Food Traceability Information Modeling and Data Exchange and GIS Based Farm Traceability Model Design and Application

Abstract

<p>This thesis investigates the concept of electronic food traceability throughout the supply chain, with an emphasis on Traceable Resource Unit (TRU) identification, data management, and information exchange technologies from farm to fork. To accomplish these tasks, a UML (Unified Modeling Language) was used to create a product centric data model for managing TRU traceability data throughout the chain. After this step XML (Extensible Markup Language) schema was created using the UML model as a model foundation. The schema was used for the validation of XML files, which was written as an example of traceability information exchange and record keeping within and between supply chain parties. The model was able to represent production lots/batches and their sub components. The composition of a certain end product is then represented through modeling all its previous materials along with their intermediate relations. By registering all relations between each TRU, a method of tracking the composition of the end product was achieved. The second part of the thesis investigates the use of GIS (Geographic Information Systems) for creating a farm based traceability system. The system was able to visually identify and record each activity at the farm level, therefore enhancing upstream supply chain traceability.</p>