Aussie eggs made safer with traceability tools

A project designed to further the adoption of traceability in the Australian egg industry has concluded. Commencing in 2020, the project was undertaken by Australian Eggs and involved the creation and extension of resources to help farmers implement on-farm traceability systems to suit their businesses. It has been supported by a Commonwealth grant designed to improve traceability across the Australian egg industry.

Traceability enables farmers to identify the sources of egg quality, safety or hen health issues and take steps to rectify the issues, to help ensure a safer egg supply chain.

“Traceability is no longer a ‘nice-to-have’,” said Rowan McMonnies, Managing Director, Australian Eggs. “Governments are prioritising it, consumers are expecting it and those businesses that focus on it are the ones that gain the most.”

The development of the EggTrace digital tool has headlined the project’s activities. This free tool enables all egg farmers to have access to the tools and technology required to trace eggs from lay to dispatch.

A comprehensive traceability manual has also been developed and made available to egg farmers. It outlines best practice for tracking eggs and provides advice and guidance to support the design of reliable traceability systems for egg farms.

Australian egg farmers agree that traceability is mission-critical for the egg industry.

Kate Daley, CEO of Pure Foods Eggs, said egg traceability is vital and investing and it is investing in the health and safety of people consuming the eggs.

“All egg farmers must maintain a state of readiness to trace and recall our products if needed to minimise potential harm to consumers," Daley said.

Denyel Cucinotta from LT’s Eggs in Victoria said, “Our traceability system makes sure we’re always working to the best of our ability; when problems arise, we can immediately execute a step-by-step procedure to investigate.

“If there is a food safety concern, we are able to make a quick search through our app and assess the problem, match codes and compare our data to the problem at hand."

According to McMonnies, traceability will continue to be a focus for Australian Eggs.

“We will continue to provide extension services to Australian egg farms looking to adopt new traceability protocols, and through consultation with industry we will continue to evolve EggTrace to ensure it has the highest level of utility for the industry,” he said.

Farmers can access all the tools via the Australia Eggs Traceability Hub.

Image credit: iStock.com/serts