How to Overcome Traceability’s Hidden Dangers

Today’s global marketplace demands not only efficiency but also accountability. To meet escalating regulatory and buyer sourcing requirements, traceability software has become an increasingly important tool to streamline and scale operations. However, for the last decade I have watched these systems far too often fail to deliver the assurance and compliance buyers were expecting. This is because rushing to implement digital traceability without proper validation can expose companies to significant risks that are challenging to correct later. Without validation, even a sophisticated system can start to look more like online storage than a tool for ensuring supply chain integrity. In this post we'll take a closer look at what traceability is, how it works, and share our thoughts on how to go digital responsibly.

Your instincts are right: traceability really is quite simple. It consists of:

1. associating data (i.e. dates, locations) with events (i.e. processing, shipping); and
2. associating events with each other.

Supply chain events can be associated as 'one up, one back' like FSMA requires, 'bait-to-plate' like advocates promote, or anything in between. Traceability also doesn't require tech: it can be achieved on paper, in spreadsheets or with purpose-built software. In fact, there are many instances when paper-based traceability is the best solution. Software is powerful, but going digital doesn’t guarantee accuracy. To put it bluntly: a traceable lie is still a lie.

The Risks of Unvalidated Traceability

Traceability enhances transparency only when the underlying data is accurate and trustworthy. Relying on unvalidated data can create a false sense of security—all of these spreadsheets must mean I'm compliant... right? In fact, shuffling unchecked data from actor to actor through the supply chain is a serious liability. When discovered it can lead to disruptions, missed deadlines, and increased costs. The names of questionable actors or vessels buried in sourcing data can be uncovered and cause lasting damage to a company’s reputation. As regulations like UFLPA begin to focus more and more on seafood supply chains the risk of fines, product seizures, or even operating restrictions is on the rise.

The Role of Data Structuring in Effective Validation

The ultimate goal is to digitize information once and use it for operations, regulatory compliance, ESG reporting and more seamlessly. The key to unlocking screening, validation, and even AI is structured data. Structured data means information that is organized in a clear, consistent way that makes it easy to access, understand, and analyze. Think of the old school library card catalogs, or neatly labeled folders in a filing cabinet where everything is in its right place. Structure is the backbone of a reliable and compliant traceability system. The other key component to make structured data useful is standardization. Standardizing how data is structured makes it easy to share and use by everyone who knows how to work with it. We use and recommend GS1 as a baseline data structure because it is comprehensive enough to have a format for any data you might need to record and share. Think of GS1 as the all-purpose language of interoperability, a small subset of which you might know as the GDST standard.

Moving Forward with Confidence

As supply chain traceability evolves the importance of validation cannot be overstated. Luckily, there has never been a better time to prioritize supply chain assurance. Recent advances in technology have made comprehensive real-time monitoring not only possible but faster, cheaper and more secure than spot checks or sending confidential business data to outside consultants.

A proactive approach to structuring and validating data today will position businesses for long-term success in a complex global market. The best first step for companies at any level of tech that are interested in implementing or enhancing traceability is to examine your current data management (spreadsheets, emails, software and documents) and identify common issues. What do you often need to go back to double check or correct? Is there information you consistently find hard to interpret? Then, consider what information could be validated and how to get there. If you are considering building custom software or locked into a contract with a standard traceability provider, any competent developer can quickly add data validation services for you by integrating APIs. There are also turnkey and customizable enterprise solutions on the market for the same price as unvalidated traceability systems. What do you have to lose?

To learn more about Goldfish visit www.goldfish.io or book a demo with our sales team.