Examples from Industry

Companies with traceability systems achieve many benefits for their business:

• They improve inventory control
• They decrease costs by reducing waste and inventory
• They can easily verify product claims
• They are able to perform an effective product recall

Now you can read their stories to learn how they did it. You'll gain helpful ideas and insights into what it's like to implement traceability. You'll also find out how it can improve your business.

• Agriculture
• Food Processors

Agriculture:

1. Hillside Gardens Ltd.
2. Brenn-B Farms Ltd.
3. Amco Produce Inc.
4. Cedar Beach Acres Ltd.
5. Bear Creek Farm
6. Van Mar Farms Ltd.
7. Doug Calhoun
8. Sun Parlor Honey Ltd.
9. ElmCrest Farms

Food Processors:

1. GTA Meat Supply Inc.
2. Newmarket Meat Packers Ltd.
3. T & R Sargent Farms Ltd.
4. Buster Rhino's Inc.
5. Pine River Cheese and Butter Co-op
6. Black River Cheese Company Ltd.
7. Flat Rock Cellars
8. Sunshine Pickles
9. Weil's Food Processing Ltd
10. Holly Park Meat Packers Inc.

Agriculture:

1. Hillside Gardens Ltd. - A grower and packer of onions and carrots put in place a software package and handheld barcode scanners. They can now link data from the field to the pallets of bagged produce they ship to retail customers.
Congratulations to Hillside Gardens, recipient of the Premier's Award for Agri-food Innovation.

2. Brenn-B Farms Ltd. - A potato grower and packer put in place a software package and lot code label printer. They can now track all data from the field to each bag of potatoes.

3. Amco Produce Inc. - A greenhouse grower enhanced their production management software. They added barcode labeling to each box of packed produce. Now they can perform a recall in minutes.

4. Cedar Beach Acres Ltd. - A greenhouse grower uses a software package to send their pack house information online to their distributor. They then applied an inkjet lot code on all boxes of produce packed for easy tracking.

5. Bear Creek Farm - A small beef cattle operation uses a software package and RFID readers to capture animal management data. They can now provide data to customers from birth to the package of beef.

6. Van Mar Farms Ltd. - A cow-calf operation uses a software package and RFID readers to capture animal management data. They can now track their cattle from birth through to the sale of live animals and freezer beef.

7. Doug Calhoun - A large feedlot operation uses RFID panel readers to quickly and accurately track data about incoming and outgoing animals.

8. Sun Parlor Honey Ltd. - A beekeeper uses a software package and hand held scanners to manage hive and honey records. They can now track lot code labels on all their products.

9. ElmCrest Farms - A sheep farm uses a mechanical handling system and RFID reader. They can now meet buyer demands easily and know exactly how many lambs are ready for shipping at any given time.

Food processors:

1. GTA Meat Supply Inc. - A supplier of ethnic meats and tripe put in place a software package and hand-held scanners. They can now track and link all data from receiving, through production and shipping.

2. Newmarket Meat Packers Ltd. - A provincial abattoir that handles Ontario lamb, sheep, goats, and veal adopted a manual colour-coded meat stamp. The company can now identify lots of animals processed each day.

3. T. &. R. Sargent Farms Ltd. - A provincial poultry abattoir customized their existing financial software package and added hand held scanners. They can now track all inputs, manage their inventory and ship faster, with greater accuracy than ever before.

4. Buster Rhino's Inc. - A small meat processor of southern BBQ ribs and sauces uses a software system and hand held scanners. They can now track and link all data, from receiving through production and shipping.

5. Pine River Cheese and Butter Co-op - A farmer-owned cheese-making cooperative uses a software system and hand held scanners. They can now link all ingredients to the bar code on individual packages of cheese.

6. Black River Cheese Company Ltd. - A farmer-owned cheese-making cooperative uses a software system and hand held scanners. They have now automated the way they manage inventory, order picking and shipping.

7. Flat Rock Cellars - A small winery uses vineyard and winemaking specific software. They can now track and trace their vintages from the vine to the bottle.

8. Sunshine Pickles - A small farmer and processors of organic pickled asparagus, beans, beets, carrots and garlic put a simple database in place. This has automated the way they manage inventory and track inputs and production.

9. Weil's Food Processing Ltd. - A tomato and potato canning operation added a lot tracking module to their prior financial software package, plus hand- held scanners. They can now easily track all inputs, manage inventory and speed shipping.

10. Holly Park Meat Packers Inc. - A small meat packing facility specializing in niche market products such as Homegrown Ontario Veal and Lamb that put in place RFID readers and a traceability software system. As a result, the operation benefits from real-time inventory, improvements in product consistency and the ability to perform a quick and reliable recall of any product with a few keystrokes.

Learn more:

Read about Ontario's pilot project for traceability

For more information:
Toll Free: 1-866-641-3663
E-mail: advantage@ontario.ca