DEVELOPING AN INNOVATIVE TRACEABILITY SOLUTION TO TRACE BEEF ORIGIN THROUGH DIFFERENT PHASES OF BEEF VALUE CHAIN USING SMART TECHNOLOGIES

Abstract

Beef's rising popularity in Pakistan is evident as consumption pattern of people is progressively shifting towards it. Despite this, the beef trade remains constrained due to consumer distrust. A project, imbedded in eco-friendly principles and environmental biology, sought to boost transparency by capturing beef data throughout production, processing, and distribution stages, permitting consumers to trace its origin. A mobile based traceability app MeaTrax was developed and captured data for 311 beef animals, recording essential attributes; breed, color, age, weight and more. This app, with an eco-friendly focus, generated QR codes for consumer access. Results depicted 49.8% slaughter rate for crossbred animals, with Friesian and Sahiwal breeds exhibiting the highest carcass weight and dressing percentage. Conclusively, MeaTrax traceability app was found an innovative technique, using smart technologies to trace origin and other attributes of beef. This innovation was aimed to improve the beef value chain from farm to fork, contributing to enhance food safety.