TraceAll announced this week it had teamed up with RFID provider Symbol to develop the system. Symbol's hand-held mobile bar code and RFID readers will be integrated with TraceAll's online traceability software. The system will initially be available only in the UK, Denmark, mainland Norway, and Sweden.
The two companies hope to offer companies an automated way to comply with new food safety requirements on traceability, rather than using paper forms.
The requirements mean companies must be able to trace ingredients from source and products to the till, allowing them to pinpoint problems when a food safety incident occurs, and make recalls if necessary.
Retail giants are currently rolling out traceability mandates to all their suppliers, with Wal-Mart currently working out traceability standards for all fresh products.
TraceAll and Symbol plan to initially target food industry supply chains for blue-chip customer groups in the UK and the three Scandinavian countries. TraceAll said it and Symbol already have numerous customers in the production, processing, distribution and retailing sub-sectors of the food industry globally.
Alan Steele, a director at TraceAll, said the partnership with Symbol is a major step in the development of the product.
"It gives us global reach, access to Symbol's direct channel sales teams, their channel marketing group and tier one implementation partners," he stated. "There is a clear and powerful joint value proposition for our respective customers, delivering measurable cost savings and increased supply chain efficiency."
TraceAll was founded in 2004 as a provider of food traceability software in Europe. The company's headquarters are in Glasgow, Scotland.
Earlier this year TraceAll said its customer base includes companies like Youngs Bluecrest, Dairy Crest, Greggs and the Food Standards Agency.