The increasing number of food safety problems occurring worldwide in recent years has heightened consumers’ food safety awareness and has caused public distrust of the increasingly complex and globalized food production and trading system. Establishing food traceability systems can improve consumers’ confidence and provide the documentation required under multinational and bilateral trade agreements.

However, the increased requirements for documentation and reporting systems are taking a toll on developing countries that are hoping to enter or expand their trade in new markets. Smallholder farmers in particular could be further marginalized from the global food trading system by the burden of the reporting requirements. This paper reviews experiences in Japan using information and communications technology (ICT) to create efficient traceability systems and make information more easily available to consumers.

Promar consultant Lucia Vancura co-authored this working paper with ADB’s Sununtar Setboonsarng and Jun Sakai from the Food Marketing Research and Information Center.  It was published by the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) in 2009.

This paper can be downloaded here:

ADBInstitute:Food Safety and ICT Traceability Systems: Lessons from Japan for Developing Countries