Page 17 - Food&Drink August 2022 magazine

provide a clear picture as to where out of the Ukraine it has come from,” he says.
GLOBAL PUSH
For Scadding, this brings us back to the decision to use financial instruments like tariffs and sanctions.
“In the real-world application, the rubber hits the road in the supply chain. All of these measures require action within a supply chain somewhere if
Cameron Scadding in the Source Certain laboratory.
they are to work as they are intended,” he says.
But for Scadding, the focus on Ukraine needs to be broadened to other major grain producers including Canada, Australia and the US.
Transparency is key, he says, because a more transparent global supply chain pushes customers to execute care
and diligence around where commodities are coming from and what the transaction of these
commodities could be funding. Scadding explains that even if
a country chooses to buy the grain, knowing it is stolen, because its population hungry and there is a lack of food security, at least there’s some transparency in the transaction.
“It also means if you then want to use sanctions or tariffs, not only can you do it, but you can also enforce them or at least have accountability around them,” he says.
“The next step is to determine who intervenes with these supply chains and how we go about educating governments that the technology is in play – and that they are able to run these checks. I think it will probably be the big customers, the big brands that take it on.”
For Scadding, this is a prime opportunity for government and large FMCG companies to “implement a simple system to make it hard for product that has a poor history, maybe stolen, or potentially funding a regime engaged in conflict, from entering the supply chain”.
“There is a great tension here. We have a real threat around food security and a need to ensure that supply chains are not funding conflict. How do we manage that? It is a policy discussion I am happy to contribute to, but I don’t have the solution – two wrongs do not make a right but I accept that these are hard discussions and not often not binary.
“It requires more discussions and open dialogue,” he says.
AUSTRALIA’S CHOICE
Scadding says Australia should invest in a similar service for its wheat, barley, and canola, if for no other reason than to hold up an Australian provenance promise in the market. But also to avoid Australian product getting tangled up in what
is becoming a messy global supply chain.
“Our Australian produce is incredibly good, so let’s add some demonstrable evidence and lean into the origin promise, rather than just relying on a written ‘Australian grown’ claim,” he says.
Source Certain’s clients range from high value products like diamonds, to some of the lowest value commodity food products. Scadding says this reflects a new reality, that regardless of the product, the primary focus now is the “how and where”.
“The world has changed so quickly that the how and the where is more important than ever before.
“Covid sped it all up, then Russia went and redefined what a conflict source is, and now it is not negotiable,” he says.
Consumers want more confidence around the specific sourcing of where a product has come from and how it has been made or grown. Source Certain is answering the call. ✷
TRACK & TRACE
Traceability and provenance
Helping you implement the most
suitable traceability solutions
GS1 standards make it possible for different solutions to operate efficiently with each other.
www.gs1au.org/what-we-do/standards/traceability
www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au | August 2022 | Food&Drink business | 17