May 7, 2007

Japan to trace meat information via mobile phones

Japanese technology had it first again as it is now possible to use mobile phones to scan a bar code on meat sold in market shelves to get hold of all the background information of the product.

Livestock technology tracer Optibrands and Swift & Company has ventured to provide a traceability programme that meets the rigorous demands of the Japanese market. In this method, Japanese distributors and retailers will be able to offer US beef to consumers via a barcode which can be scanned through cell phones to trace the meat's chain history, from farm to retail shelf.

In a news release, the technology proved successful in field tests earlier this month in Japan as the first cattle were enrolled into the program in the fall of 2006 and was delivered to Japanese distributors in April of this year.

"The program's successful field tests represent another step in enhancing the capabilities of our existing Swift Trace system," said Warren Mirtsching, Swift's senior vice president, food safety and quality assurance. "We are pleased to partner with Optibrand to demonstrate the efficacy of our combined technologies."

Mark Anderson of Producers Livestock Marketing Association who supplied cattle for the initial product shipments to Japan noted, "This is the type of system we, as feedlot operators, have been waiting for. In a cost-effective manner, we can now offer value-added programs on our cattle and to our customers for both the domestic and international markets."

Mark Swanson, Optibrand's COO said the Optibrand system combines all the data collected at individual points along the supply chain for retailers who want to receive and provide the accurate information can have assurance with the traceability information in an easy-to-use manner.

Founded in 1998, Optibrand is based in Fort Collins, Colorado, and is the innovator of the world's only retinal imaging system for livestock identification. With Optibrand technology, producers can use any identifier including retinal patterns and tags for RFID, bar codes and panel.