Traceability: a new approach to assess the coffee quality and expand market boundaries

Traceability is primary implemented within the food industry to ensure that any processed product reaches any market shelf without any hazardous component on it. The closest word to describe traceability is tracking. Traceability will certainly play a main role in the coming years, providing additional information about origin, farm altitude and the supply chain as well as precise information about the products themselves.

For instance, as pointed out in the article Inside the Microscope in a recent issue of Roast Magazine, a by-product called acrylamide, which is commonly used in manufacturing a broad range of industrial products including plastic, contact lenses and paper pulp, is classified as a “probable” carcinogen and was found in some processed foods including some coffee! So tracking down those kinds of components within a supply chain is becoming more and more important.

This procedure would also help to support new theories about the coffee origin as pointed by Mr. Peterson from La Esmeralda farm from Panama.

“Many of us have talked about the analogy with wines and even went so far as to copy the system of origins. But wines have two basic features: Origin and variety. There are chardonnay grapes, malbec, pinot noir etc. What determines their taste (and value) is both features variety and where it comes from. What we are seeing is another similarity with coffee, the variety and where it’s grown.”

Traceability should provide enough information about the origin, the product itself and the supply chain using records and ID formats, among other systems. In order to implement this process at the coffee farm level only, a grower needs to establish at least some of the following processes:

o Keep information about Geographical location of the spot harvest areas
o Keep track of seeds source and varieties used as well as pest control activities
o Keep track regarding ( Soil and leaf test, harvest yield)
o Keep track of the wet process and by products management.
o Keep track of packing, warehousing, transport, parchment and green bean analysis.
o Keep track of buyers.


It is not easy to implement traceability because getting every one in the value chain involved in this process is quite challenging, but I am sure it will bring more transparency and accountability to this business- opening a new frontier to perceive the coffee under a different perspective.

--Andres Castro, writing from Colombia.