Why is traceability so important to us?
"Eating is a necessity.
Eating intelligently is an art."
-François de La Rouchefoucauld-
La trasparenza è tutto.
“Eating is a necessity. To eat intelligently is an art” affirmed in the seventeenth century the French philosopher François de La Rochefoucauld. Today, more than ever, we understand the importance of this statement.
In recent decades, in fact, we have witnessed a widespread awareness towards the type of food we decide to consume and a greater awareness of its origin.
People are looking for information and guarantees, they rightly want to know if they are eating quality products whose processing has been sustainable in every way. Accomplices of this renewed interest in the food we eat have also been recent events that have caused quite a stir: in Milan, for example, as reported in the news, on December 24, 2020, five tons of fish were seized in some large distribution centers, four quintals of which were intended for the preparation of sushi and for sale in hypermarkets.
The lack of traceability and the uncertain origin of products can no longer be tolerated: compliance with hygiene, quality and traceability requirements in line with Italian and European legislative standards is a necessity that can no longer be sacrificed.
'' The customer wants to know the connections between producers and product.''
The customer, today, is not a passive and uncritical consumer, because he wants to know the connections between producers and product. Among the data emerging from the Enpaia Censis 2020 report on the value of agriculture for the economy and society in Italy post-Covid-19, attention to traceability stands out immediately: 89% of Italians, in the post-Covid era, will buy more food whose label makes clear the origin, ingredients and processing. Traceability is destined to play a central role in consumers’ choice of food.
But what is traceability?
It is the data that indicates the ability to describe the path of a product within the production chain: from the production stage, to processing, to distribution for consumption.
Traceability is establishing itself as a valid tool to protect the health of the consumer, who is interested in having adequate information on food products. But it also represents a useful tool of transparency for operators in the sector, who can make available to their customers certified information that guarantees the quality and freshness of the product, and at the same time, justifies its price. The flow of goods is therefore supported by a flow of information that must be properly recorded and stored at each step in order to reconstruct the characteristics and history of a food throughout the production chain. It is therefore important to use a tool that facilitates these operations by managing a database of information that allows a full knowledge of the food chain: a traceability software is therefore needed.
Download the Q-Eat app 😄
It is in this context that Q-eat is inserted: the first application of traceability of catering products in the European panorama. It is a sophisticated software that processes and provides information to assess quality, state of preservation of raw materials, sustainability. The aim is to encourage the consumption of products that respect the rules for the protection of delicate ecosystems and to enhance the value of ethically responsible companies.
Thanks to the application Q-eat the customer can browse, for each restaurant, all the products purchased and see their path: delivery dates and expiration of products, origin and nutritional values, allergens.
The customer will thus be guaranteed to consume fresh and certified food, while the restaurateur will be able to implement a “quality management system” by certifying the products marketed.
