Methodological and conceptual contributions to the design, management and improvement of food traceability systems: application to the poultry slaughter and processing industry.

Summary Faced with the health crises that have shaken the agri-food sector in recent years, such as mad cow disease, the legislative and normative requirements in terms of food safety are becoming more and more draconian. For example, the EC 178/2002 regulation stipulates that each company must have the means to ensure the traceability of the foodstuffs it puts on the market. It is in this context that we conducted a research-action whose ambition is to contribute to establish methodological and conceptual bases to address the issue of traceability of food products. Our approach starts with a functional analysis of the need to identify the beneficiaries of a traceability system (noted ST), to characterize its service functions and to propose quantifiable criteria to assess its performance. After this functional phase, we move on to a technical phase consisting of defining and characterizing the technical functions performed by the TS in order to meet the expectations of its beneficiaries. Examples of solutions and measurable assessment criteria are associated to each function. Then, we propose a generic data model describing the nature and structure of the information that the ST must be able to manage. On these bases, we have developed a computer platform composed of a set of modules intended for the restitution of traceability data and the management of the ST.