no longer a ‘nice-to-have’,” according to the managing director of Australian Eggs, Rowan McMonnies, adding, “Governments are prioritising it, consumers are expecting it, and those businesses that focus on it are the ones that gain the most.”
Traceability improves food safety outcomes as it enables farmers to quickly identify the sources of egg quality, safety, or hen health issues. It also helps farmers to take the necessary steps to rectify the issue, which results in a safer and more reliable egg supply chain.
In other news from Australia, a rapid phase-out of eggs from caged layers meets resistance
Tracing eggs from lay to dispatch
EggTrace is a free digital tool developed to ensure that all egg farmers have access to the tools and technology required to trace eggs from lay to dispatch. In addition, a traceability manual has also been developed and made available to all egg farmers in the country, which outlines best practices for tracking eggs and provides advice and guidance to support the design of reliable traceability systems for egg farms of any size.
Investment in traceability
Kate Daley, CEO of Pure Foods Eggs, which distributes 4 million eggs annually, says that an investment in traceability is an investment in the health, safety and loyalty of customers.
ALSO READ: A decade of immense growth in global egg production
In December 2022, the FAO published data on global livestock production and trade in livestock products, registering a 31.9% growth in egg production in the last 10 years. Poultry World analyses the patterns of global egg production and egg trade at continental and country levels at the beginning of the current decade. Read more…
“All egg farmers must maintain a state of readiness to trace and recall our products if needed to minimise potential harm to consumers,” said Daley, adding that such systems lead to consistency and quality of products.
Access to EggTrace and the Australian Eggs Traceability Manual is available to all egg farmers for free via the Australian Eggs Traceability Hub.