Evaluating traceability systems within the South African sheep meat supply chain
type: CreativeWork
description: One of the latest trends in the market for food products is the desire amongst consumers to know the origin of the products they purchase and to feel physically or emotionally connected to the farm and the producer. However, given the many efforts by producers and retailers to mislead consumers about the origin of products, for consumers to have faith in the origin of food products, they need to have some guarantee about the true origin of products. Thus, to be able to successfully guarantee the origin of food products, traceability systems need to be in place and they need to comply with the necessary legislation. This consumer need for origin-based food is now playing out in a variety of ways as food processors and retailers are labelling their products according to the origin of the product. Quite often, regional names are used for that identification. One iconic South African example of a product with regional identity is Karoo Lamb. In July this year producers from the Karoo region launched Karoo Lamb, a certification scheme, with a chain-wide traceability system in place to guarantee the Karoo origin of sheep meat in South African retail stores. The question, though, is whether all abattoirs and meat processors in South Africa are able to deliver origin-guaranteed products. The key factor here is the traceability system they have in place. The general objective of this study is therefore to assess current traceability systems in the sheep meat industry and to establish their ability to guarantee the origin of a carcass. This traceability system should be able to protect, manage and govern the food of origin attributes of a product in the sheep meat industry. The specific objectives of the study are: i) to create a high level process map to indicate the flow of Karoo Lamb products; ii) to share information by developing a detailed description of current and potential traceability systems in the Karoo Lamb supply chain; iii) to identify critical control points f…
abstract: One of the latest trends in the market for food products is the desire amongst consumers to know the origin of the products they purchase and to feel physically or emotionally connected to the farm and the producer. However, given the many efforts by producers and retailers to mislead consumers about the origin of products, for consumers to have faith in the origin of food products, they need to have some guarantee about the true origin of products. Thus, to be able to successfully guarantee the origin of food products, traceability systems need to be in place and they need to comply with the necessary legislation. This consumer need for origin-based food is now playing out in a variety of ways as food processors and retailers are labelling their products according to the origin of the product. Quite often, regional names are used for that identification. One iconic South African example of a product with regional identity is Karoo Lamb. In July this year producers from the Karoo region launched Karoo Lamb, a certification scheme, with a chain-wide traceability system in place to guarantee the Karoo origin of sheep meat in South African retail stores. The question, though, is whether all abattoirs and meat processors in South Africa are able to deliver origin-guaranteed products. The key factor here is the traceability system they have in place. The general objective of this study is therefore to assess current traceability systems in the sheep meat industry and to establish their ability to guarantee the origin of a carcass. This traceability system should be able to protect, manage and govern the food of origin attributes of a product in the sheep meat industry. The specific objectives of the study are: i) to create a high level process map to indicate the flow of Karoo Lamb products; ii) to share information by developing a detailed description of current and potential traceability systems in the Karoo Lamb supply chain; iii) to identify critical control points f…
keywords: Karoo lamb, South african sheep meat supply chain, Sheep meat industry, Abattoirs, South african retail stores, UCTD
date published: 2013-05-29
date modified: 2026-07-24T03:52:18Z
provider: University of Pretoria
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Pretoria

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/2263/24959